POST-FLIGHT:

POST-FLIGHT: 3-57-86

DATE: November 29, 1966

PILOT: Maj. Adams

OK. This is flight 3-57-84. You made a mistake on my fight plan. 0K. Anyway, I guess everything went very smoothly right up to launch. The biggest trouble I had right off,, was after I went to pump idle. I never heard any more radio calls, so I wasn't sure what the pump was doing at all, but Pete relayed that I had a good pump and to go on. So, (?) No. I did not get it but everything I needed I got from Pete. Pete reaffirmed me that everything was looking good, so we launched. I got the throttle on pretty good, and before I left I said, "Hey, you guys got that stop fixed?," and they said "yes". You really have to try to get 100%. I must have tried hard, because I looked down and there it was past the stop, and all the way up. (?) Well I pulled it right back. I didn't even, I must have had it back in about two seconds to 75% before it started rotating. The first time I looked off it was 11° which was just what I wanted. I wish I had gone alpha hold, because that's the way I started.......... The first thing I checked was the alpha, and then I looked at the throttle and by the time I was done readjusting the throttle, a was down around 7 or 8 and back up and around. It's a real good control system, but I think you got to kind of grow up in one to fly the thing, because I was having trouble. I did not want to over control, and it seemed like I wasn't really pressing hard enough. But after all that messing around, I was generally low on alpha, probably averaged between 9.5 and 10. Theta still came at 27/28 which was quite a bit earlier than what I had seen on the simulator. I had been getting it at 30. Got theta and theta I held that pretty well. I think it stayed there in the center. At about the right time 44.5, 45 I got to the pushover point and I started to push. Then I had the control problems again. I was having a hard time getting zero g. It was a smooth approach to it, but I never quite got to it. This time I was cross checking the other g meter, and they were both reading about the same. So when I finally did get zero, I sneaked up on it and I guess we rounded out a little higher, 83 instead of 80. So I think the simulator was pretty right on performance, but I had 83 on my inertials in there. OK. Roll off and I think the heading indicator was working good, Jack, but after I was watching theta there, I just kept the wings level and I wasn't really cross checking it too much anymore. I watched it at first but then I didn't watch it so much. I shut down on velocity. I didn't notice what the time was, it should still be in the cockpit unless it has been punched off. I had 45 when I shut down. As I recall I was running right up around 100 maybe a little less. Probably about 99/98.5 in there. I went fixed gains and alpha beta. In the pullup I didn't really notice any big difference in directional stability on fixed gain over the adapter system in yaw. Flew real well. I was a little high at 83, so I was trying to add my h dot to my 83 peak out at 93/94, and I think I started turn maneuvers just a little early, because I only had about 350 or 400 h dot plus 83 and I didn't probably go much over 90. (?) Yes, I pushed down at 5 alpha before I made my banks. So I did not have much plus h dot to start with, so I didn't turn much to the left because it was coming back down through zero. Then I started turning back the other way and about that time was the first call I got. I think you said "roll out on heading 218", which I had just about the time I got to 60° of bank, so I did not get to do any rudder pulses or anything in that direction, and I rolled out. Looking back, it seems like I was kind of crowded up when I got over the field, like I had a little extra energy and usually have. But when I rolled out I was pretty shallow on H dot, I only had about 350 or 400 when I usually had about 600 or 700 in the simulator. So we might have been high then all the way down. (?) Yes, in the initial pull up I don't think I had any pulses. In the left turn at 15 alpha I got some pulses, and right turn I think I got a couple good pulses. It seemed pretty tight, I didn't even notice any real oscillations. Then I got some when we went speed brakes out. I put the speed brakes out first and then turned the damper completely off, gave it some pulses and I could see it was a little bit loose but it was still pretty darn good, That was around Mach 3 or something. I didn't touch it. It seemed like just when I dropped and got the throttle on I did not have to pull at all, and darn if I didn't have about 10 or 11 alpha, without doing anything. No, I didn't touch the little knob. The only time that I rotated it, that I know of, was in the landing when I was trying to get it down. OK. So we came over the field and I didn't even really start to look at the altitudes or velocities. I felt I was really, I had plenty of energy over the field and the first time I really looked was maybe about 180° of turn somewhere on down-wind. I got a little buffet in the turn one time with a little bit of wing snatching. I had about 11 alpha, and I was somewhere on the inertial system, around 1000' a second, probably right in the transonic range. For some reason today it seemed like I had a harder time seeing out. You know, really seeing the ground where I had to keep rolling over and looking, and I did not seem to have the visibility I had the other day, although it should not have changed any. (?) I flew under the pattern OK. I mean I got down to the key points I wanted. Hit low key just about where I wanted to be, had to crack a little speed brakes coming around, carrying a little bit coming down final. Got down to around, and I was anticipating a balloon with flaps so I put the flap switch down, and I said oh you really got it made this time. Looked down at the gear handle and got the gear at about 280 I'd say, and by the time I looked back outside, why we'd probably climbed about 30,000 feet. We climbed some. So, I pushed it over and I did not try to hurry it back down on the ground. I just started easing it back down and pointed it down, and I still had to push pretty hard. I mean not push hard but try pretty hard to get it down. It's just like everybody told me, it wants to fly and it does. So, I just kept easing it down and I got down. I think I was holding it off pretty well, I don't know Jerry. But I was getting pretty slow when I touched but I never did feel any stalls, buffet snatch or anything. It was just a normal touchdown and push pull. (Did you set the trim?) Yes, I thought when I put the flaps down I will go on with this silly thing. I started pushing the trim to help myself, and I had it all the way nose down, sitting on that little red stripe there. (?) It was .......... landing, to me I think the first one you make, no matter what anyone tells you, you are just going to have to work extra hard, but as far as landing it goes, I think the second one you try a little harder and you control the trajectory a little bit better, but gee, the thing will almost land itself. It is a nice system for landing. Yes. It seemed to lend itself nicely to a cross check, and I can't really see any objections to that type of panel. To just compare the two, I think it is a little too early for me to really make any concrete comparisons. I'd like to have more time on both panels to really decide which is easiest, because I think your first flight you are probably lucky to see anything, and the second flight I saw something this time, but I am not sure the panel had that much to do with it, but I have no objections, it is a nice arrangement like that. (?) The rotor temperatures.......... up higher, it seems like they went up to about 110, I didn't say anything about it until you called, then I think they dropped down, like Pete said to somewhere around 95/100. I think the right one was 5° higher than the left one, whichever the left one was reading. Yes, it was at zero, but somehow every time you bumped the stick it trims itself to a new position and it kept getting off.