05-03-2007, 01:54 AM
Dakota's post below reminded me of something that's been bothering me for awhile.
I've got this dim memory of riding in a passenger jet, sometime around 1989-1991 (don't ask me to remember which airline it was).
I had a window seat, and a perfect view of the back half of the wing and jet engine hung underneath. Upon landing, the back part of the cowling of the jet engine opened up (split into an upper and lower half), and rotated into a scoop-like structure. I assumed this was meant to be some sort of air brake to slow down the plane on landing.
It kinda freaked me out at the time, and I haven't seen anything like it since. Any idea what this was? It was definitely a larger passenger jet, not some puddle-jumper sized thing.
I've got this dim memory of riding in a passenger jet, sometime around 1989-1991 (don't ask me to remember which airline it was).
I had a window seat, and a perfect view of the back half of the wing and jet engine hung underneath. Upon landing, the back part of the cowling of the jet engine opened up (split into an upper and lower half), and rotated into a scoop-like structure. I assumed this was meant to be some sort of air brake to slow down the plane on landing.
It kinda freaked me out at the time, and I haven't seen anything like it since. Any idea what this was? It was definitely a larger passenger jet, not some puddle-jumper sized thing.