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Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

sr-71.org

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Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#41

Post by toomuchtodo »

_ofdw wrote: post #33
toomuchtodo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you enjoy such gems, check out the procedures for C130 transport aircraft. An old colleague used to be a load master on them (before going into tech), and said the action required for a situation where your load is jammed on exit and you can’t cut the chutes deployed to extract the load from the cargo hold is “prepare for crash landing”. I do enjoy the bluntness of military checklists.

I just checked a modern copy I have lying around and couldn't find that particular phrasing. However there are lots of other gems such as "a malfunction of the extraction system that causes cargo to move can be extremely hazardous." Oh really. You don't say.

Might have been a C17A/21/26 instead of a C130. I’ll dig tonight to find it.

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#42

Post by dmitrygr »

codr7 wrote: post #18

I once got around two thirds through a certificate for flying ultralight planes. It sort of stopped making sense to me when we were practicing emergency landings over forest and I was told to aim for trees with thinner trunks. This is sitting inside a cramped metal can with the engine in your lap and propeller in your face. There are so many ways to die in that situation that focusing on the diameter of tree trunks w…

Landing on top of a dense forest is surprisingly survivable. It is actually more so than landing on top of suburbia

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#43

Post by chrisseaton »

patrickmcnamara wrote: post #40
chrisseaton wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an emergency checklist - of course it's terse. I don't know what people expect.

It's funny. That's it. People just find it funny.

I guess I don't really get that then - it's funny that someone designed it sensibly? Not sure where the joke is.

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#44

Post by rossdavidh »

ColinWright wrote: post #4

A comment[0] by ehnus[1] from last time this was submitted[2] said: > My favorite section is emergency procedures which contains gems like this: > "If both the A and B hydraulic systems fail as indicated by illumination of the A HYD and B HYD warning lights and confirmed by loss of A and B hydraulic pressure and deteriorating control effectiveness: > 1. Eject" ======== [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1338777…

I like to picture a little checkbox next to this, so that you can put a checkmark in that box as your hurtle through the air, then dig out the "parachute operating procedure" checklist and start it from the top.

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#45

Post by alex_suzuki »

zackbloom wrote: post #17

Skunkworks [1] is a really great book by the designer of the propulsion system (and subsequently the first stealth airplane). I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know how many drill bits you burn through trying to build a titanium airplane. 1- https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/skunk-works_ben-r-rich_leo-jan...

I‘d like to second that recommendation. The book certainly won‘t win any literature prizes, but it does tell a fascinating story and gives a glimpse into the „wild west“ engineering culture that created the Blackbird.

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#46

Post by nominatronic »

adolph wrote: post #25

No Blackbird post is complete without a link to the Speed Check story: https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/speed-chec... It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew.

Executive summary:

Cessna: How fast.

Tower: 6

Beechcraft: How fast

Tower: 8

Hornet: Yo how fast bro

Tower: Eh, 30

Sled: mfw

Sled: How fast sir

Tower: Like 9000

Sled: More like 9001 amirite.

Tower: ayyyyy

Sled: ayyyyy

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#47

Post by JohnBooty »

collinf wrote: post #31

Posting this here hoping that someone with more knowledge can enlighten me about this. After going down a bit of the rabbit hole, I see that the SR-71's first flight was in 1964. It has held the record for fastest air-breathing manned aircraft[0] since 1976. What is the reason that given all of the technological advances that record hasn't been broken? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_airspeed_record

There's just never been a need. The SR-71 could already outfly missiles.

And in general, now that we have the technology, the SR-71's role is much better filled by unmanned craft like satellites anyway.

Stuffing a man inside one of these deathtraps and getting him home safely adds orders of magnitudes of difficulty. A better question might be, why would you want to send a person up in something like this, if you could possibly avoid it? It would most definitely be awesome, but it would come at the cost of billions of dollars and possibly human lives.

Also physics is a real bastard. Air resistance increases with the square of velocity. Even small gains over the SR-71's speed would come at a very, very high cost in terms of fuel burn rate, etc.

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#48

Post by Archsys »

chrisseaton wrote: post #32
FabHK wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, airplane check lists do tend to make sense. Still, there is some humour in the laconic terseness and finality of that checklist, which is probably why it was brought up.

It's an emergency checklist - of course it's terse. I don't know what people expect.

Laughter is provoked by a discontinuation of what your brain expects.

If you saw a dog walking a man on all fours, you would most likely laugh, because of the unexpectedness.

In this case, the unexpected terseness causes laughter. You don't expect what follows to just be "Eject". In a technical context like a manual, you expect what follows to be a detailed list of steps and instructions. When this expectation is shattered, you laugh.

Thanks for reading. Have a good day.

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#49

Post by Frenchgeek »

dmix wrote: post #13
ColinWright wrote: post #4

A comment[0] by ehnus[1] from last time this was submitted[2] said: > My favorite section is emergency procedures which contains gems like this: > "If both the A and B hydraulic systems fail as indicated by illumination of the A HYD and B HYD warning lights and confirmed by loss of A and B hydraulic pressure and deteriorating control effectiveness: > 1. Eject" ======== [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1338777…

What's #2?

No idea, but #3 is probably "change underwear"

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#50

Post by ziddoap »

nominatronic wrote: post #46
adolph wrote: post #25

No Blackbird post is complete without a link to the Speed Check story: https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/speed-chec... It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew.

Executive summary: Cessna: How fast. Tower: 6 Beechcraft: How fast Tower: 8 Hornet: Yo how fast bro Tower: Eh, 30 Sled: mfw Sled: How fast sir Tower: Like 9000 Sled: More like 9001 amirite. Tower: ayyyyy Sled: ayyyyy

Ayyyy.

Succinct summary of a timeless story.

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