Ski-jump (aviation)
Take-off ramp for aircraft / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In aviation, a ski-jump is an upward-curved ramp that allows aircraft to take off from a runway that is shorter than the aircraft's required takeoff roll. By forcing the aircraft upwards, lift-off can be achieved at a lower airspeed than that required for sustained flight, while allowing the aircraft to accelerate to such speed in the air rather than on the runway. Ski-jumps are commonly used to launch airplanes from aircraft carriers that lack catapults.
It is believed that the first use of the ski-jump occurred during the Second World War, where a temporary ramp was added to HMS Furious to assist the take-off of heavily laden Fairey Barracudas conducting a strike mission against the German battleship Tirpitz. During the Cold War era, the concept was studied as a means of reducing the length of flight decks required for future aircraft carriers as well as to facilitate ever-increasingly heavy aircraft at sea. The Royal Navy took a particular interest in the ski-jump during the 1970s, conducting a series of trials in conjunction with the newly developed Hawker Siddeley Harrier VSTOL fighter, before choosing to integrate the feature into their next generation of aircraft carrier, the Invincible class.
Having proven its operational value, numerous naval services have adopted the ski-jump for their own aircraft carriers and amphibious assault platforms, while land-based uses have been examined as well. Ski-jump can be used in two different approaches, these being the Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) and the Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing aircraft (STOVL); these pertain to the operation of conventional and VSTOL aircraft respectively. Catapult-equipped aircraft carriers have become a minority in the twenty-first century in part due to the decreased cost and complexity of ski-jump operations.