X-15 OPERATIONS FLIGHT REPORT

FLIGHT NO: 3-13-23 DATE OF REPORT: December 26, 1962

PILOT: Joe Walker DATE OF FLIGHT: December 20, 1962

CARRIER AIRCRAFT: B-52 #008 LAUNCH LAKE: Mud Lake

PURPOSE OF FLIGHT: Ventral Off Stability Investigation

I. Discussion of Previous Operations

None. II. Aircraft Configuration Changes A. Barnes spectrometer removed due to malfunction during previous flight. Presently this unit is at NAA for investigation. III. Instrument Configuration Changes None IV. Preflight Events A. During preflight FTOP's the ammonia vent valve prematurely relieved. Valve was replaced and new valve functioned properly. V. Flight Events A. Inertial platform overheat light came on prior to drop. Since all exhaust temperatures looked normal, the flight was not aborted and the platform functioned satisfactorily. Both units have since been removed from the airplane for bench checks.

E. Prior to drop the pilot received no indication of igniter idle. TM showed a good igniter idle pressure and the pilot launched. A frozen sense line to the pilot's transducer is suspected as the cause.

Approved By: Prepared by:

Perry V. Row John G. McTigue

X-15 Senior Project Engineer X-15 Project Engineer