SR-71 control tower exchanges

[Dan_]

(Actual exchanges between pilots and control towers)

Note: For those that don't know, "The Sled"is the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane from the 1960's and still the fastest airplane.


In his book, "Sled Driver", SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul writes: "I'll always remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day as Walt (my back-seater) and I were screaming across Southern California 13 miles high. We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other aircraft as we entered Los Angeles airspace. Though they didn't really control us, they did monitor our movement across their scope.


I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its ground speed."90 knots" Center replied. Moments later, a Twin Beech required the same. "120 knots,"
Center answered. We weren't the only ones proud of our ground speed that day as almost instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, "Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests ground speed readout." There was a slight pause, then the response, "525 knots on the ground, Dusty." Another silent pause.
As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this was, I heard a familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my back-seater. It was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison. "Center, Aspen 20, you got a ground speed readout for us?" There was a longer than normal pause.... "Aspen, I show 1,742 knots" (That's about 2004.658 mph who don't know)
No further inquiries were heard on that frequency.
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In another famous SR-71 story, Los Angeles Center reported receiving a request for clearance to FL 600 (60,000ft). The incredulous controller, with some disdain in his voice, asked, "How do you plan to get up to 60,000 feet?
The pilot (obviously a sled driver), responded, "We don't plan to go up to it; we plan to go down to it." He was cleared.
-------------------------------------
The pilot was sitting in his seat and pulled out a .38 revolver. He placed it on top of the instrument panel, and then asked the navigator,
"Do you know what I use this for?"
The navigator replied timidly, "No, what's it for?" The pilot responded, "I use this on navigators who get me lost!"
The navigator proceeded to pull out a .45 and place it on his chart table.
The pilot asked, "What's that for?" "To be honest sir," the navigator replied, "I'll know we're lost before you will."
--------------------------------------------
When Hillary Clinton visited Iraq last month the Army Blackhawk helicopter used to transport the Senator was given the call sign "broomstick one". And they say the Army has no sense of humor!

stolen from http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=186901

[BostonMark]

Haha, that third one is great! Thanks for sharing, i'll have to check this book out!

[andy_mccabe501]

The pilot was sitting in his seat and pulled out a .38 revolver. He placed it on top of the instrument panel, and then asked the navigator,
"Do you know what I use this for?"
The navigator replied timidly, "No, what's it for?" The pilot responded, "I use this on navigators who get me lost!"
The navigator proceeded to pull out a .45 and place it on his chart table.
The pilot asked, "What's that for?" "To be honest sir," the navigator replied, "I'll know we're lost before you will."

Cracked me up!

some good ones there man thanks for sharing!

andy

[raisin]

I like my SR-71

http://www.raysamuelsaudio.com/products/sr-71

[zonedar]

Originally Posted by Dan_

.. "Aspen, I show 1,742 knots" (That's about 2004.658 mph who don't know)

or 14352851516.706123 furlongs/fortnight

[Darrell]

Hilarious stuff.

[KASR]

1,2,3 were hilarious!!! Thanks for sharing.

[RobinCoppell]

broomstick one .. funniest thing I've heard in a while

[Galaxie_xl]

I love the Blackbird! Fastest plane EVER! I am very sad she's gone. Brian Shul is definitely the expert, great books but his books cost way too much.

I would love to get in a phone booth in a knife fight with that badboy (would lose in a second). She takes about half the ConUS to turn around. What do I know though?

P.S. the "Misty" callsign while I've been in SoCal (2 years) was an S-3 not a hornet, not that a hornet is any better.

My 1.5 cents. I would love to hear from some AF pilots.

[raisin]

Originally Posted by Galaxie_xl

I love the Blackbird! Fastest plane EVER!

You're not keeping up with the scuttlebutt!

[Galaxie_xl]

Originally Posted by raisin

You're not keeping up with the scuttlebutt!

What the... who... crap... like I said, what do I know? I went soft after I hit number + 2.