Monday, March 10, 2008

Black Bird Breakup at Mach 3

Test pilot Bill Weaver tells his harrowing tale of an SR-71 test run gone very very bad.

I attempted [...] to stay with the airplane until we reached a lower speed and altitude. I didn't think the chances of surviving an ejection at Mach 3.18 and 78,800 ft. were very good. However, g-forces built up so rapidly that my words came out garbled and unintelligible


Then the SR-71 ... literally ... disintegrated around us.

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