X-15 OPERATIONS FLIGHT REPORT

FLIGHT NO: 3-59-89 DATE OF REPORT: 5-25-67

PILOT: William H. Dana DATE OF FLIGHT: 5-17-67

CARRIER AIRCRAFT: B-52 #003 LAUNCH LAKE: Silver

ENGINE NO: S/N 103 APU #1 19AN APU #2 25AN

PURPOSE OF FLIGHT: 1. PCM System Checkout

2. Coldwall Heat Transfer

3. Step Panel Heat Transfer

4. Boost Guidance Checkout

5. Energy Management Checkout

6. Tip Pod Accelerometer

7. Sonic Boom Study

8. Horizontal Tail Loads

I. Discussion of Previous Operations A. As discussed in Item V-D of report for 3-58-87, the engine was shut down during powered flight and the aircraft landed at Silver Lake due to freezing of the fuel pump inlet sensing system providing incorrect data to the pilot and on T/M. Further checks after return of the aircraft and the engine run revealed nothing to change this conclusion, II. Aircraft Configuration Changes A. The ball-nose was removed due to some discrepancies in post-flight calibration. These discrepancies were not considered to be related to the flight problem of freezing (Ref: Item V-B of report for flight 3-58-87), but rather the service life of the unit which has flown seven flights since installation.

B. The horizontal tails and rudder were removed for the return from Silver Lake, and reinstalled after arrival at Edwards. The nose gear piston was removed for dimensional check and found to be undamaged.

C. A nose BCS rocket motor was changed due to catalyst bed deterioration.

 III. Instrumentation Configuration Changes None
  IV. Preflight Events A. An engine functional was accomplished on May 2, 1967, to check the engine and prepare for a ground run.

B. Engine & APU runs were accomplished on May 4, 1967.

C. Engine functional for flight was accomplished on May 11, 1967.

D. The aircraft was mated to B-52 #003 on May 11, 1967.

E. Flight was scheduled for 1300 on May 12 after the B-70 flight. Due to C-130 problems, takeoff was delayed to 1430. Flight was aborted due to failure of ball-nose b, found to be due to a bad transducer in the ball. Due to radio problems, the radio was also changed and the ALERT computer was reloaded.

F. On May 16, flight was delayed at B-52 engine start due to loss of power to the precision inverters. While this problem was being repaired, flight was canceled due to C-130 commitments. The inverter problem was found to be due to blown fuses.

 V. Flight Events A. Servicing on May 17 was accomplished with no problems. Flight 3-59-89 was flown with no problems.
 
  Approved By: Prepared by:

Perry V. Row Vincent N. Capasso

X-15 Senior Project Engineer X-15 Project Engineer