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I bet the SR-71 would've...

PacManPacMan Member Posts: 1,555 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited March 2014 in General Discussion
I bet the SR-71 would've spotted every piece of debris regarding the location of flight 370 in a matter of hours...maybe a couple of days at most.

Every time I turn on the TV there are reports of a new location of debris. Ten search planes at a time with spotters looking out windows. Or waiting for a satellite to pass by at the right time to snap some pictures. The SR-71 would've covered the whole area in 24 hours or better.

Too bad America turned off some of the best equipment in the world.

Comments

  • TxsTxs Member Posts: 17,809 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by IronWill45
    I bet the SR-71 would've spotted every piece of debris regarding the location of flight 370 in a matter of hours...maybe a couple of days at most.It's not so much a matter of just being able to photo such a large area.

    The time consuming part is analyzing photos of those MANY square miles of water to differentiate between debris and waves, reflections, etc.

    Our satellites have the same or better photo quality as the cams mounted on the SR71 and U2. The advantage of having these aircraft is they give us the ability to get a look at an area now without reorienting cams in a satellite parked overhead - which we do have in that part of the world. In fact, one of our largest satellite intel stations is located down in Australia.
  • spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,717 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    one of the last official act of then sec of defense McNamara was to destroy all the tool & die stuff for the SR-71..why didn't they just store it like millions of tons of other stuff...b
    d
  • PacManPacMan Member Posts: 1,555 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Agree...the SR-71 can re-sweep any questionable area "right now".
  • WranglerWrangler Member Posts: 5,788
    edited November -1
    The SR-71 Blackbird was replaced with the SR-91 Aurora, although our government does not acknowledge it exists.

    www.defenceaviation.com/2007/06/sr-91-aurora-aircraft.html

    Please don't ask me how I know it exists. [:D]
  • MG1890MG1890 Member Posts: 4,460 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Wrangler
    The SR-71 Blackbird was replaced with the SR-91 Aurora, although our government does not acknowledge it exists.

    www.defenceaviation.com/2007/06/sr-91-aurora-aircraft.html

    Please don't ask me how I know it exists. [:D]


    How do you know that it exists?[:D]
  • sharpshooter039sharpshooter039 Member Posts: 5,897 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Starting to think this flight was shot down by someone and they are stalling for time to cover it up, takes awhile to move the debris
  • mcasomcaso Member Posts: 1,119 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    They know what happened. But the system is a top secret operation. Even though the system is public info. Remember when you were told that we had every inch of the planet under observation and no longer had to move satellites to accomplish that? Remember when we were told that the cameras were now video? Remember when we were told that we could read the news paper from space with these cameras? Remember when we were told that the cameras run 24/7?
    Remember back in the 70's when that Hippie underground news paper published the directions on how to build a nuclear bomb? And they proved in court that all that information was in the public library? Remember when Tom Clancy wrote his first novel and the government went to him asking who was leaking him top secret information? And he had to teach them that all that info was in the library? And remember last year when once again someone published how to build a nuclear bomb and the government went to arrest them for publishing top secret information and they had to show that it is still in the library?
    All of the above has been on the TV news/programing over the past 35+ years and the government idiots just have not figured it out. Or does one think that no one has looked at the 24/7 videos of the area?
  • mark christianmark christian Member Posts: 24,443 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Looking around for data it seems that 32 of these planes were built; 29 of which were actually recon planes (rather than trainers) and the cost for each airframe in today's dollars would be around half a billion per. 12 were lost which means that the Blackbird had a loss rate about as disastrous as the Space Shuttle, which means it was well above miserable. These stats were interesting:

    3,551 Mission Sorties Flown
    17,300 Total Sorties Flown
    11,008 Mission Flight Hours
    53,490 Total Flight Hours


    Figuring 32 aircraft this would average out to about 1700 hours per airframe so with a service life of 32 years each plane averaged just 32 hours in the air each year. Mission time for the 29 recon planes would be a pathetic average of 12 hours per year of actually doing something useful like its intended mission. Costs based on flying hours at a $500 million per unit cost would be about $3 million per hour just for the airframe and not including the personnel and specialized support equipment needed to operate it. Talk about a high priced toy.

    What does it cost to launch and keep a satellite in orbit 24 hours a day year after year?
  • jonkjonk Member Posts: 10,121
    edited November -1
    I'm not saying that spy planes don't still have a role; they do. But consider- google earth shows a view of my yard in enough detail that I can see which baseball cap I'm wearing.

    That's public domain, commercial quality.

    I have no doubt that government spy satellites are good enough that you could use them to read a book from orbit.

    Satellites can scan the ocean in minutes, not hours.

    No need for the SR 71 unless it's cloudy.

    Simple explanation as to the missing plane: Either it was shot down and they are stalling, or it was hijacked and landed somewhere under the radar and they either don't know or won't say. You don't miss a debris field from something that big with modern tech unless you don't want to find it.
  • JunkballerJunkballer Member Posts: 9,308 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The best time for airborne or satellite photos or visual sightings are between 11:00am and 1:00pm.....direct overhead veiws, less shadows, glare and such [;)]

    "Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee

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