Regarding the later stages of a shuttle return, wouldn't it drag a boom along its flight path continuously until it went subsonic? (i.e., the boom isn't caused by transitioning from supersonic to subsonic speed, but is a constant phenomenon of supersonic flight)

Exactly so.

Hello KenV

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

Cheers

Glider 90

The really scary part of that F-104 procedure to me is steps 5 and subsequent, with a big WARNING label. The gear are not extended until AFTER the flare is begun, at which point the aircraft will decelerate and descend at a prodigious rate. And that NOTE at the bottom right would be mighty worrisome to me as a pilot. And with a downward firing ejection seat, its not like the pilot could change his mind and get out after Low Key. Low Key was his do-or-die final checkpoint. After that he was well and truly committed to the landing. And perhaps even then, maybe a quick final roll to inverted would be his best chance of surviving an ejection at Low Key.

I think in reality the best thing to do while at safe altitude, was to point it in a safe direction and collect a MB tie rather than commit to a power off landing just to save an airframe.

Salute!

Good point, KenV, but the downward seat was replaced fairly soon with a conventional seat. Even the Blackbirds had upward firing seats.

The Tampa deadstick pilot was fairly early in the F-16 program, and he and I even "shared" his dog! He was assigned to Germany for awhile and I took care of the dog, heh heh.

The "aim long" advice is good advice. On my actual A-37 deadstick I aimed long but when I started the flare the sucker dropped like a rock. The Viper was an amazing glider compared to any other fighter, and we have had many successful deadstick landings as long as you could get it on the ground before the hydrazine ran out or you had a jet fuel starter helping to reduce hydrazine usage. System was basically a small version of the Shuttle's power system, and it "puffed" just like you saw when the Shuttle rolled out and stopped.

Gums...

As the pilot said, it does help to have a zero-zero seat when making the go/no-go decision.