PILOT'S FLIGHT COMMENTS

Flight No. 2-34-57

September 29, 1964

Pilot: Lt/Col. Rushworth

Rushworth: As we were climbing up through 35 - 36,000 feet, the chamber pressures were oscillating a little bit between about -45 and a -25, and each time it did, the cabin pressure would slip up. It finally started holding around 40 to 41,000 feet and finally ended up at 41,000 feet, oscillating back and forth with the mixing chamber pressure. I had the feeling it wasn't going to hold if we launched that way, and it would seek some level, probably 70 or 80,0O0 feet. It came right on back down with the aux cabin pressure switch on without any problem. I was holding left stick at launch, so that I tried to get no roll off. After launch, I pulled up to 10° angle of attack and held it for just a little bit, then put in full aft trim, and it held just 10° all the way up to q of 30° on the vernier. Thirty degrees on the vernier did not correspond to 30° on the ball. The ball was mis-set somehow, but the remainder of the climb was real good. Upon pushing over to zero-g, zero-a, I got on zero-a, and it started to go a little bit negative. The g-meter again stuck at about 2 to 3 tenths positive g, and I couldn't ever get it less than that. I observed about half a degree negative a across the top of the push-over and tried to trim that out. At 3,000 I was a little bit low; at 4,000 I was right on; and at 5,200, I shut down at 92 and still had a little bit climb left and did go about 2,000 feet high. I saw 98 when Jack called lt. The first pulse in pitch will have a double pulse on it; the first one was a little bit weak, so I increased a little bit. This was normal and what I expected to see. Into the 5° angle of attack yaw pulse, and everything went well there. For some reason or another I was thinking that if anything was going to go wrong, it would go wrong about now, started to pull the airplane up, and got to about 6° angle of attack when the little door came open. This, of course, I heard and saw it on the ball nose, and the pressure airspeed started jumping all over the place. So rather than increase immediately up in angle of attack, I tried not to pull any more g-loads. I got it to about 1 1/2g a little bit later but just tried to hold 1g. and slow it down a little bit to get the q off the airplane. The airplane seemed to handle a little bit worse with the little door open than it did with the full gear out, because every time I rolled into a bank angle, sideslip seemed to change. I noticed this also when subsonic in the traffic pattern. Things went well all the way through the traffic pattern, and I maintained 300 knots all the way down from about 30,000 feet. At about 290, I started out the flaps and about 270 pulled the gear out the first time. I know I pulled the gear lanyard to the bottom, and the nose gear didn't come out. I didn't hear it come out, so I yanked it again just about the time Joe started talking about the gear not being out. I heard it clunk into place Just about the time he said, "Hold it off. It looks like it's coming down." There was no more holding it--it was on the ground just about that time. There was no smoke, or just a minor amount of smoke, in the cockpit from a little door being open. I waited for that, but it never did show up except for just a few whiffs.

All the way through a good part of the flight, I had a little sideslipping - needle right, and best I can recall with the door open, it went to the other side. It changed about a degree. Every time I rolled over to see where the field was, the airplane yawed and stayed yawed in the direction I was rolling.

Yes, I sensed it was the little door, because the magnitude of the bang when it came open wasn't as large as the other experience. I knew it had to be up around the nose because it was affecting the q-meter and the pitot head in the nose.

Question: Landing normal?

Rushworth: Yes, it wasn't sharp at all although the pitch rate was sharp--higher than the normal airplane, but the force when it hit the ground was fairly normal.