The Lockheed D-21 has three air data booms / pitot intake tubes: one on the nose and one on each wing. (Images here and here.)
All three appear to be pitot-static tubes. Anyone know what purpose having three of these served?
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most testing/experimental aircraft have wide arrays of extra sensors hanging off them in different positions. – SnakeDoc Dec 13 '16 at 20:22
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2As an autonomous vehicle it needed three probes to enable the FCS to "vote" what the correct signal is if one probe shows erroneous readings. – Peter Kämpf Dec 13 '16 at 20:34
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Peter, since the three probes are in different positions, presumably they would have different readings. A small sideslip, for example, would result in three different yet valid readings, correct? – Todd Stellanova Dec 13 '16 at 22:15
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@ToddStellanova No, parallel probes will read the same value even if in a sideslip. It is easy to see if you make a drawing. – Gypaets Dec 14 '16 at 08:17