5 ms·

I love hearing these stories about these little automatic backups and failsafes kicking-in and heroically doing their jobs in the case of unthinkable situations

I love hearing these stories about these little automatic backups and failsafes kicking-in and heroically doing their jobs in the case of unthinkable situations (e.g the flight suit emergency oxygen, automatic parachute etc here). I get kinda goose pimples thinking about all the systems that were probably spasmodically firing off in that last second or two or flight (and perhaps in the split seconds after breakup if they had power still?), trying their damn best to valiantly do their final important tasks, even when doomed to fail. Kudos to all the engineers involved. Anyone got any other first-hand stories or links to similar stuff?

austinl 4y ago
I'd highly recommend the book Skunk Works by Ben Rich. It's about the engineering team at Lockheed Martin that designed the Blackbird (and the U-2, and several other amazing planes), and describes many of the engineering challenges in detail.
- jeffdn 4y ago
  Such a fascinating read! I particularly enjoyed the part where they are testing the radar cross section of Have Blue, the initial design for the F-117. They had put it up on the test stand, but think the radar is malfunctioning, as they don't see any returns on the scope. Finally, they get a tiny return -- a bird had landed on the test object!
  - hef19898 4y ago
    The F-117 is such great plane, and defense project. Developed as complete black project, it was delivered in time and, allegedly, in budget. The latter point is hard to verify, after all they used parts from the F-15 and F-16 programms. Up to the point where congress challenegd the spare needs for those programms. Plus, it was a beautiful plane.
    - bee_rider 4y ago
      The B-2 and F-117 are so bizarre and alien looking compared to everything that came before and after (in a good way). If we were picking planes for a space opera, IMO the big villain guy would fly around in a B-2, his minions would get F-117s, and probably the hero would get a Blackbird (although, with a less menacing paint job).
      - tomcam 4y ago
        Analysis: True
- NegativeLatency 4y ago
  There's an audiobook of it which was pretty well done
- inasio 4y ago
  My favorite part of the new Top Gun movie was the first 10-15 minutes. It features a very nice looking plane with a cool skunk logo [0] [0] https://www.lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockheed-martin/aero/photo/skunkworks/Homepage/classified3.png https://www.lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockheed-martin/a...
  - Victerius 4y ago
    (Spoilers?) I thought the Darkstar plane (or a copy, since it disintegrates in flight) would return at the end of the movie to save the day or as a surprise, but it didn't.
    - MarkMarine 4y ago
      Spoilers: Maverick died during that crash and the whole movie is just his last DMT hit before brain death. (Not my theory, lifted from the internets)
      - tfigment 4y ago
        That theory actually makes it a better movie for me
    - edrxty 4y ago
      I got the feeling they recut a lot of the first act in post. A lot of effort was put into the darkstar both in production and in marketing and it was turned into a throwaway
      - dotancohen 4y ago
        I got the feeling that the whole Darkstar scene, and the entire movie after the helicopter gunship missed with his cannon, were added just to padded the trailer with nice footage. I absolutely loved seeing the (virtual) F-14 fly, I think that I've seen all publicly available F-14 footage on Youtube a dozen times. But the actual story was bookmarked between Maverick getting sent to Mirimar (or North Shore, whatever) and looking down the barrels of the Mil MI.
- gumby 4y ago
  I second this recommendation. I've read this book more than once. I'm amazed at how quickly they developed and shipped product, and developed their own tooling in the process.
- 0000011111 4y ago
  I 2ed this recommendation. After reading the book, I felt like I understood the fundamentals of why the Blackbird program was limited in scope and time in contrast to their cheeper to build and operate style aircraft.
- zizee 4y ago
  Love that book. Sled Driver is also worth checking out. It focuses on things from the pilots perspective, but from memory the pilots had to have a fairly intimate understanding of their vehicles, so a lot of discussion of the mechanics/engineering. Offtopic: Skunkworks, and Master's of Doom are two of my favourite non fiction books, and they both had a similar vibe. Liftoff (Eric Berger) was another. Can people recommend more books like this?
  - wantoncl 4y ago
    Blind Man's Bluff: https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/dp/1610393589 https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/... I think it's on par with Skunk Works. Absolutely amazing stories about submarine espionage, stealth fighters but underwater.
    - zizee 4y ago
      Thankyou, I will check it out :-)
mzs 4y ago
Auto-GCAS https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/auto-gcas_performs_fourth_confirmed_save.html https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/auto-gcas_pe...
- jaywalk 4y ago
  I've watched the video on that page numerous times, and it's still amazing.
K2h 4y ago
Related to backups and fail-safes heroically doing their jobs - Found on HN awhile ago - stories of successful ejection seat deployment saving each pilots life. https://martin-baker.com/ejection-tie-club/ https://martin-baker.com/ejection-tie-club/
- yardie 4y ago
  I wonder how many HNers grew up on Top Gun and thinking ejection seats are inherently dangerous because Goose died while operating one.
  - fsagx 4y ago
    Ward Carroll (a former F14 rear-seater) has a good breakdown on F14 ejection issues (and the dreaded flat spin) on his youtube channel: The Truth About the F-14 and Goose’s Death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwS1k8LKxJg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwS1k8LKxJg Synopsis: Goose's death was based on a real accident, but ejection protocol was changed by the Top-Gun timeline. Had Goose followed procedure, he should have survived the ejection.
  - jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
    Ejection seats are inherently dangerous for sure. Even an ideal ejection is a big enough hit on your spinal column your height will measure different for a bit afterwards.
  - na85 4y ago
    Even modern 0/0 seats (i.e. theoretically survivable for zero airspeed and zero altitude ejections) carry inherent risk. When I was in the military a friend of mine was killed ejecting in an emergency shortly after takeoff. You're sitting on a loaded and primed tube of explosives; there's no way to make that totally benign. Just a few days ago the Iranians lost two pilots when their ejector seats malfunctioned in a hangar and catapulted the occupants into the roof of the hangar.
CamperBob2 4y ago
I'm about halfway through Don Eyles' Sunburst and Luminary: An Apollo Memoir and so far it definitely meets your criterion. Check that one out.

austinl 4y ago

I'd highly recommend the book Skunk Works by Ben Rich. It's about the engineering team at Lockheed Martin that designed the Blackbird (and the U-2, and several other amazing planes), and describes many of the engineering challenges in detail.

jeffdn 4y ago
Such a fascinating read! I particularly enjoyed the part where they are testing the radar cross section of Have Blue, the initial design for the F-117. They had put it up on the test stand, but think the radar is malfunctioning, as they don't see any returns on the scope. Finally, they get a tiny return -- a bird had landed on the test object!
- hef19898 4y ago
  The F-117 is such great plane, and defense project. Developed as complete black project, it was delivered in time and, allegedly, in budget. The latter point is hard to verify, after all they used parts from the F-15 and F-16 programms. Up to the point where congress challenegd the spare needs for those programms. Plus, it was a beautiful plane.
  - bee_rider 4y ago
    The B-2 and F-117 are so bizarre and alien looking compared to everything that came before and after (in a good way). If we were picking planes for a space opera, IMO the big villain guy would fly around in a B-2, his minions would get F-117s, and probably the hero would get a Blackbird (although, with a less menacing paint job).
    - tomcam 4y ago
      Analysis: True
NegativeLatency 4y ago
There's an audiobook of it which was pretty well done
inasio 4y ago
My favorite part of the new Top Gun movie was the first 10-15 minutes. It features a very nice looking plane with a cool skunk logo [0] [0] https://www.lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockheed-martin/aero/photo/skunkworks/Homepage/classified3.png https://www.lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockheed-martin/a...
- Victerius 4y ago
  (Spoilers?) I thought the Darkstar plane (or a copy, since it disintegrates in flight) would return at the end of the movie to save the day or as a surprise, but it didn't.
  - MarkMarine 4y ago
    Spoilers: Maverick died during that crash and the whole movie is just his last DMT hit before brain death. (Not my theory, lifted from the internets)
    - tfigment 4y ago
      That theory actually makes it a better movie for me
  - edrxty 4y ago
    I got the feeling they recut a lot of the first act in post. A lot of effort was put into the darkstar both in production and in marketing and it was turned into a throwaway
    - dotancohen 4y ago
      I got the feeling that the whole Darkstar scene, and the entire movie after the helicopter gunship missed with his cannon, were added just to padded the trailer with nice footage. I absolutely loved seeing the (virtual) F-14 fly, I think that I've seen all publicly available F-14 footage on Youtube a dozen times. But the actual story was bookmarked between Maverick getting sent to Mirimar (or North Shore, whatever) and looking down the barrels of the Mil MI.
gumby 4y ago
I second this recommendation. I've read this book more than once. I'm amazed at how quickly they developed and shipped product, and developed their own tooling in the process.
0000011111 4y ago
I 2ed this recommendation. After reading the book, I felt like I understood the fundamentals of why the Blackbird program was limited in scope and time in contrast to their cheeper to build and operate style aircraft.
zizee 4y ago
Love that book. Sled Driver is also worth checking out. It focuses on things from the pilots perspective, but from memory the pilots had to have a fairly intimate understanding of their vehicles, so a lot of discussion of the mechanics/engineering. Offtopic: Skunkworks, and Master's of Doom are two of my favourite non fiction books, and they both had a similar vibe. Liftoff (Eric Berger) was another. Can people recommend more books like this?
- wantoncl 4y ago
  Blind Man's Bluff: https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/dp/1610393589 https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/... I think it's on par with Skunk Works. Absolutely amazing stories about submarine espionage, stealth fighters but underwater.
  - zizee 4y ago
    Thankyou, I will check it out :-)

mzs 4y ago

Auto-GCAS https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/auto-gcas_performs_fourth_confirmed_save.html https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/auto-gcas_pe...

jaywalk 4y ago
I've watched the video on that page numerous times, and it's still amazing.

K2h 4y ago

Related to backups and fail-safes heroically doing their jobs - Found on HN awhile ago - stories of successful ejection seat deployment saving each pilots life. https://martin-baker.com/ejection-tie-club/ https://martin-baker.com/ejection-tie-club/

yardie 4y ago
I wonder how many HNers grew up on Top Gun and thinking ejection seats are inherently dangerous because Goose died while operating one.
- fsagx 4y ago
  Ward Carroll (a former F14 rear-seater) has a good breakdown on F14 ejection issues (and the dreaded flat spin) on his youtube channel: The Truth About the F-14 and Goose’s Death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwS1k8LKxJg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwS1k8LKxJg Synopsis: Goose's death was based on a real accident, but ejection protocol was changed by the Top-Gun timeline. Had Goose followed procedure, he should have survived the ejection.
- jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
  Ejection seats are inherently dangerous for sure. Even an ideal ejection is a big enough hit on your spinal column your height will measure different for a bit afterwards.
- na85 4y ago
  Even modern 0/0 seats (i.e. theoretically survivable for zero airspeed and zero altitude ejections) carry inherent risk. When I was in the military a friend of mine was killed ejecting in an emergency shortly after takeoff. You're sitting on a loaded and primed tube of explosives; there's no way to make that totally benign. Just a few days ago the Iranians lost two pilots when their ejector seats malfunctioned in a hangar and catapulted the occupants into the roof of the hangar.

CamperBob2 4y ago

I'm about halfway through Don Eyles' Sunburst and Luminary: An Apollo Memoir and so far it definitely meets your criterion. Check that one out.