SR-71 cockpit walk through

Did you guys see the little grey thumb wheel on the stick? It's presumably a longitudinal trim wheel...
The point I'm trying to make is that the Lockheed TriStar had a very unique trim wheel. Instead of the dual up/down switch like we had, the TriStar had a wheel just like the one on the sr71 stick that you would just spin up or down with your thumb. From what I've heard it was crazy precise.
 
Did you guys see the little grey thumb wheel on the stick? It's presumably a longitudinal trim wheel...
The point I'm trying to make is that the Lockheed TriStar had a very unique trim wheel. Instead of the dual up/down switch like we had, the TriStar had a wheel just like the one on the sr71 stick that you would just spin up or down with your thumb. From what I've heard it was crazy precise.

I didn't watch the video in its entirety, so disregard if he confirmed this about the little wheel. That said, the coolie hat right next to it is the longitudinal/lateral trim control configuration used in most tactical aircraft (at least all that I have flown). My guess is that the wheel had some other function.
 
I didn't watch the video in its entirety, so disregard if he confirmed this about the little wheel. That said, the coolie hat right next to it is the longitudinal/lateral trim control configuration used in most tactical aircraft (at least all that I have flown). My guess is that the wheel had some other function.
But do you have batwings!?
 
Cool video. The guy in back can get replaced with a gns 430, and I would be good to go.

Do I need the sarcasm tag here?
 
Good vid. Two airplanes that surprised me the most when seen in person size wise was the B-58 and the SR-71. Both were smaller than I had imagined. I sat higher in the F-4. I had the opportunity to watch a start from the hanger and a launch from the chase car. Pretty impressive.
 
Outstanding video, thanks so much for posting! There's also an SR-71 cockpit walkthrough book called "Flying the SR-71 Blackbird" by Richard H. Graham. I own it and highly recommend it.
 
Did you guys see the little grey thumb wheel on the stick? It's presumably a longitudinal trim wheel...
The point I'm trying to make is that the Lockheed TriStar had a very unique trim wheel. Instead of the dual up/down switch like we had, the TriStar had a wheel just like the one on the sr71 stick that you would just spin up or down with your thumb. From what I've heard it was crazy precise.
I thought it was wild that they had to use a periscope to properly trim the rudders.
 
Did you guys see the little grey thumb wheel on the stick? It's presumably a longitudinal trim wheel...
The point I'm trying to make is that the Lockheed TriStar had a very unique trim wheel. Instead of the dual up/down switch like we had, the TriStar had a wheel just like the one on the sr71 stick that you would just spin up or down with your thumb. From what I've heard it was crazy precise.

It's not actually a wheel at all. It's a three position PTT switch. Up is transmit, down is cockpit interphone, and the middle is spring-loaded to off. The middle four-way "hat" switch is the traditional pitch-yaw trim. The CSC/NWS button on the right both engages or disengages autopilot control stick command mode (AP ON) or nosewheel steering (AP OFF). There's also a rain repellant button on the right side of the stick, which I assume was inop'ed once everyone realized the chemicals used were toxic/carcinogenic (the AFM refers to a service bulletin number). Then again, since the SR-71 used a radioactive Caesium isotope as a fuel additive to reduce the radar cross-section of its exhaust, and TriEthylBorane which explodes spontaneously in contact with air to ignite the JP-7 fuel in the engines, I'm not sure what the big deal is about carcinogenic rain repellant. :D

The flight manual for the blackbird was finally declassified and posted online over the last couple years, and the relevant section is here: http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/1/1-94.php
 
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One of the guys here was nice enough to help me acquire a copy of Sled Driver.

As for that little wheel, I guess it wasn't what I thought it was on the SR... but I do know that it is just that on the L1011, so I just assumed it was a common part from Lockheed... which they did a lot if you ever read "Skunkworks, My Memoirs" by Kelly Johnsons successor Ben Rich... he says that all the awesome Skunk planes used as many off the shelf parts as they could find.
 
One of the guys here was nice enough to help me acquire a copy of Sled Driver.

As for that little wheel, I guess it wasn't what I thought it was on the SR... but I do know that it is just that on the L1011, so I just assumed it was a common part from Lockheed... which they did a lot if you ever read "Skunkworks, My Memoirs" by Kelly Johnsons successor Ben Rich... he says that all the awesome Skunk planes used as many off the shelf parts as they could find.

I finally found a closeup of the yoke on an L1011. Pretty neat system!

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I've read "Skunkworks", but I was under the impression Ben Rich was referring especially to the HAVE BLUE program with the off the shelf parts. HAVE BLUE was just a demonstrator of the "hopeless diamond" shape, so all the other parts were just scrounged up from whatever they could find and get a hold of cheaply. When it came time to manufacture the production F-117, the systems were updated to the standards of a production airplane.

Another one of my favorites is the Blackbird's predecessor, the A-12 OXCART. The A-12 was single seat, so the pilot had to fly at mach 3 whilst hunched over the scope operating the camera system. The cockpit was less refined at that point and had a much more 1950s cold war feel to it.

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They even tried to make the Blackbird into a mach 3 interceptor to shoot down soviet bombers, called the YF-12! For more on the A-12, check out these guys: http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/oxcart_bshield.html
 
It amazes me that 37 years have passed and its still the fastest airplane man has flown.
 
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