To really understand the issue one needs to know how DU is used, mostly as a kinetic force penetrator in ammunition. DU is very dense; at 19050 kg/m³, it is almost 70% denser than lead, thus a given weight of it has a smaller diameter than an equivalent lead projectile, with less aerodynamic drag and deeper penetration due to a higher pressure at point of impact. DU projectile ordnance is often incendiary because of its pyrophoric property.

So upon impact the DU tip vaporises and spreads into the air, since DU rounds usually hit a combustible target and there is a subsequent explosion the spread of the material is wide. This was all covered after Gulf War when DU first started getting used widely and created the now commonly known Gulf War Sickness or Balkans War Sickness.

Various goverment studies keep pushing the question back and forth between goverment committees as the issue of exposure, since no scientific based way can be worked about how DU gets into the human system, so some reports say there is too little to cause harm and others say it depends on exposure and the issue basically starts to revolve on how people get it into their system, how much is lethal, etc etc.

At the end of the day the fact is that even though we have various treaties prevent the use of chemically and biological arms, DU is not covered within any of them, and the issue is such that nothing can really be done until a treaty can be worked out on DU usage. That is not likely to happen anytime soon. The US, France, UK and other nations actively use DU as the cheapest form of kinetic penetrator known to man, and shot down various treaties designed to go against the usage of DU.

Regarding this debate, the above mentioned working paper published in 2002 by the United Nations Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, at paragraph 171 under the title "Moratorium" reads:

“Considering the disturbing reports on the ill effects of DU weapons in the Gulf and the Balkans, it is saddening to note that so far appeals for a moratorium coming from different quarters have not yet prevailed. Killing first and asking questions later has, however, never been a sensible solution.

Ironically

Aircraft may also contain depleted uranium trim weights (a Boeing 747-100 may contain 400 to 1,500 kg). This application of DU is controversial. If an aircraft crashes there is concern that the uranium would enter the environment: the metal can oxidize to a fine powder in a fire. Its use has been phased out in many newer aircraft; Boeing and McDonnell-Douglas discontinued using DU counterweights in the 1980s.

Clearly when used in ammunition it doesn't catch fire... The NATO countries of France, the United Kingdom and the United States have consistently rejected calls for a ban, maintaining that its use continues to be legal, and that the health risks are entirely unsubstantiated. The UK government further alleges that cancers and birth defects in Iraq could be blamed on the Iraqi Government's use of chemical weapons on its own citizens.

The BRU-33 Vertical Ejector Rack was actually jettisoned with the bomb still attached to it. If you look closely, you can see the rounded aerodynamic wedge shap of the rack as it spins into the chase plane. The aerodynamic profile of the ejector rack is what caused it to ascend into the chase plane. Very scary - but also the reason for performing such tests.

I think it's too far to say that a game fails to stimulate something just because it's an FPS. It's only now we are reaching a point where actual physical stimulation can take place. The only place where simulation happens is in things like VBS1 and dolly ran flight simulators. Even in games like Flight Sim X, there is alot of coding wankery to fake aerodynamics, not actually model it.

it's not just speed, it's endurance. 2 minutes! that's the 800 meters of speed-talking.

the best thing about the video is what he's doing with his right eye. maybe squinting makes him faster? it's more aerodynamic...

Okay I wrote a translation. Not that much new information here for me, but still for all the rest of you! I wonder if I can add this in Google Video for CC.

=================================================================================================================================

It was truly a thing of wonder, still unsurpassed, surely no one in the observable future will able to construct something like the Caspian Sea Monster (KM) - The Ekranoplan, the work of the great Russian innovator Rastislav Evegniy Alexisy. Once the Caspian Sea Monster (KM) was filled with a record load of 544 tons, a record for not only for the Ekranoplan, but all flying based vehicles existing on the planet, even the famous Mira could not take such a load, yet the Caspian Sea monster did it in stormy weather!

They died together, in one year, Alexis in February 1980. The Ekranoplan a little later in latter testing stages, it sank in 20m waters. It's gigantic tail sticking from the water like a tombstone for a long time.

The Ekranoplan is basically an plane, but its massive lifting power comes from 2 technologies, the first being plane lift technology, and Ekranoplan effect (BTW in The US/UK this is called Ground Effect).

"It's incredible that this huge plane flies just a few meters off the water, using just one engine, this was done possible due to Ekrano effect where a pocket of air is created between the plane wing and the water, providing lift"

This lift support, makes the Ekranoplan a more economic plane, i.e. the weight lift capability created meant that the plane flying over water, could be up to 40% larger.

"This gave an increase speed and sea mobility regardless of wave fluctuations for the most part. This is why the air pocket planes... so called Ekranoplans were developed, however the first developments of the ekrano effect were found in early airplanes."

The Ekrano effect was noticed in the infancy of aviation, pilots first felt it when they would try to land, the effect would reduce plane control, and the higher the aerodynamic quality of the plane the less the Ekrano effect would take place. However from the point of view of the pilot and the air builder this was a negative effect, but it gained the attention of various inventors, especially those of speedboats, leading to famous developments of speedboats with under board wings which were also the design of Alexisy Evegniy.

However when these boats reached speeds of 100 to 150 KM/H, they would reach a limit of the Ekrano effect, and Rastislav decided that it was time to stop fighting against the wing and re-design it altogether and enhance the effect of Ekrano effect, to gain the most speed it would need to glide above water. And Alexis started with the largest, a real Caspian monster, the KM was 92 meters long, with a height of 22 M and a wingspan 37 M. The underside was built like a boat, though the most of the exterior looked like that of a plane.

KaiEr, in my meagre grasp of the concepts of rifling physics - rifling provides stability to the projectile in flight, making it more resistant to external forces. Such as crosswinds, for example.

Picture how a spinning top is able to 'stand up' while it's rotating. The force that would want it to fall over in one direction is counteracted by it's 'gyroscopic' forces in the other directions. You can even knock it a little and it will still try to stay up (if it's spinning fast enough )

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroscope
and I spose: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifling

Old 'smooth bore' weapons like muskets and flintlock pistols were inaccurate because their shots weren't protected by gyroscopic effects and were blown all over by the wind/rain/etc (also they weren't hugely aerodynamic or propelled quite as fast).

Stall! Stall!

Basic Aerodynamics, keeping idiots grounded since people got jealous of the birds.

I can't imagine why a fine aerodynamic car like a Lincoln would breakup in the air.