The Blackbird was a magnificent platform, but it truly was about time to retire it, space based platforms could do the job pretty well by then.
It was a very maintenance intensive regimen, training and support was expensive. I hope we have an unannounced successor which is more capable, more efficient and safer in a manned version but with drones and satellites it was just reasonable to save that money.
Fook Traitor joe the Pedo but the Blackbird was one of those things he probably never even understood, he voted as his bribes steered him.
Be difficult to join the mile high club on one of those. Mach 32 gives you what, 19000 miles per hour or so? You need 17500 miles per hour to break gravity and achieve orbit, pilots better not pull the nose up. Accelerating to that velocity is gonna pin you back in the seat three rows behind yourself, take a G-suit in your carry-on.
And arriving at your destination you'll need to circle and decelerate, a LOT of speed to kill. 5 minutes is gonna be a long time...
There's a Blackbird pilot named Brian Shul, he wrote a book called 'Sled Driver' about the Blackbird. He's an interesting guy, he took a camera up on many of his flights and took personal photos while doing everything a Blackbird pilot had to do.
Tells some interesting stories too, some funny some not so much. He liked to mess with air traffic control, I think all the Blackbird crews did. One I remember is he was coming back to California from Asia, nearing the point where he needed to contact civilian air traffic control. He gets a break on the radio and asks for 'angels 60', or flight level 60,000 feet. The ATC was irritated, busy day, and he yells back 'how are you gonna get up there asshole?' Or something else as pleasant... Brian chuckles, says 'aw you got me, I'm not really going up to 60, I'm coming down to 60'.
Another time he was coming in and civilians were flying about on a kinda slow evening, they would call ATC and ask altitude checks, speed checks, just stuff pilots do. The controller was doing his job... 'you're showing 278 on that speed check'... 'you're doing 195'... you're doing 505'. A NAVY pilot in an F-18 decided to play with the civilians, asked for a speed check, and was told 'Navy you're doing 723', or something above the civilians. So Brian identified and asked for a speed check...'you're doing 1782'. Suddenly there was silence, the other pilots quit talking for a few seconds and Brian's backseater called back ..' We're showing closer to 1800 you better recalibrate'.
He flew the BDA mission after Reagan bombed Quadafy and on his way in he saw the strike force out over the Med headed Home, and he counted them, knew on his way in that one plane had gone down. The rageheads were ready for him and shot a lot of Russian SAMs at him but they couldn't hit the Blackbird even when they knew he was coming.
Anyhow, that book is kinda expensive but check your libraries, better ones have a copy. He describes the Blackbird very well, and is somewhat of a character.
So Brian identified and asked for a speed check...'you're doing 1782'. Suddenly there was silence, the other pilots quit talking for a few seconds and Brian's backseater called back ..' We're showing closer to 1800 you better recalibrate'.
Was at NASA one day, and they were talking about everything being connected to the Atomic Clock and it was so accurate, only being out by a second for every thousand years or something like that. Someone then yelled out, "Why don't they adjust it?"
.
This was the extra funny.
Brian chuckles, says 'aw you got me, I'm not really going up to 60, I'm coming down to 60'.
The Blackbird was a magnificent platform, but it truly was about time to retire it, space based platforms could do the job pretty well by then.
It was a very maintenance intensive regimen, training and support was expensive. I hope we have an unannounced successor which is more capable, more efficient and safer in a manned version but with drones and satellites it was just reasonable to save that money.
Fook Traitor joe the Pedo but the Blackbird was one of those things he probably never even understood, he voted as his bribes steered him.
https://files.catbox.moe/3naoaa.jpg
Maybe the real reason some pushed it into retirement, when it was flying it made all the other planes look bad.
Yes, very expensive. Special titanium body, special fuel, special and expensive everything.
But out of all the planes that have flown by, it was the most exciting.
Not sure about second place, probably the Eagle. Was standing in the yard one day, the F-15 went along very low.
Watching the SR-71 fly by, it looked like it was from the future, or from another planet.
.
Biden's Mach 32 airliner.
It would be 4 hours getting to the airport, 2 hours to get through security, then a flight of 5 minutes.
Would certainly put all the in-flight meal factories out of business.
' then a flight of 5 minutes.'
Be difficult to join the mile high club on one of those. Mach 32 gives you what, 19000 miles per hour or so? You need 17500 miles per hour to break gravity and achieve orbit, pilots better not pull the nose up. Accelerating to that velocity is gonna pin you back in the seat three rows behind yourself, take a G-suit in your carry-on.
And arriving at your destination you'll need to circle and decelerate, a LOT of speed to kill. 5 minutes is gonna be a long time...
There's a Blackbird pilot named Brian Shul, he wrote a book called 'Sled Driver' about the Blackbird. He's an interesting guy, he took a camera up on many of his flights and took personal photos while doing everything a Blackbird pilot had to do.
Tells some interesting stories too, some funny some not so much. He liked to mess with air traffic control, I think all the Blackbird crews did. One I remember is he was coming back to California from Asia, nearing the point where he needed to contact civilian air traffic control. He gets a break on the radio and asks for 'angels 60', or flight level 60,000 feet. The ATC was irritated, busy day, and he yells back 'how are you gonna get up there asshole?' Or something else as pleasant... Brian chuckles, says 'aw you got me, I'm not really going up to 60, I'm coming down to 60'.
Another time he was coming in and civilians were flying about on a kinda slow evening, they would call ATC and ask altitude checks, speed checks, just stuff pilots do. The controller was doing his job... 'you're showing 278 on that speed check'... 'you're doing 195'... you're doing 505'. A NAVY pilot in an F-18 decided to play with the civilians, asked for a speed check, and was told 'Navy you're doing 723', or something above the civilians. So Brian identified and asked for a speed check...'you're doing 1782'. Suddenly there was silence, the other pilots quit talking for a few seconds and Brian's backseater called back ..' We're showing closer to 1800 you better recalibrate'.
He flew the BDA mission after Reagan bombed Quadafy and on his way in he saw the strike force out over the Med headed Home, and he counted them, knew on his way in that one plane had gone down. The rageheads were ready for him and shot a lot of Russian SAMs at him but they couldn't hit the Blackbird even when they knew he was coming.
Anyhow, that book is kinda expensive but check your libraries, better ones have a copy. He describes the Blackbird very well, and is somewhat of a character.
https://www.amazon.com/Brian-Shul/e/B001K8XRPG%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
Great stuff.
Was at NASA one day, and they were talking about everything being connected to the Atomic Clock and it was so accurate, only being out by a second for every thousand years or something like that. Someone then yelled out, "Why don't they adjust it?"
.
This was the extra funny.
He is a fucking idiot!