Home-made plane takes to the air, and lands safely.
I wonder what he was checking when he didn’t land the first and second times.
A retiree builds a plane in 5 years and becomes a local celebrity (of sorts).
Sorry we don’t speak Russian. English please!
Lots of people do this, I don’t understand why you think this is so special.
Looks like a pig with a rocket up it’s butt. 
It’s Russian. He probably dropped his bottle of Vodka on the first approach.
I’d need to drink a half a bottle of vodka to fly in that thing.
An Engineering Marvel!
Beyond that. It advanced the entire aerospace industry by decades.
It did the same for “material science” that didn’t really even exist prior. In order to work the titanium necessary to give it it’s blazing speed and heat resistance they had to create entirely new engineering and industrial processes because the existing tools of the day would barely scratch it.
Imagine the balls it took to go full throttle in that monster knowing what was both ahead and behind you!
In the early days before the first SS flight many of the smartest guys on the planet actually believed that if anything went faster than sound when they hit “the barrier” it would be like slamming into a mountain.
At the sound of the first sonic boom created by an aircraft they thought that is what had happened.
The SR-71 Blackbird is probably one of the most crowning achievements in Aviation History. The engineers alone is pretty spectacular.
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Living between three major bases I used to get to watch them several times a year growing up. I got hooked on flying the first time I saw them at Cannon AFB.
Video just doesn’t do them any justice compared to being right there on the flightline.
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Still one of the coolest and classiest aircraft ever built. Good find.
It is the only former Air Force One that is not owned by the USAF today.
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Understood which is particularly sad.
Citizens should have to shell out this kind of money to restore such an important piece of History.
Auto Gyro’s are cool as hell. I keep threatening to buy our build one.
I’ve had two buddies that had them and they are amazing to fly.
I also have had an obsession with powered parachutes since we first started experimenting with them for covert insertions back in the 80’s.
Yeah I am fascinated with them too, but fully loaded brand new is around 150k. I am tempted! The Diamond twin is what I really like seeing I already have my multi and the safety features and state of the art radar is a must. That is going to cost though.