More Blackbird Trivia

The International airspace only goes up to 60,000; consequently, everything
above that is simply undefined. That's the point. There's no rules that
lets a nation regulate airspace above Class A.

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
nk.net...
So where does it say that airspace above FL600 is "international
airspace"?

Mike
MU-2


"William W. Plummer" wrote in
message
news:aFMqc.78028$536.12851446@attbi_s03...
ICAO -- something like "International Council on Aircraft Operations".
They define Class-A, class-B, etc. Not to mention METARs and the like.
USA adopted these in 1992 IIRC.

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
ink.net...
Where did you come up with this definition or "international airspace"
or
even the term?

Mike
MU-2

"William W. Plummer" wrote in
message
news:dKLqc.77875$536.12815683@attbi_s03...
Doesn't "overflight" mean within international airspace? Class-A
goes
upto
60,000 ft and the Blackbird could fly at 85,000. So it was
possible
for
it
to overfly Russia above international airspace. But did the
Agreement
write that out? If so, how was airspace and overflight defined?
E.g.,
is
the moon overflying us?

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
newsGKqc.34420$6f5.3418116@attbi_s54...
After our last discussion about the SR-71 Blackbird, a debate
ensued
as
to
whether the Blackbird actually overflew Soviet airspace, in direct
violation
of the agreement the U.S. signed with the U.S.S.R. after the
Francis
Gary
Powers incident. This agreement forbade overflights.

I was under the impression that the U.S. *had* flown the SR-71
over
Russia -- so I decided to check with a friend who worked closely
with
the
Blackbird for over three decades. It turns out we're all correct,
sort
of...

Here's his response:

"Hi Jay, I am still out of town but will be home later this week.
The
Blackbird was banned from crossing Russia by a law congress passed
after
the
Gary Powers incident. We did however fly the D21 over there but it
was
not
a
complete crossing but an in and out mission. The SR71 did fly the
perimeters
and could obtain a lot of elint data that way around every edge of
Russia."

So there you have it. The Blackbird itself did not overfly
Russia --
but
the D21 (that weird-looking probe that was mounted on top of the
Blackbird,
between the two tails) did. It was not, however, a complete
crossing.

Or, at least, that's what the experts are willing to admit to us
at
this
point! :-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"