So geek, so cool

And I very much include myself in the geek crowd so no offence meant.

What we have Here[/url] is the actual flight manual for the SR 71 Blackbird.

Some 1000 plus pages.

That’s my weekend reading sorted…

Cheers

Danny B

im read the book from the head of the lockheed development mob…

You and I appear to have a very different definition of the word ‘cool’. 🙂

Just added to my favourites.

Cheers,

Danny B

Geek chic has a certain cool..
Taking on certain geeky qualities such as being a bit fey and excelling academically, also fairly cool..

This shit that you’re talking about here..?
Not cool man, not **** cool

AFTER TAKEOFF

When definitely airbourne:

1. Landing gear lever – UP.

So much to memorise!

mach3.3 if the commander ok’s it f’ me………

MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT
Dinghy Stabber

A dinghy stabber, on the pilot’s glareshield and on the RSO’s right console, is provided to deflate the dinghy if it accidentally inflates in the cockpit.

😀

I just skipped straight to the eject procedure.

Geeky is cool
Nerdy isn’t

This is nerdy.

Anyone just read the recent article on the BBC news website?

Apparently a few years ago, UK air traffic control informed an SR71 Blackbird pilot (travelling at full chat,) that he was going too slow and that he needed to move over and let a faster aircraft continue on its journey.

Yes.. you guessed it…… Concorde!

Nobody does it better.

That is ace. And the dinghy stabber – that’s thinking of everything 😉

That is ace. And the dinghy stabber – that’s thinking of everything

why did this conjour an image of two sailors man loving stuck in an inflatable boat

Anyone just read the recent article on the BBC news website?

Apparently a few years ago, UK air traffic control informed an SR71 Blackbird pilot (travelling at full chat,) that he was going too slow and that he needed to move over and let a faster aircraft continue on its journey.

Yes.. you guessed it…… Concorde!

Nobody does it better.

i believe the real version and reason they let it go was outlined in the book “sled driver” as an SOP for civillian aircraft if a faster aircraft was in need to descend through civilian airspace below FL600

It was mentioned to me last night as i read my how to build your own stalth bomber in your garage book book that bats were casualty in hangars around stealth aircraft , a chap who knows a man who knows lots about bats pointed out they navigate by memory so it was more of a nice anecdote possibly than fact

I’d like that as a .pdf file that I can open in iBooks. I keep meaning to borrow the Skunk Works book from a work colleague, it seems to go for silly money these days.

Yeah, the great thing about the Concorde incident is that the SR 71 guys were in effectively spacesuits and the Concorde pilots BA shirtsleeves.

@jam bo – you are entitled to your opinion but in this case you are plain wrong…

Oh god, my one bat “fact” gets it’s annual outing…

Whilst they navigate by memory they build that memory using their echo location thing. So if the hanger is constantly changing the bats won’t have a memory of the layout and the stealth aircraft could prevent it forming one effectively.

(you know it isn’t the most reliable fact when the word “thing” is involved)

And am I the only person who thinks that the dinghy stabber was included as a result of hard learned experience?

Yeah, the great thing about the Concorde incident is that the SR 71 guys were in effectively spacesuits and the Concorde pilots BA shirtsleeves.

If that anecdote is true, and I do so hope it was, the even better thing is that while the Yanks were in their spacesuits, Joan Collins (or some other sleb du jour) was sitting their in shoulder pads sipping Dom P. 🙂

The thing I love about Concorde (well, one thing) was that it had special expanding floor joints – the heat of supersonic flight made the whole aircraft several inches longer.

And am I the only person who thinks that the dinghy stabber was included as a result of hard learned experience?

It’s also for disabling the autopilot.

I call bluff on the Concorde story. The sr71 at full tilt would be over Mach 3, whereas Concorde only did Mach 2.

Sorry

I call bluff on the Concorde story. The sr71 at full tilt would be over Mach 3, whereas Concorde only did Mach 2.

Sorry

Molgrips was piloting Concorde.

Oh, fair enough. I take it back then.

Molgrips was piloting Concorde.

So, it was borked then?

Now, if Surf Matt had been flying it….

Skunk works by Ben Rich is a terrific book about life on the cutting edge of aerospace technology for 40 years!

Yeah, the great thing about the Concorde incident is that the SR 71 guys were in effectively spacesuits and the Concorde pilots BA shirtsleeves.

Danny again covered in the book, leaving in a hurry had been proven by an SR71 driver in a pressure suit at mach 2.6 or something dont think a BA shirt would protect ?

Oh god, my one bat “fact” gets it’s annual outing…

I know nowt about bats….are you singletrack dave? if not it was his fact

Nice find on the flight manual. I believe the BA story. It’s not like BA pilots to lie or glamourise – it’s just not British you know. SR71 only flew at Mach 3 at about 80,000 ft or more and could only sustain that for a relatively short period of time (granted, it covered a lot of distance in that time). At lower altitude it would have flown much slower. Concorde could ‘supercruise’ at Mach 2 and 60,000 ft (I.e flying supersonically without afterburner) something only the most recent and modern gen 5 fighters can do (F22, Eurofighter etc.). SR71 needed afterburner as its engine was a quite simple single spool turbojet and it needed special fuel. Also the SR71 couldn’t handle the thermal stresses on it due to friction of supersonic flight and the expansion and contraction of the fuselage, and it leaked fuel constantly because they couldn’t seal the fuel tanks. Concorde stretched 15cm during supersonic flight without a drop of fuel being spilled. Also in a typical mission the SR71 needed refuelling several times.

The SR71 was a piece of kit and a half but was a highly specialised thing and a bit of a one trick pony, a bit like a dragster. No comparison between the SR71 and Concorde. Concorde wins hands down as a technical masterpiece.

I don’t think anyone would survive an ejection at mach 3 space suit or not. The cockpit of the SR71 wasn’t fully pressurised hence the need for a spacesuit. But then again there was no need to be sipping champaign and nibbling on caviar in the SR71.

Be pretty cool though to be hurtling over the hostile Soviet Union nibbling on your swan sarnies.

They barrel rolled Concorde in the test flights and don’t forget its operational speed was Mach 2.2 but it had oodles of power in reserve so may have been pushed faster in testing?

@ Wobbles – correct, Concorde was the only true supersonic aircraft (as defined by being able to cruise at Mach 2+ without the need for burners) for some years.

@BenC – rumour has it they used to find things mid flight that had fallen in the joints and then got lost when the fuselage contracted

Can Eurofight do Mach speeds without them? Know the F22 can but didn’t think the Typhoon could.

Side note – do like the fact its official designation is Typhoon – one in the eye for Jerry…

** Goes off to read Sled Driver again **