![]() What's confusing with the SR-71 at first is the KEAS/KIAS values versus Mach speed. ![]() I have nearly 2,000 landings in FSX but none feel as satisfying to me as the 6 or so from the alphasim SR-71A. I figure if I can master the SR-71, most anything else I fly will feel like a piece of cake. I was spoiled with the freeware versions which is ridiculously easy to fly. When I first flew the alphasim SR-71, I was disapointed that it was so hard to fly. I couldn't figure out why it didn't want to land at first! Landing is different too because the delta wing creates a high level of "float" on landing, so you need to make sure you are pressing the stick forward instead of the flare we all are used to with normal planes. When you are used to flying very forgiving planes (by comparison), that spells a lot of compressor stalls in the novice stages. In the flight procedure manual it states: The aircraft will experience compressor stalls at angles of attack above 10 degrees at altitudes above 25,000 feet if the indicated airspeed is below 300 KIAS. One of the things I was running into trouble on my earlier attempts were because of compressor stalls. The Fuel Management and CG aspect of the SR-71 is still Greek to me. If you're going for transonic flight, you will need to study the manual to learn how to manually adjust the fuel tanks for CG purposes (Make sure Forward Fuselage is set to on for climb.I actually kept it on for the whole flight). I switched the CG control panel to Auto so it pretty much takes care of the fuel management issues sense my flight was under 2 hours. Making constant adjustments to the AP was critical for a smooth flight. Once I was at max speed and ceiling, I switched to tower view just to get a sense and appreciation of how fast this sucker would be going by if you were watching from the ground. (Make sure your pitot and de-ice switches are on!) I don't use AP much when flying (I like the symbiotic nature of flying) but for the SR-71 it's almost mandatory. Full afterburners and I used AP pretty much the entire flight until I got within 50 miles or so of my final approach. The key (for me at least) is to take it up to the max ceiling very gradually with minimal AOA throughout the climb. Okay, I just had my first successful supersonic flight with it tonight.From O'Hare to Seattle.Took it to 85,000 3.5 Mach.Fun!!
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