Re: They said the APU fire is normal?


"Damon Hill" <damon1SIX1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Eric" <none@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
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"John Doe" <jdoe@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Eric wrote:
I've never seen flames coming out the back of the shuttle, day or
night, before...



There was one point of view where you could clearly see that those
"flames" illuminated the shuttle, especially the tail. Couldn't have
been just vapour. And the flames were dancing around.

On the other hand, the view from the front of the shuttle showed 2
clean plumes of steam coming straight up and not dancing at all.

Hi,

Yeah, they had shut down the APU's before switching to the front view,
so that is why all you see is just left-over steam...

I've been looking for pictures from earlier night landings that show
the APU flames at night, but have come up empty so far.

A Deja search revealed James Oberg talking about these flames as a
"fire-breathing dragon" that occured "once in a while in the early
days".

Other searching and reading about the APU's has also revealed that the
APU's have had many problems over the years, especially with being
"leaky"..

Another waiting Archilles heal?



This has been explained: the APU exhaust is hot ammonia and hydrogen.
It burns on contact with atmospheric oxygen. So what?

Where's the problem here?

Hi,

It hasn't been fully explained. I know how the exhaust is produced, but why
aren't there visible flames coming from the APU's on every night landing?
Sure, you can see the heat being exhausted in the infrared for every night
landing, but this landing had visible-spectrum flames coming from the APU's.

Can someone point out out pictures or videos that show visible flames coming
from the APU's from other night landings?


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: They said the APU fire is normal?
    ... And the flames were dancing around. ... the view from the front of the shuttle showed 2 clean ... I've been looking for pictures from earlier night landings that show the APU ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: They said the APU fire is normal?
    ... I've been looking for pictures from earlier night landings that show the APU ... On an old IR video I have, the APU flames look about ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: They said the APU fire is normal?
    ... And the flames were dancing around. ... the view from the front of the shuttle showed 2 ... the APU flames at night, but have come up empty so far. ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: They said the APU fire is normal?
    ... "flames" illuminated the shuttle, especially the tail. ... And the flames were dancing around. ... the view from the front of the shuttle showed 2 clean ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: They said the APU fire is normal?
    ... And the flames were dancing around. ... aren't there visible flames coming from the APU's on every night landing? ... Can someone point out out pictures or videos that show visible flames coming ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
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