Did anyone notice the plane flying that was pulling the banner over the track ?
The wind was blowing so hard he wasn't moving at all....he was just stationary in the sky ! ....First time I've ever seen that....LOL !

Due to being old and too late for me, I didn't see it, but "Cacklefest.com Ron Johnson" called me in the afternoon for a report. He and Steve Gibbs were talking when Gibbs said "look, that plane is actually going backward!"

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LOL..that's a keeper right there, Bob.

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I 'll tell you that's exactly what it looked like in person too.
Lots of folks were looking up at it. It was weird.

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"A Friday night run in a Funny Car is just really intense" - Whit Bazemore

What was really strange was on Saturday, with really strong winds, very few cars had problems on the top end. Yesterday, with very little wind, we had wallbangers in both lanes and several other close calls.

Jesse, I would think it was because the upper level head winds were pretty high along with the drag of the huge sign he was pulling behind him.

I know on Aircraft Carriers they alway head into the wind to help the planes get extra lift.

I've seen birds do that before, but I've never seen a plane do it. It looked like it should have fell out of the sky....LOL !

I live close to a Air Force base. When those huge cargo planes come in to land they are so big they look like they are barley moving and about ready to fall out of the sky. It's a wonder something that heavy stays in the air at low speeds (or what appers to be low speeds).

TJ

Airflow (airspeed) over the wings creates lift, not ground speed (a plane's track over the ground). An airplane can have an indicated airspeed of 150 knots while heading into a strong headwind while it's groundspeed might be very low giving it the appearance that it is not moving or moving backwards. The banner the plane was towing added increased drag to the plane which slowed it's groundspeed down more. This actually is good for the advertiser since it keeps their sign in front of the audience longer than if it was less windy. The plane should have a jettison mechanism to release the banner in the event the wind is too strong for the engine to keep the plane moving forward.

Turn the plane around so that it has a strong tail wind and it's groundspeed will be faster than it's indicated airspeed.

You can try this when riding a bike into a strong wind. You feel a much stronger blast of wind on your face while it seems like you are not moving very fast over the ground. Turn the bike around and it will appear that there is little or no wind in your face while your speed over the ground is much faster.

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I'm not a pilot, although I have received a couple of tickets for "low flying", but it is actually pretty simple.

A plane's flight (result of lift generated by wings) is totally dependent on air speed. Once the air passing over and under a planes wing reaches a certain speed, which varies depending on the profile of the wing, the wing starts to generate lift, which lifts the palne off the ground. The threshold of lift/no lift is called the planes "stall speed", which is when it falls l out of the sky.

As an example, a plane which requires airspeed of 60mph to take off, will have to be doing 55mph on the ground if taking off into a headwind of 5mph. The planes ground speed results in 55mph of airspeeed, plus the 5mph headwind totals 60mph generating enough lift for the plane to fly.

In what was seen on the weekend the planes airspeed was high enough for the wings to generate enough lift to stay in the air but actually be moving backwards in relation to the ground. Lets say the plane has a stall speed 60mph, but the wind up high was 80mph. In this situation the plane can actually be going backwards at a rate of up to 20mph relative to the ground while still flying.

The key is a planes "speed" and ability to maintain flight is relative to airspeed, not ground speed. Ground speed is important though when taking off an dlanding which is why they always take off and land heading into the wind as it reduces the ground speed. If you were to takeoff with a 5mph wind in the plane described above, you would need to be doing 55mph before lift off, an increase of 10mph versus going into the wind.

It's just like swimming upstream in a river. You are making progress in relation to the water, but not in relation to the bank. You can get lap pools that have a current that you swim into to get exercise while actually going nowhere.

I hope that you aren't more confused than you were to start with!!

Most light airplanes have a "power on" wing stall speed of 50+ MPH. Many banner towing airplanes are STOL - Shortfield Take Off and Landing - and have been modified to stall at a much slower than stock airspeed for prolonged slow flight or super short takeoffs and landings. Many of these planes can fly at around 30 to 40 MPH airspeed. He could easily encounter a 30 MPH head wind which made his progress across the ground very slow or zero.

It was wild to see in person too... looked like he was just teetering in the air and would fall any minute. Weird. They definitely got their advertising money's worth! I don't think anyone missed it!

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I'll bet that pilot was doing it on purpose so he could sit there and watch the race !...LOL ! He had a brids eye veiw no doubt !