“Among professional aviators, there’s a well-worn saying: Flying is simply hours of boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror. Graham’s book SR-71 The Complete Illustrated History of THE BLACKBIRD The World’s Highest, Fastest Plane) is priceless in conveying the experience of departing a Blackbird at an altitude of fifteen miles and speed of Mach 3.2.
Although not a true ejection out of the SR-71, the following story told by Weaver (available in Col. 25, 1966, Skunk Works test pilot Bill Weaver and his back seater, Jim Zwayer, were to evaluate procedures for improving high Mach cruise performance by reducing trim drag. The first accident involved aircraft 952. However the SR-71 flight test program, conducted at Palmdale, was not without its accidents. So it comes as no surprise if, thanks to its astonishing flight characteristics, the aircraft has set numerous speed and altitude records throughout its career. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3-strategic reconnaissance aircraft remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. The SR-71 then literally disintegrated around us,” Bill Weaver, SR-71 test pilot Still trying to communicate with Jim, I blacked out, succumbing to extremely high g-forces. I learned later the time from event onset to catastrophic departure from controlled flight was only 2-3 sec. “Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion.
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