X-15 OPERATIONS FLIGHT REPORT

FLIGHT NO: 3-33-54 DATE OF REPORT: September 14, 1964

PILOT: John B. McKay DATE OF FLIGHT: August 26, 1964

CARRIER AIRCRAFT: B-52 #003 LAUNCH LAKE: Hidden Hills

PURPOSE OF FLIGHT: Heat Transfer Experiment with Surface Distortion Panels

Boundary Layer Noise Study, and Local Flow Experiment

I. Discussion of Previous Operations

A. The extension of the nose gear on X-15A-2 during flight resulted in an extensive investigation of the uplock system on other X-15 aircraft and additional operational instrumentation being installed. Details affecting X-15-3 are discussed in sections II and III of this report. II. Aircraft Configuration Changes A. Changed lox vent valve due to unexplained peculiarities in going to vent after landing.

B. Changed F-4 distortion panel from .050 inch step to .125 inch wave configuration. The .100 inch step in F-32 was replaced by a .100 inch wave.

C. Roll rate was displayed instead of longitudinal acceleration in the cockpit per pilot request.

D. Removed nose gear uplock hook from aircraft and measured the hook. At the tip the hook was found to be deformed .058 inch. A records check revealed this hook was used on flight 3-15-25 when the pilot door opened, which would produce sufficient moment to deform the uplock hook. A new hook was checked and installed.

E. As a result of calculations regarding the landing gear release cable compensation for X-15A-2, the cable tension regulator bracket and bell crank were removed and reworked to insure sufficient capacity. The hot compensation was changed from 1.43 inches to 2.00 inches as a result of this rework.

F. Painted 3 strips of green temperature paint across nose wheel door forward edge.

G. The cockpit normal accelerometer was replaced by a newly calibrated unit.

 III. Instrumentation Configuration Changes A. A CPT was added to measure the travel of the landing gear cable tension regulator. Two T/C's were added to the nose wheel door assembly, one on the forward lip of the main door and one on the forward lip of the pilot door. IV. Preflight Events A. On the basis of satisfactory engine operation during flight, no engine run was accomplished. Good APU runs were made on August 19, 1964. Lox was serviced after the APU run for a cold check of the lox vent valve.

B. The aircraft was mated for flight on August 25, 1964.

 V. Flight Events A. Fox and number one engine source were serviced with chilled gas at -150°F with a second helium chiller, leading number two engine source. This is an attempt to get colder gas in the 23" sphere during servicing.

B. No problems were encountered during flight 3-33-54 on August 26, 1964.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 Approved By: Prepared by:

Perry V. Row Vincent N. Capasso

X-15 Senior Project Engineer X-15 Project Engineer