The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Breaking up is easy, it's surviving that's hard

Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion. I learned later the time from event onset to catastrophic departure from controlled flight was only 2–3 seconds. Still trying to communicate with Jim, I blacked out, succumbing to extremely high g-forces.

Then the SR-71 … literally … disintegrated around us.

From that point, I was just along for the ride. And my next recollection was a hazy thought that I was having a bad dream. Maybe I'll wake up and get out of this mess, I mused. Gradually regaining consciousness, realized this was no dream; it had really happened. That also was disturbing, because … I COULD NOT HAVE SURVIVED … what had just happened.

I must be dead. Since I didn't feel bad—just a detached sense of euphoria—I decided being dead wasn't so bad after all. As full awareness took hold, I realized I was not dead. But somehow I had separated from the airplane.

Via Hacker News, Subject: Test Pilot Bill Weaver: Mach 3.18 Break Up of an SR- 71 Black Bird

And this is for Gregory, who likes this aviation stuff.

The story is incredible—Bill Weaver was flying at mach 3 when the SR-71 he was flying literally disintigrated around him and he survived with only minor scratches.

Obligatory Picture

[The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades]

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