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by WalterBright
1289 days ago
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When we lived in Deutschland in the 70s, my Dad would joke that the "D" sticker on German cars meant "Drag racing" as the Germans drove with their foot on the floor. He would putt putt along the autobahn at an agonizingly slow pace. I asked him why he didn't enjoy driving fast. He replied that he'd firewalled Mustangs and SabreJets on the deck, and driving fast on the autobahn was boring in comparison. If you vote for me for Governor of the state, I'll get some autobahns here in the US! P.S. If you ever watch "The Battle of Britain" movie, in the first combat scene you'll see an Me109 flying balls-to-the-wall at about 10 feet off the ground. Incredibly fun, and incredibly dangerous. No model work with that shot. P.P.S sometimes you'd see jets hedge-hopping over the countryside. I asked why didn't the citizens complain about that, he said they understood why the pilots had to train that way. Radar cannot see them, the flak gun crews cannot hear them coming, and they cannot move the gun fast enough to line up on the aircraft. |
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On a good day, the wall keeps any fire from the engine from entering the human-rated zone.
The engine power control, by convention, pushes forward to increase power. So full power is at the maximum excursion towards the front of the plane, towards the firewall.
In the very few general aviation aircraft I've flown, the throttle was literally a rod with a plastic sphere on the end. You grab the ball and push it all the way into the instrument panel for full power: that's "ball to the wall".
Also in the other direction, reducing the throttle setting, that's "pulling power": you pull it out. Usually on time. And yes all of the jokes are that childish and it doesn't matter because hey, you're flying and it's awesome.