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Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

sr-71.org

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Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#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

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#32
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What other options would you have in such an extreme situation? It seems to make sense to me.

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.

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#33

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…

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.

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#34

I remember being reported that SR-71 missile evasion procedure was simply to "accelerate and outpace". But I cannot find it in the manual :( !

Would totally depend on the missile and where it is coming from. Anything behind ... acceleration wouldn't matter as few missiles would have been fast enough to close the gap. Missiles to the side would be outrun. Missiles from the front are another story. A missile rising up from a point in front of the aircraft is a deadly threat. It doesn't even have to match velocity to make a kill. In short: acceleration for missiles below and to the sides. Stuff in front, time to turn. Stuff behind, forget about it.

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#35
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

I want to go out on a limb and say two things: (i) It probably is broken. (ii) That table doesn't show when the data was listed as public. The reference on the top speed is "Taylor 1988, p. [51]."

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#36
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 are faster air-breathing aircraft (e.g. [0]), but none of them are manned because with modern technology there's no need to put a person in them, and the people funding these developments aren't interested in spending lots of money just to chase records.

There's also the outside possibility that faster manned aircraft exist, but remain classified [1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-51_Waverider [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(aircraft)

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#37
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

-Wholly uneducated guess: many of the tasks handled by the SR-71 is adequately handled by satellites today.

Additionally, if someone had indeed broken the record in some black project or the other, chances are they would keep mum about it rather than calling Guinness Book of Records.

Re: Blackbird SR-71 Flight Manual (2010)

#40
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.

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