MEMORANDUM for Chief, Research Division X-15 Project Office
FROM: X-15-3 Research Project Engineer
SUBJECT: Flight Research Report on flight 3-48-72
Flown on September 14, 1965, by John B. McKay
I. PURPOSE OF FLIGHT
To obtain data for the following programs:
B. Boundary Layer Noise
The flight was planned for 230,000 feet and a peak of 240,000 feet was reached. This is attributed to approximately one second more burn time than planned.III. RESULTSServo transients occurred during flight because of a malfunction in the trim motor and because of relay arcing in the NASA timer cardinal marking system of internal recorders. Both have been corrected.
The CSS button on the right side stick was inadvertently depressed at the end of the flight and no adverse effects occurred. However, since adverse effects could result, depending on the time at which it occurred, the CSS button was de-activated.
2. BLN - all installed microphones operated and data were obtained at approximately the requested flight conditions. Dynamic pressure was higher than requested.
3. Ablative coating was applied to the Main Landing Gear
struts. This reduced the in-flight up-lock hook loads by approximately
40 percent.
Aerospace Engineer