SR-71 Pilot Interview

Spencer Hall interviews former SR-71 Blackbird pilot Rick McCrary about what it’s like to fly the world’s fastest plane. Spoiler: It’s terrifying.

The Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” is the fastest jet ever built, a machine so far ahead of its time even its own pilots thought it looked more like a spaceship than an airplane. It is an engineering marvel, powered by innovative engines that operated most efficiently at Mach 3.2, its typical cruising speed. From 1966 to 1998, it operated in secrecy, flown only by a handful of the Air Force’s most elite pilots. Rick McCrary was one of them.

The interview is HERE.

 

Chuck Yeager Still Flying at 89

Yesterday, Gizmodo reported –

This is unforgivable. With all the hoopla about yesterday’s crazy supersonic space jump, we didn’t celebrate yesterday’s 65th anniversary of the first man to go faster than the speed of sound, a true American hero: the now retired Brigadier General Chuck Yeager. But yesterday, as Baumgartner was jumping 24 miles up in the sky, Yeager didn’t forget about his amazing adventure. He went to the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and jumped in the cockpit of an F-15 to fly faster than the speed of sound, just like the good old times. He is 89 years old now.

Continue reading HERE

 

 

Skydiver Plans 23 Mile Jump

According to MailOnLine –

On Monday (March 12, 2012) , Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner will climb into an eight-foot-capsule that looks more like a spaceship than a basket for a helium balloon – and ready himself for a record-breaking jump from 23 miles up. Monday’s test jump, from a mere 60,000 feet, is prelude to a leap which will see the spacesuited skydiver become the first person to break the speed of sound outside a vehicle. He plans to dive 120,000ft – nearly 23 miles – from the adapted weather balloon full of helium. The journey will take just ten minutes.

Continue reading HERE

The current skydiving record is 19 miles and it occurred over 50 years ago.