Tartare, I'm back. Some great dits here, Guys.
The F4 at very high level does bring a similar event to mind. I was flying FGR2s on 29 and we were getting ready for an MPC. One of our firings was to be a Sparrow/Skyflash against a very high altitude STILETTO target. My nav and I were sent out over the North Sea to try out the acceleration and climb profile that had been devised by our QWI.
We carried out the prescribed series of stepped climbs which put us up around 45,000 and at maximum mach for our final pitch up (to lead the dot) and simulated firing. My youthful enthusiasm took us to about 75 degrees nose up in full blower, rapidly climbing through FL660
The response to my attempt to roll inverted and pull resulted in lots of buffet and pedal shaker, but very little change in attitude. Everything then went very quiet as the donks stopped, followed by a cockpit full of fog and the onset of pressure breathing. I decided to hold everything central and enjoy the ride. Actually, there was very little else I could do.
The F4 was as good as gold, as LTCT said, and flew a lovely ballistic arc and ended up in denser air, nose down and accellerating. The engines relit without a glitch and we went home to explain to the assembled team in Friday ground training how not to fly the new Stiletto profile.
More to come...
