General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOAITW r.2.0
(24,676 posts)SR-71 type birds will be computer pilots.....with a drone pilot in the backseat(s) overseeing the mission.
AllaN01Bear
(18,534 posts)OAITW r.2.0
(24,676 posts)this is a female pilot talking about how a Cessna 172 pilot requested a speed check, then it escalated up to an F-16. Thought he was king of the sky until she requested a speed check. Pretty great story!
Celerity
(43,589 posts)OAITW r.2.0
(24,676 posts)Celerity
(43,589 posts)OAITW r.2.0
(24,676 posts)I've reached my daily limit on stupid. I will quit now, except post in the ME forum.
Celerity
(43,589 posts)OAITW r.2.0
(24,676 posts)I've broken my personal time record 19 times since downing the app 6 months ago! I'm shooting for 10 minutes, as a cab level employee of the Trump Administration.
Brother Buzz
(36,478 posts)Midnightwalk
(3,131 posts)Never heard that one.
DEbluedude
(816 posts)orangecrush
(19,645 posts)ProfessorGAC
(65,248 posts)It was hanging from the ceiling of the huge museum hangar.
The last time I went was shortly after the plane was retired. I'm guessing 2000.
It looks fast hanging still from that ceiling.
Awesome plane.
ItsjustMe
(11,253 posts)Bob Munck
(35 posts)Wright-Pat also has the only existing XB-70 Valkyrie. I remember when it was still sitting out on the runway in the 1970s. I walked toward it from the rear and had this strong feeling of deja-vu from the opening scene of Star Wars, where the Star Destroyer goes by overhead.
I love visiting the great planes in museums. One of my strong memories is touring the Spruce Goose in Long Beach. Also looking down when landing at Dulles and seeing the Enterprise sitting there. I'd been at the roll-out at Palmdale in 1976, standing right behind the Star Trek cast. The top of my head was on the cover of Life.
ProfessorGAC
(65,248 posts)Thanks for the reminder!
As I recall, they had a B47 we could walk through, too.
I was there 2 or 3 times. In the 90s and early naughts, I had meetings in Cincinnati 4 or 5 times a year.
I'd just drive, so I left early a couple times and stopped in Dayton to go through the museum.
Cool Star Trek story.
On biz in SoCal, I went to see the goose too.
I'm thinking our interests are very similar.
Bob Munck
(35 posts)I was a feral software engineer. In Cincinnati, I did robotics stuff at Cincinnati-Milacron. At Wright-Pat I did a lot of work on the Air Force ICAM program; our little Boston company was the Prime Contractor, with subs like Boeing, Lockheed, IBM. In LA I was advising Xerox-PARC on a proposed commercial product involving their newly-invented Ethernet, laser printer, and Alto computer. Also, I was on the Advanced Tactical Fighter selection committee and did some EMP work on Air Force One.
ProfessorGAC
(65,248 posts)I'm a retired physical organic chemist. Did work in 37 different countries over my time.
Truth is I'm probably more interested in the history of flight than in the planes themselves, but it's still about the planes.
My frequent meetings in Cincinnati probably already tells you who I was working with!
One of my developments ended up in a few of their major brands for 12 years or so. Long story as to why not longer.
Big Star Trek fan of every part of the non-animated franchise, so that's why I found that part so cool.
Now, if you tell me you play golf, piano or guitar, I'll freak!
R Merm
(409 posts)I was working on the fuel controls when it was retired. After the program was retired they allowed the plane to publicly break a few speed records including the coast to coast time record.
ProfessorGAC
(65,248 posts)Last edited Sun Nov 29, 2020, 10:05 AM - Edit history (1)
Very cool that you were involved with that plane, but here's what I found that made me say 1999:
So, at least some were flying missions in the 90s. You have inside info I don't.
The speed test LA to DC was the one I remember being in the news.
A guy I went to HS with (now a doctor in Minnesota) had a brother a year younger that was involved in the SR-71 somehow. IIRC, it was in reconnaissance analysis, but not sure I'm remembering that correctly.
He went to the AFA a year after his brother went to Loyola Chicago.
I left HS a year early, so I've only seen those guys once or twice since 1973.
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmosphere
Very much worth a visit.
littlemissmartypants
(22,839 posts)Takes me back to my flying lessons when I could barely taxi the runway. Thanks for sharing this ItsjustMe. It brought a tear to my eye.
❤ lmsp
DeminPennswoods
(15,290 posts)Not sure if it's still the case, but it's top speed and max ceiling were classified. I was told it could make Mach2 and could take pictures of surface-to-air missiles that tried to shoot it down. When parked, it leaked fuel because the skin would expand in flight closing up all the gaps.
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)Mach vs. Altitude Tables
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/atmosphere/q0112.shtml
Bob Munck
(35 posts)There's also a story where the pilot requests flight level 600 (60,000 ft). The controller asks how he could possibly get up to that level.
The pilot replies that he's descending to it from fl 850.
I remember driving over to Dulles to see a Blackbird land a bit over an hour after leaving the west coast. I think it's the one on view in the Air and Space Museum. There was a lot to be said for living near Dulles: Concordes landing and taking off, space shuttles flying over our house on the 747, SR-71s, Marine 1 on its way to Camp David with a fighter escort, the Goodyear Blimp doing TV feeds for the US Open just south of us...
randr
(12,417 posts)He was a mechanic on the SR-71s. He told stories of how they would tear them down after flights to the smallest pieces to calibrate the effects of such speeds. He said the top speed has never been declassified and it would shock people. Great guy, not sure if he is still around as I moved a while back.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)Amazing machine.
Brother Buzz
(36,478 posts)Just trying to figure how the Pratt & Whitney J58 engine actually works is a daunting task
paleotn
(17,989 posts)Except for the Air Farce crap, but I let it slide.
OAITW r.2.0
(24,676 posts)A very fast computer will execute the algorithms to survive. Reserve human pilots in the back seats.....
BMW2020RT
(139 posts)littlemissmartypants
(22,839 posts)❤lmsp
JHB
(37,163 posts)The LA speed check story is just the last 5 or so minutes of a much longer talk about his career and some of the hurdles he faced after what were thought to be debilitating injuries in a crash.
This was a presentation at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Nov. 15, 2016, following his publishing of a book with not just his experiences but also some of the only "candid" photos of the SR-71 and its crew members. It took until 2016 for some of the photos to no longer be considered classified.
In this talk at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Vietnam-era attack pilot and retired Air Force major Brian Shul, author of "Sled Driver: Flying the World's Fastest Jet," reveals fascinating details of piloting the SR-71. Using his rare aviation slides and stories as a vehicle, he tells a broader inspired story of hope, overcoming obstacles and daring to dream.
Shul graduated from East Carolina University in 1970 with a degree in history and anthropology. After graduation, for the next 20 years he served as an Air Force fighter pilot. During the Vietnam War, he flew 212 close air support missions. During one of these missions, Shul was shot down near the Cambodian border and was unable to eject, so he was forced to fly his plane into the jungle. He was severely burned in the crash. Shul was rescued by Special Forces and endured one year in military hospitals where he underwent 15 surgical procedures and was told he would never fly again.
After much physical therapy, Shul miraculously returned to active duty flying. He flew the A-7D, was an instructor in the A-10 and went on to teach at the Air Force's Top Gun School. He culminated his Air Force career by flying our nation's top secret spy plane, the SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest aircraft ever built. He flew covert missions in the Blackbird for four years and was the pilot who provided President Reagan with detailed photos of Libyan terrorist camps in 1986. During that time, he became the only SR-71 pilot in history to fly three missions in three consecutive days.
Retiring from the Air Force in1990, Shul pursued his writing and photography interests. He was the first pilot to write a book about flying the Blackbird, which is completely illustrated with his own photography. The book won Aviation Book of the Year honors and is today the single most popular book on that plane worldwide. He is also the only man to fly extensively with both the Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds as a photojournalist.
This talk was presented at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Nov. 15, 2016.
NotASurfer
(2,156 posts)First flew in the early 1960s but they started designing in the late '50s.
It's fun to imagine what current bleeding edge aircraft they're getting off the ground today.