The runway is separated from the lane at a speed of 400 km/h and a pitch angle of 10, the average run length is 1300 m. The aircraft reaches a height of 7500 m at an instrument speed of 680 km/h in 2.5 minutes. At this altitude, the scout reaches the fixed speed M=0.9. Usually refueling from KC-135Q tanker is performed immediately after entering the train. After refueling, the pilot switches on the autopilot and switches the gas sectors to the maximum afterburner mode. The altitude climbing starts at the instrument speed of 860 km/h and is carried out according to a strict schedule (as a rule, the aircraft “pilots” the autopilot), overcoming the sound barrier does not cause any peculiarities in the behavior of the aircraft. At a height of 24,000 m and a speed of M=3, the autopilot is switched off. Pilots consider the piloting technique of the SR-71 to be quite simple, noting, however, that when an emergency situation occurs, there is almost no time to make the right decision. Decrease, as well as a set of heights, is carried out at the included autopilot on a carefully calculated trajectory and begins at an instrument speed of 750 km / h. Landing approach is performed at the instrument speed of 450 km/h, glide descent — by 430 km/h, at the moment of touching the lane speed should be 270 km/h on the device. The length of the run with the released brake parachute is 1100 m.
The very specific profile of the scout's flight required special skills from the pilots and even a warehouse of thinking. Colonel Sorry, who commanded the reconnaissance wing in the mid-1970s, said in an interview with Aviation Week magazine, I need system managers, not people who know how to ruffle a pen and pedals.
The 4200 th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (Saw) was transformed into the 9th Saw on June 25, 1966, succeeding the disbanded 9th Strategic Aerospace Wing, armed with the B-47 bombers. The 9th Saw included two strategic reconnaissance squadrons, 1st, and 99th. 1st Squadron is one of the world's oldest aviation units and was formed in early 1913 to conduct air reconnaissance near the U.S.-Mexican border for General Pershing's infantry division. Squadron's first reconnaissance missions were carried out in 1916.
Pilots of the 9th wing were not only engaged in combat training but also performed flights on stage III of the flight test program. In the mid-1970s, the wing pilots took part in the development of the F-15 fighter weapons system, imitating the Soviet MiG-25. The results of the tests turned out to be disappointing — the F-15 could not effectively fight high-speed targets.
The population of the continental part of the United States got acquainted with the latest aircraft not only from photos and newspaper articles, and for many citizens' acquaintance with scouts was not from the category of pleasant. Taking off from the airbase Bill, SR-71 circled over all the United States, including major cities. The population learned about the scouts' overflights from the powerful shock wave, the planes were flying in a three-machine mode, and the high altitude only weakened, not extinguished the wave. Complaints about occasionally arising from nowhere thunder in a clear sky were crumbling. Until now, Air Force officials kept silence, but the flow of outrage increased for some reason, the greatest activity was shown by residents of Los Angeles. At the end of the Air Force on July 10, 1967, it was acknowledged that the sound blows that shook the city were caused by the overflights of SR-71 strategic reconnaissance planes, and the military expressed their willingness to compensate for any damage caused by these blows. The public immediately responded to the Air Force's statement, with 564 complaints and 66 lawsuits filed in a month, valued at $35,000. Complaints and lawsuits from San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and St. Louis followed the residents of Los Angeles.
In 1971, some scouts were put on conservation, all the rest were transferred to the 1st Squadron, while in the 99th Squadron were brought together all available in the U-2 Air Force. In 1975, the number of planes in service was increased again, perhaps a few more were removed from storage in 1983. Reliable information on the number of combat-ready SR-71s by year is not available, most sources indicate that after 1975, the 9th Wing had nine to eleven planes in service.
Another air force reorganization took place in August 1981, when all SR-71Bs and U-2/TR-1s were brought together into one 4029th Strategic Reconnaissance Training Squadron.