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Thanks. I am almost done reading The Killing Zone, Second Edition: How & Why Pilots Die. I am not going to end up in the third edition.
> Easy job for her.
Just finished https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973
Holy shit, NOT an easy job for the first decade+!
Strongly recommend that book by the way. It reads almost like a techno thriller.
> “Well they survived long enough to achieve space flight,” Forty-five Trills pointed out. “They can’t be too careless with explosions, can they?” ...
... said no-one familiar with the history of human rocketry.
On which subject, did you know that Ignition! is back in print? Now that book definitely shouldn't be taken as a challenge.
Love these guys. Downloaded.
PS Eric Berger also wrote a book about the early days of SpaceX called Liftoff. I'm in the middle of it and very interesting.
In the iconic book Ignition! every test fire where the test stand doesn't blow up, is considered a success ;-)
It was Gene Kranz. He also released an amazing memoir called Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the early history of NASA spaceflight. It's incredible.
edit - I meant to reply to /u/VoxVirilis a couple of comments below this one. There was confusion over who coined the term "Failure is not an Option". It was Gene Kranz. My comment showed up here for some damn reason after I typed it and hit Reply.
He can get a used copy of the Fundamentals of Astrodynamics on Amazon for just $16.95
The relevant passage from John Clark's "Ignition!":
>”It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.”
I learned all of this stuff because someone left a copy of the book Skunk Works on a shelf in a storage closet at work. I never was interested in the topic beforehand and didn't expect to be so enthralled but it offers a fascinating insight into the world of US black military programs. I'm not usually one to offer endorsements but legitimately I couldn't put this book down. The matter of fact nature and the first hand account is fascinating.
From Ben Rich's book, SkunkWorks, he would take ball bearings and roll them across desks at the Pentagon "Here's your new plane on radar". Took them a while to prove to many that it was true.
I highly recommend Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langewiesche. Written back before WW2 it has served many pilots of many eras. He writes in a way that makes co.plex aerodynamic ideas easily relatable to the "common man". My copy is well worn from many read throughs.
Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying https://www.amazon.com/dp/0070362408/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_lZXEBbBQ3YW93
In the case of these pilots, I think he was fair. If you haven't read his father's "Stick and Rudder" you might understand where he's coming from.
I seem to recall, in Ben Rich's book "Skunk Works", more engine wasn't enough. They had to use the computer to constantly manipulate the control surfaces to keep the thing in the air.
I mean Dragon with a Second stage is on the cover of Rocket Propulsion Elements in the eighth edition
and a F9 Dance Floor on the ninth
that's a kind of big one already
That story (or a variation on it) was in Ben Rich's Skunkworks memoirs, yep.
The radar demonstrator's RCS was considerably smaller than a bird—more on the order of a large bird's eyeball. Birds sitting on the test stand definitely would be noticeable.
Play Kerbal Space Program (seriously). Then pick a book (like this one), it's a much better way to go.
I read this like 20 years ago, and have the audiobook now. I've spent many a commute hour listening to Mr. Rich's memoirs. Here's a linky to Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003
Fun side note, my stepmom's father (step-grandpa?) was a machinist @ Skunk Works. I mentioned this book to her and she said, oh yeah dad gave Kelly Johnson rides home every so often when his car was in the shop. Uhhh, what Mari?
It was in the book "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich: (assuming my memory isn't shot)
https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003/
The Apollo rockets used kerosene and liquid oxygen for their first (and largest) stage. The later stages used hydrogen and oxygen, instead.
Collecting and compressing large amounts of hydrogen is unbelievably dangerous, and liquid oxygen isn't far behind - but neither is exactly rare. Kerosene is an article of commerce, and while you'd want to control purity fairly carefully for rocket fuel, which costs, it's more that you need a staggering amount of it than that the fuel itself is unusually expensive.
Interestingly, one of the best books ever written on this subject, Ignition!, is back in print. I highly recommend it if you have any interest in rocketry whatsoever: it covers fuel development, spanning most of the period from the late 19th century all the way up to the Cold War. Clark's style is also eminently quotable:
> [Chlorine trifluoride] is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.
Failure is not an option is a memoir from the Flight director for the Mercury and Apollo Missions.
Ignition! is a book that talks about the history of Liquid Rocketry.
The story of the development of the Stealth Fighter is absolutely riveting. The book to read is:
(Skunk Works)[https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003] by Ben Rich. Ben Rich was the head of Lockheed Martin's "Skunk Works" division that developed this amazing airplane. The book reads like a Tom Clancy thriller, but it's non-fiction and all true. Deserves the incredible 4.8 average star rating on Amazon, everyone loves this book.
When they were testing the car-sized wooden model of the initial stealth design, the radar operator at first thought the model had fallen off the 12 foot pole it was mounted on. The radar was only 1500 feet away from the model. Then, the radar operator all of a sudden picked up the model. A crow had landed on top of the model and the radar saw the crow. When the bird flew off, the model of the aircraft was invisible again. The stealth design technology was so unexpectedly incredible, they had to spend half a million dollars designing a new stealth pole, because the radar would see the pole.
If I remember correctly, the radar cross section of the final stealth fighter -- the first true stealth aircraft ever built -- was the equivalent of a marble, roughly the size of an eagle's eyeball.
Sure, here is a fantastic presentation of how SkunkWorks was created: https://youtu.be/pL3Yzjk5R4M It talks about U2, A-12/SR-71 and F-117. it's very interesting. Also, you can find a book from Ben Rich itself about SkunkWorks. https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003
I always recommend this book to new pilots, The Killing Zone, Second Edition: How & Why Pilots Die (Amazon Link).
It really dives into this from a data driven perspective from aircraft mishaps. It shows that pilots from 50-350 hours are at the highest risk of mishap, attributed to some of the things noted in this thread.
"A special chapter in this book will point out that the elevator is actually the airplane's Angle of Attack control, and that its up-and down control is the throttle. The airplane in a normal glide is going down neither "because" the pilot is holding the stick back, nor "although" he is holding the stick back. It is going down because the throttle is closed! The position of the stick, the upward deflection of the flippers merely fixes the Angle of Attack and the air speed at which the airplane flies as it descends. Because the stick is held back-and the flippers are deflected upward-the airplane flies rather slowly and at rather large Angle of Attack." -Wolfgang Langewiesch, Stick And Rudder, 1944.
I've never seen an explanation of flight control manipulation dictate that one control should be ignored, while relying solely on another. The above paragraph (and chapter) has been the generally accepted proper method of manipulating flight controls in a coordinated manner. Which resource is directing pilots to do otherwise?
Have you read Stick and Rudder? I'm about 2/3 through it and can't recommend it enough. It has an extensive explanation of AoA and why it's so important in the first few chapters. Highly recommend reading this book.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0070362408/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_t1_gBZcGb86B82B5
Stick and Rudder
I’ve had it on my shelf for a year while waiting for COVID to settle down so I can start my lessons. Started reading it this weekend and now can’t put it down. I’m maybe 1/3 through it and just constantly impressed with how it clears up so many questions I’ve had about what’s actually happening when you fly. I definitely think I’ll reread it the month I start my lessons up again.
https://smile.amazon.com/Stick-Rudder-Explanation-Art-Flying/dp/0070362408
"The Killing Zone" is a good book for student pilots in General Aviation. The tagline of the book is "how and why pilots die." Here is an amazon link. https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404
It's $20, and if you use Amazon Smile donations, please consider Candler Field Museum. Our founder, Ron Alexander, recently died in a Jenny crash here in town and the museum can use all the help we can get.