here's one i like: https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strang...
The slowest SR-71 Blackbird fly-by
21–30 of 141 posts
Re: The slowest SR-71 Blackbird fly-by
#22SR-71 stories are legendary. Here's another classic from the same site: https://theaviationgeekclub.com/sr-71-blackbird-pilot-tells-...
apparently some air traffic controllers disagree with this story being possible: https://old.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/fbt4rq/la_speed_che...
Re: The slowest SR-71 Blackbird fly-by
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a side note, Kelly Johnson really did have more than his share of it all. Head of Skunk Works, during which he had 2 wives who died from health issues over the course of 20 years. As someone with a partner who had years of health problems, I have no idea how you run something like Skunk Works and care for someone at the same time.
He had a ranch in Agoura, near the SSFL, which might have had an impact on them.
SSFL?
Re: The slowest SR-71 Blackbird fly-by
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a side note, Kelly Johnson really did have more than his share of it all. Head of Skunk Works, during which he had 2 wives who died from health issues over the course of 20 years. As someone with a partner who had years of health problems, I have no idea how you run something like Skunk Works and care for someone at the same time.
He had a ranch in Agoura, near the SSFL, which might have had an impact on them.
Re: The slowest SR-71 Blackbird fly-by
#25Stick and Rudder is the best read out there if you want an intuitive pilots understanding of what happened here. It unpacks angle of attack from a pilots perspective rather than using engineer speak. At that speed the control surfaces of the Blackbird would have had very little effect which is incredibly scary as you’re approaching a stall low and slow. They’d need big deflections to keep her straight and it would ha…
A similar thing happens with boats --- the rudder only has an effect when water is moving past it, so it's more difficult to maneuver when moving slowly.
Re: The slowest SR-71 Blackbird fly-by
#26SR-71 stories are legendary. Here's another classic from the same site: https://theaviationgeekclub.com/sr-71-blackbird-pilot-tells-...
My favourite SR-71 story involves asking ATC for clearance for FL600. ATC gives clearance with some skepticism, since most planes can't climb that high... only to be informed that the SR-71 would be descending to FL600.
Here is the pilot telling the story. I think it's the same pilot as top story as back seater is Walter.
Re: The slowest SR-71 Blackbird fly-by
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
My favourite SR-71 story involves asking ATC for clearance for FL600. ATC gives clearance with some skepticism, since most planes can't climb that high... only to be informed that the SR-71 would be descending to FL600.
Here is the pilot telling the story. I think it's the same pilot as top story as back seater is Walter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyHH9G9et0
Another great story different pilot:
Buzzing the tower. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTJYNq4GQAE
Re: The slowest SR-71 Blackbird fly-by
#28Archive: https://archive.md/vj1oF I'm not one to bother with archive snapshots, but this site is particularly infuriating with it's attempt to prevent text selection.
Yes, I used ctrl-f to locate some text, and realized I couldn't click away to deselect. Super frustrating for weird people like me who like to highlight text as I read to help focus.
Re: The slowest SR-71 Blackbird fly-by
#29I often think about life using aviation analogies. You need to have enough airspeed, for instance, to maintain lift: one must keep moving to survive. Don't stall your wing with too much angle of attack = don't bite off more than you can chew. Etc etc...
Interesting. Do you have more? Would love to hear.
Re: The slowest SR-71 Blackbird fly-by
#30Very interesting article. Did anyone else notice the website? If you try to select the text, either double-tap or right clicking brings up a indicator "web site protected"