26 June
MILINET: Humor/Satire/Curiosity
Contributed By: LtCol George Simpson, USMC(Ret)
==========================================
> Subject: How fast are hornets really...?
> 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 and I were screaming across southern California 13 miles
high.
> We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other
aircraft as we
> enter Los Angeles Center's 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 one proud of our speed that day as almost
instantly an
> F-18 smugly transmitted, "Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests
ground speed
> readout." There was a slight pause. "525 knots on the
ground, Dusty."
> Another silent pause. As I was thinking to myself how ripe a
situation
> this was, I heard the 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 one thousand seven hundred
forty-two knots."
> No further inquiries were heard on that frequency.
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