Pics: 65 Year old American technology is still KICKING digital ass! The amazing US Plane: NASA deploys its unique ER-2 plane to Hunter Army Airfield – My Comments

However, it was costly to run and eventually was brought to an end. I'm not sure if NASA still has one. One or two might be around. 

But it is its predecessor, the U-2 which is still rocking and rolling like crazy. The U-2 is still functioning. And here is the ER-2 which is the NASA derivative of the U-2. This strange plane, has been flying for 65 years! And its performance and abilities still put it in a class of its own in terms of high altitude uses. So I suspect that it is much cheaper to run and that is why it has outlived the SR-71. So its not as fancy, but it still has immense value. 

Do you know that this plane still takes images using rolls of camera film? Even now? I runs 2 miles of film when it does a long flight! And they say that those rolls of film still give BETTER QUALITY than digital cameras!!! 

So here you have 65 year old US Technology and its KICKING ASS! 

There is a LOT of white technology that still can kick ass. Hey, the Maxim Machine gun … over 120 years old … still as good as ever. We whites have tons of technology and knowledge and we hardly appreciate even a small bit of it. Jan]

Photo by Kevin Larson

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, commonly known as NASA, has deployed its unique ER-2 weather research plane to Hunter Army Airfield, located in Savannah, Georgia.

An unusual plane is calling Hunter Army Airfield home for the next few months, according to Fort Stewart Public Affairs Office.

On Jan. 15, NASA landed its ER-2 weather research airplane at Hunter. Pilots, scientists, and ground crew will call the installation home through March 1 while they fly missions to study east coast snow storms.

The ER-2 flew to Hunter from NASA’s Palmdale facility. The aircraft is outfitted with various sensors to study the winter weather.

NASA will use the data collected over the two-month campaign studying snow-related weather to better predict and understand snow storms.

NASA research test pilot Tim Williams is one of the two pilots flying the ER-2 out of Hunter. He said the ER-2–NASA’s version of the Air Force’s U-2 spy plane–can fly up to 65,000 feet.

“We’re pretty much over the entire atmosphere at that point,” Williams “It’s very similar to what a satellite can do.The difference between us and a satellite is we can bring the instrument down at the end of the day and work on it.”

NASA chose Hunter for several reasons, including available hanger space and the weather in the Savannah area..

“Eventually this airplane has to come down and land,” Williams said. “If we were up in New York state, I might have to land in that snow storm. And this airplane is not really good at that.”

Hunter Army Airfield is no stranger to NASA missions; in the past, NASA identified the runway as an alternate landing site for the space shuttle.

NASA’s ER-2 weather research plane is bedded down for the night in a Hunter Army Airfield hanger Jan. 15. The plane is flying missions out of Hunter through March 1 to study east coast winter storms. (Photo by Kevin Larson)NASA ER-2 ground crew members remove sensors and equipment from the aircraft after it arrives at Hunter Army Airfield Jan. 15. The plane is flying missions out of Hunter through March 1 to study east coast winter storms. (Photo by Kevin Larson)

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