Date: July 12, 1966

Pilot: Major W. Knight

Well everything went pretty good until the time we landed here. All the way through the checklist, the timing available and everything was real good. The suit check - I could feel the pressure in the suit, also the cockpit came back down to 35 and I could still feel some pressure in the torso, and the hat I had to pull it down a little bit, I probably had 3/4 of a pound in there. Well, but there was no pressure in the arms or the hands and none in the legs, I talked to Ralph about it and we are going to go over to the chamber and we are going to see if we can't duplicate it. He thinks we are cutting off the vent some place, and I had the vent pretty high and I think this is pretty normal - but it didn't bother a thing. In fact, it is just a little bit more comfortable if you get some back pressure on that suit during the flight.

The radio checks were good, but something happened later on as we came back in; I could hear them transmitting but I couldn't hear what they were saying at all.

The APU start - I started No. 2 and the hydraulic pressure did not come up for the longest time. Waited and finally Jack asked if we had any hydraulic pressure and I said no, and a little while after that I got it and after that we got No. 1 started. Everything went good there. The inertial platform - we went internal at 10 minutes and tape and data on and the display off and I switched power to internal and both lights came on. The computer light first and then the red light and I waited just a few seconds and put them out, and they both went out just beautiful. I waited for the 30 seconds or so before the display, and everything went just like clock work. Someplace in the 8 minutes there, Jack asked for an alpha and beta check and I gave him alpha and alpha crosspointer, and that's where the confusion was on the ball nose. Then they wanted a ball nose test and we got that, and I think again I was still giving him the alpha crosspointer instead of alpha gage reading. But it was reading all right.

SAS check was good. Everything else as far as the check list and the engine operation, everything went fine.

I launched and again it surprised me no end, the dropping away and the roll, and I had a hold of the throttle but I could not get it on, and I guess it was a little over two seconds before I got the engine running. Pulled up and it got up to about 10° and then I was checking something else and then the g started coming on and so I was down to about 8° but still had a little over 2 g's and then got it back up to 11° for the final phases of it, and was stabilized and flying real good on theta at 30 seconds. Just almost like it was in the simulator.

Someplace right after that we got pushover and Jack called, I guess, standby to pushover and I got pushover and I wasn't ready yet. I looked at the altitude and it was about 57,000 and the clock was 40 seconds and this was wrong with the simulator, so I said I'd split the difference with him and I waited until about 58 1/2 and pushed over and flying zero g and everything is going real good. Heading and everything was fine and someplace about 3000 per second I got a call to shutdown. (I said 'standby to shutdown'). I looked at the velocity and it was about 3000 feet per second, so I couldn't see anything wrong so I said shutdown and I said everybody thought I shutdown. I wasn't, I was just so surprised. ( I said negative) Oh, yes. Then I figured everything was all right and coming up on shutdown and all the conditions were real good and I saw it passing 5000 and I was ready to shutdown, and when it got to 53 I made a swipe at the throttle and I missed it and it went to 5400 feet per second, as far as what I saw in the cockpit and the q and h dot were almost right on. It was a little less than 600, just a hair less than 600 q and the h dot was just a little over 200. I got everything squared away there and pulled up to 15° and the ASAS off and the damper to low gain and a pulse and then off and a pulse and someplace in there I must have had my feet either on the rudders or something, because the beta needle was 2° to the right almost a whole way up and over the top. I tried to get the rudder neutral, I could move it, and everything was fine and the airplane was flying beautifully. There was no problem at all with roll and yaw off. It flew very nicely, but it wasn't oscillating about zero. It was oscillating about two degrees right. Then coming back down about 100,000 I got the dampers on and 10° alpha and the pitch dampers off and again it was a little better than the simulator, but I suspect that I did not hit it as hard as I did in the simulator. Got the dampers back on and about that time I couldn't read anybody from NASA 1, I could hear them transmitting but I could not make out what they were saying and I could see the lake bed and I didn't think we were in any trouble. I made a right turn and the suit came in someplace in there so I must have had some pretty good g on it, and I got a little buffet so I backed off on alpha and made an easier turn to the right just to get away from the lake bed a little bit. I was headed right at it. Crossed the highway and made a left turn and again I could get into buffet very easily, I hit the down wind real good and was probably a little bit high and I said I'd use just a little bit of speed brakes until I hit the base lake turn and I did, and I made the turn and that was the last time I used the speed brakes. I did not even put them in so they were out throughout the whole pattern and rather than try and get any farther down the Lake bed I kept the speed up and headed right for the edge of the lake, had a normal flare, flaps and gear, pushed at touchdown and I don't think it rolled 4000', probably at the most, I think that's about it Joe. ? I don't know whether I did or not, I pushed when it touched and I don't know whether it did kick or not, but I got the circuit breakers in and it should have. We can tell whether it did or not. (Probably about 20 or 25°) Otherwise I think the pattern would have been pretty good, because all the check points were right on and the only thing that would have been different would have been the wind.

One other comment, I think it is a good idea that we don't go to full thrust on the first checkout flight.