U-2 spy plane pilot lives on the edge — of space, danger and obsolescence - Alaska Dispatch News
In an hour, he will roar aloft in a U-2, the iconic single-seat spy plane _ capable of flying to 70,000 feet, or more than 13 miles high _ first built in the early Cold War. "There are these moments when I can see the sun over my left shoulder and the moon over my right," said Brill, 36. "There aren't a lot of people that get to experience that. A van takes Brill to the flight line, where he steps into the summer sun, clambers up a stair ladder and stuffs himself into the snug cockpit. He looks down the runaway and sees the inexorable future looming to one side: two of the Global Hawk drones that are scheduled to replace America's fleet of 33 U-2s. The U. S. military has spent the last decade amassing more than 7,000... Others as large as jetliners can spy on wide areas for up to 30 hours at a time. The spy planes will be phased out starting in 2018. Despite this, U-2s are being flown more hours than they have since the end of the Cold War. ground troops in Iraq and Syria, commanders rely on airborne surveillance more than ever before. Source: www.adn.com
