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LA Speed Check - SR-71 Blackbird (The King of Speed) (Original Post) ItsjustMe Nov 2020 OP
Badass Technology requiring human interface. OAITW r.2.0 Nov 2020 #1
center scenes were from close encounters of the 3d kind if u didnt know already. AllaN01Bear Nov 2020 #2
Actually, took the time to listen..... OAITW r.2.0 Nov 2020 #3
it is not a female pilot, it is Major Brian Shul, USAF (Ret.) Celerity Nov 2020 #8
Thanks, my bad...thought the narrator was the pilot. nt OAITW r.2.0 Nov 2020 #9
the narrator is the pilot, Major Brian Shul, USAF (Ret.), there are no females involved Celerity Nov 2020 #18
Even more embarrassed. So much for audio intel. OAITW r.2.0 Nov 2020 #19
aww, its oki, no big deal at all Celerity Nov 2020 #22
I downloaded this really cool app that tells me when I reach peak stupid. OAITW r.2.0 Nov 2020 #24
Buzzing the tower Brother Buzz Nov 2020 #4
+1 Kaleva Nov 2020 #6
+2 Midnightwalk Nov 2020 #7
Great story! DEbluedude Nov 2020 #23
... orangecrush Nov 2020 #5
There's One At Wright-Patterson ProfessorGAC Nov 2020 #10
I saw the SR-71 at the Castle Air Museum ItsjustMe Nov 2020 #12
That's not all Bob Munck Nov 2020 #16
Yes! ProfessorGAC Nov 2020 #31
"I'm thinking our interests are very similar." Bob Munck Nov 2020 #32
I Worked For A Couple Multinationals ProfessorGAC Nov 2020 #35
The program was retired around 1990, R Merm Nov 2020 #25
Not So Fast! ProfessorGAC Nov 2020 #30
There is one at Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas Klaralven Nov 2020 #27
Excellent! littlemissmartypants Nov 2020 #11
An amazing aircraft DeminPennswoods Nov 2020 #13
At 85,000 feet, 2000 knots would be Mach 3.44 Klaralven Nov 2020 #28
Another Habu Story Bob Munck Nov 2020 #14
An Air Force vet used to hang out at local bar randr Nov 2020 #15
That's just a spaceship with wings. Codeine Nov 2020 #17
Slide rules and paper, Baby! Brother Buzz Nov 2020 #33
That never gets old. paleotn Nov 2020 #20
No human will pilot a recon/combat mission on such as beast. OAITW r.2.0 Nov 2020 #21
Sweet. BMW2020RT Nov 2020 #26
Bookmarking for revisiting in case I need a lift. littlemissmartypants Nov 2020 #29
Here's his full 70-minute talk that the OP clip was excerpted from JHB Nov 2020 #34
The thing that amazes me, is it represents bleeding edge 1950s technology NotASurfer Nov 2020 #36

OAITW r.2.0

(23,862 posts)
1. Badass Technology requiring human interface.
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 07:43 PM
Nov 2020

SR-71 type birds will be computer pilots.....with a drone pilot in the backseat(s) overseeing the mission.

OAITW r.2.0

(23,862 posts)
3. Actually, took the time to listen.....
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 07:51 PM
Nov 2020

this is a female pilot talking about how a Cessna 172 pilot requested a speed check, then it escalated up to an F-16. Thought he was king of the sky until she requested a speed check. Pretty great story!

OAITW r.2.0

(23,862 posts)
19. Even more embarrassed. So much for audio intel.
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 10:19 PM
Nov 2020

I've reached my daily limit on stupid. I will quit now, except post in the ME forum.

OAITW r.2.0

(23,862 posts)
24. I downloaded this really cool app that tells me when I reach peak stupid.
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 10:36 PM
Nov 2020

I've broken my personal time record 19 times since downing the app 6 months ago! I'm shooting for 10 minutes, as a cab level employee of the Trump Administration.

ProfessorGAC

(64,425 posts)
10. There's One At Wright-Patterson
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 08:36 PM
Nov 2020

It was hanging from the ceiling of the huge museum hangar.
The last time I went was shortly after the plane was retired. I'm guessing 2000.
It looks fast hanging still from that ceiling.
Awesome plane.

Bob Munck

(35 posts)
16. That's not all
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 09:10 PM
Nov 2020

Wright-Pat also has the only existing XB-70 Valkyrie. I remember when it was still sitting out on the runway in the 1970s. I walked toward it from the rear and had this strong feeling of deja-vu from the opening scene of Star Wars, where the Star Destroyer goes by overhead.

I love visiting the great planes in museums. One of my strong memories is touring the Spruce Goose in Long Beach. Also looking down when landing at Dulles and seeing the Enterprise sitting there. I'd been at the roll-out at Palmdale in 1976, standing right behind the Star Trek cast. The top of my head was on the cover of Life.

ProfessorGAC

(64,425 posts)
31. Yes!
Sun Nov 29, 2020, 08:13 AM
Nov 2020

Thanks for the reminder!
As I recall, they had a B47 we could walk through, too.
I was there 2 or 3 times. In the 90s and early naughts, I had meetings in Cincinnati 4 or 5 times a year.
I'd just drive, so I left early a couple times and stopped in Dayton to go through the museum.
Cool Star Trek story.
On biz in SoCal, I went to see the goose too.
I'm thinking our interests are very similar.

Bob Munck

(35 posts)
32. "I'm thinking our interests are very similar."
Mon Nov 30, 2020, 06:33 PM
Nov 2020

I was a feral software engineer. In Cincinnati, I did robotics stuff at Cincinnati-Milacron. At Wright-Pat I did a lot of work on the Air Force ICAM program; our little Boston company was the Prime Contractor, with subs like Boeing, Lockheed, IBM. In LA I was advising Xerox-PARC on a proposed commercial product involving their newly-invented Ethernet, laser printer, and Alto computer. Also, I was on the Advanced Tactical Fighter selection committee and did some EMP work on Air Force One.

ProfessorGAC

(64,425 posts)
35. I Worked For A Couple Multinationals
Mon Nov 30, 2020, 07:59 PM
Nov 2020

I'm a retired physical organic chemist. Did work in 37 different countries over my time.
Truth is I'm probably more interested in the history of flight than in the planes themselves, but it's still about the planes.
My frequent meetings in Cincinnati probably already tells you who I was working with!
One of my developments ended up in a few of their major brands for 12 years or so. Long story as to why not longer.
Big Star Trek fan of every part of the non-animated franchise, so that's why I found that part so cool.
Now, if you tell me you play golf, piano or guitar, I'll freak!

R Merm

(405 posts)
25. The program was retired around 1990,
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 10:50 PM
Nov 2020

I was working on the fuel controls when it was retired. After the program was retired they allowed the plane to publicly break a few speed records including the coast to coast time record.

ProfessorGAC

(64,425 posts)
30. Not So Fast!
Sun Nov 29, 2020, 08:07 AM
Nov 2020

Last edited Sun Nov 29, 2020, 10:05 AM - Edit history (1)

Very cool that you were involved with that plane, but here's what I found that made me say 1999:

During 1988, the USAF retired the SR-71 largely due to political reasons; several were briefly reactivated during the 1990s before their second retirement in 1998. NASA was the final operator of the type, retiring their examples in 1999.

So, at least some were flying missions in the 90s. You have inside info I don't.
The speed test LA to DC was the one I remember being in the news.
A guy I went to HS with (now a doctor in Minnesota) had a brother a year younger that was involved in the SR-71 somehow. IIRC, it was in reconnaissance analysis, but not sure I'm remembering that correctly.
He went to the AFA a year after his brother went to Loyola Chicago.
I left HS a year early, so I've only seen those guys once or twice since 1973.
 

Klaralven

(7,510 posts)
27. There is one at Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 10:53 PM
Nov 2020
Cosmosphere is a space museum and STEM education center in Hutchinson, Kansas, United States. It was previously known as the Kansas Cosmosphere. The museum houses over 13,000 spaceflight artifacts—the largest combined collection of US and Russian spaceflight artifacts in the world—and is home to internationally acclaimed educational programs.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmosphere

Very much worth a visit.

littlemissmartypants

(22,418 posts)
11. Excellent!
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 08:48 PM
Nov 2020

Takes me back to my flying lessons when I could barely taxi the runway. Thanks for sharing this ItsjustMe. It brought a tear to my eye.

❤ lmsp

DeminPennswoods

(15,246 posts)
13. An amazing aircraft
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 08:56 PM
Nov 2020

Not sure if it's still the case, but it's top speed and max ceiling were classified. I was told it could make Mach2 and could take pictures of surface-to-air missiles that tried to shoot it down. When parked, it leaked fuel because the skin would expand in flight closing up all the gaps.

Bob Munck

(35 posts)
14. Another Habu Story
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 08:59 PM
Nov 2020

There's also a story where the pilot requests flight level 600 (60,000 ft). The controller asks how he could possibly get up to that level.

The pilot replies that he's descending to it from fl 850.

I remember driving over to Dulles to see a Blackbird land a bit over an hour after leaving the west coast. I think it's the one on view in the Air and Space Museum. There was a lot to be said for living near Dulles: Concordes landing and taking off, space shuttles flying over our house on the 747, SR-71s, Marine 1 on its way to Camp David with a fighter escort, the Goodyear Blimp doing TV feeds for the US Open just south of us...

randr

(12,408 posts)
15. An Air Force vet used to hang out at local bar
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 09:06 PM
Nov 2020

He was a mechanic on the SR-71s. He told stories of how they would tear them down after flights to the smallest pieces to calibrate the effects of such speeds. He said the top speed has never been declassified and it would shock people. Great guy, not sure if he is still around as I moved a while back.

Brother Buzz

(36,217 posts)
33. Slide rules and paper, Baby!
Mon Nov 30, 2020, 06:47 PM
Nov 2020

Just trying to figure how the Pratt & Whitney J58 engine actually works is a daunting task

OAITW r.2.0

(23,862 posts)
21. No human will pilot a recon/combat mission on such as beast.
Sat Nov 28, 2020, 10:22 PM
Nov 2020

A very fast computer will execute the algorithms to survive. Reserve human pilots in the back seats.....

JHB

(37,133 posts)
34. Here's his full 70-minute talk that the OP clip was excerpted from
Mon Nov 30, 2020, 06:52 PM
Nov 2020

The LA speed check story is just the last 5 or so minutes of a much longer talk about his career and some of the hurdles he faced after what were thought to be debilitating injuries in a crash.

This was a presentation at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Nov. 15, 2016, following his publishing of a book with not just his experiences but also some of the only "candid" photos of the SR-71 and its crew members. It took until 2016 for some of the photos to no longer be considered classified.





In this talk at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Vietnam-era attack pilot and retired Air Force major Brian Shul, author of "Sled Driver: Flying the World's Fastest Jet," reveals fascinating details of piloting the SR-71. Using his rare aviation slides and stories as a vehicle, he tells a broader inspired story of hope, overcoming obstacles and daring to dream.

Shul graduated from East Carolina University in 1970 with a degree in history and anthropology. After graduation, for the next 20 years he served as an Air Force fighter pilot. During the Vietnam War, he flew 212 close air support missions. During one of these missions, Shul was shot down near the Cambodian border and was unable to eject, so he was forced to fly his plane into the jungle. He was severely burned in the crash. Shul was rescued by Special Forces and endured one year in military hospitals where he underwent 15 surgical procedures and was told he would never fly again.

After much physical therapy, Shul miraculously returned to active duty flying. He flew the A-7D, was an instructor in the A-10 and went on to teach at the Air Force's Top Gun School. He culminated his Air Force career by flying our nation's top secret spy plane, the SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest aircraft ever built. He flew covert missions in the Blackbird for four years and was the pilot who provided President Reagan with detailed photos of Libyan terrorist camps in 1986. During that time, he became the only SR-71 pilot in history to fly three missions in three consecutive days.

Retiring from the Air Force in1990, Shul pursued his writing and photography interests. He was the first pilot to write a book about flying the Blackbird, which is completely illustrated with his own photography. The book won Aviation Book of the Year honors and is today the single most popular book on that plane worldwide. He is also the only man to fly extensively with both the Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds as a photojournalist.

This talk was presented at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Nov. 15, 2016.

NotASurfer

(2,138 posts)
36. The thing that amazes me, is it represents bleeding edge 1950s technology
Mon Nov 30, 2020, 08:50 PM
Nov 2020

First flew in the early 1960s but they started designing in the late '50s.

It's fun to imagine what current bleeding edge aircraft they're getting off the ground today.

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