3 ms·
>“The next day, our flight profile was duplicated on the SR-71 flight simulator at Beale AFB, Calif. The outcome was identical. Steps were immediately taken to
by 1shooner 4y ago
>“The next day, our flight profile was duplicated on the SR-71 flight simulator at Beale AFB, Calif. The outcome was identical. Steps were immediately taken to prevent a recurrence of our accident."
When he says 'flight profile', is he referring to the full flight plan/mission (i.e. it could have been simulated beforehand and prevented the crash), or does he mean the specific circumstances that arose during the flight (the malfunction)?
- hinkley 4y agoEducated guess they mean the moments leading up to the accident. FTA this was an incident during a test flight. If they lost the plane during a normal mission then they'd need repro steps, but in this case the flight was itself an experiment, so the distinction between the two is pretty fine. > On Jan. 25, 1966 Lockheed test pilots Bill Weaver and Jim Zwayer were flying SR-71 Blackbird #952 at Mach 3.2, at 78,800 feet when a serious engine unstart and the subsequent “instantaneous loss of engine thrust” occurred. A bit later he says: > “On the planned test profile, we entered a programmed 35-deg. bank turn to the right. An immediate unstart occurred on the right engine, forcing the aircraft to roll further right and start to pitch up. I jammed the control stick as far left and forward as it would go. No response. I instantly knew we were in for a wild ride."