By 
High School Students, participating in a base-tour event of the ‘Good Neighbor English Camp’ hosted by the USFK Command, are listening to the explanation of a US pilot in front of a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft in Osan Air Base, Gyeonggi Province, in the afternoon May 19th.
8:58 am on June 4th, 2010 1
If the 5th RS wanted to give those students something really memorable, they should have one of the other U-2s taxi around and have the students hang onto the wing. I did that at another squadron back in 1991 and it's a blast!
9:50 am on June 4th, 2010 2
There are a whole lot of reasons why I'm sure that never happened.
11:28 am on June 4th, 2010 3
Really? See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv17lF60OHY and look around 2:43.
In my case, the Mobile told me to pull myself up onto the wing and hang on.
11:36 am on June 4th, 2010 4
Pulling down on the wing of a stationary aircraft is not the same as "have one of the other U-2s taxi around and have the students hang onto the wing."
12:07 pm on June 4th, 2010 5
It is stationary for a little bit but the engine is running — you can hear it in the background. Listen to the whole clip from 2:33 to 2:51 and note what the announcer says around 2:49 — "…in order to re-insert the pogos and let the pilot taxi back to the hanger". The U-2 has a bicycle landing gear so the pogos are absolutely necessary.
Here's a good explanation about the pogos taken from this website: http://www.blackbirds.net/u2/c_bennett/bbird-06.h…
"Now let me discuss pogos. These outrigger gears are removable, and were designed that way for weight conservation purposes. Pogos are about four feet long. They look like a car's leaf springs, and have two non-inflatable tires on one end, and a male probe on the other end. This probe fits into the pogo housing at about the mid section of each wing. They are held in place by a ground safetying pin. When the U-2 taxis onto the runway, a ground maintenance crew "pogo crew" removes these safety pins prior to the launch. When these pins are removed, the only thing holding them in place is the weight of the aircraft. Once the aircraft's wings develop lift on takeoff, the pogos fall to the ground. This pogo crew is a rotating full time job whenever the U-2 is flying. They recover the pogos from the runway after takeoff, perform maintenance on them, and wait for the next launch or recovery. Upon recovery, the U-2 lands, and the Pilots perform a balancing act on the bicycle landing gear. They usually do a great job, and when the aircraft slows to allow the wings to loose lift, the heaviest wing drops to the runway. That's the primary reason there are skid plates installed on both wing tips. Once the aircraft comes to a complete stop, the pogo crew enters the runway. They then install a pogo on the high wing, then pull it down and install the pogo on the other wing. And that's it, the aircraft taxis in, and the process continues all day. On rare occasions, a pogo can become lodged in the receptacle, preventing it from falling out. When this happens, the Pilots have three choices. Usually, they fly back over the runway above 500 feet, and by waging the wings up and down, it will usually fall out. If that didn't work, they would perform a "touch and go" landing, and that would usually do it. If that didn't work, the pilot would come back in and land, and maintenance personnel would remove the pogo. Then a hand launch would sometimes be performed. This consisted of a mechanic physically holding the wing, and running with it as the Pilot took off. Not much speed required on this aircraft to accomplish lift. Some times on recovery, a pogo can't be installed for various reasons. When that happened, a couple of mechanics would jump onto the wing which did have the pogo installed, and ride the aircraft in to prevent the other wing from hitting the ground. This looked really stupid, but at times was necessary."
12:59 pm on June 4th, 2010 6
OK, whatever.
Hanging onto or riding on the wing of a taxing aircraft is something I've never heard of outside of civilian stunts. And if it is necessary for the handling of a military aircraft, I am still certain that it would never be done so casually as to invite students to do it.
1:34 pm on June 4th, 2010 7
Relax, this blog has room for serious comments and discussions — & light-hearted ones too.
The students would not be allowed to ride the wing…but it is fun, even if it looks stupid.
What I wouldn't give to have a photo of that event…it makes me laugh just thinking about it.
3:24 am on June 5th, 2010 8
The children look very interested