[bedolido]

she also sent me this about airplane stories and Blackbird (SR-71):

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 backseater) 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 backseater. 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"

"No further inquiries were heard on that frequency"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In another famous SR-71 story, Los Angeles Center reported receiving a request for clearance to FL 60 (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...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ There's a story about the military pilot calling for a priority landing, because his single engine jet fighter was running "a bit peaked". Air Traffic Control told the fighter jock that he was number two, behind a B-52 that had one engine shut down. "Ah", the fighter pilot remarked, "The dreaded Seven Engine approach".

[SAMWolf]

"Ah", the fighter pilot remarked, "The dreaded Seven Engine approach".

LOL! Three good stories, thanks for the laughs this morning.

[Darksheare]

I remember reading about the SR-71's "Inlet Unstart".
A pilot said that it starts out with a buzzing sound on teh side of the craft that is experiencing inlet spike control problems.
The backseater has to switch to manual inlet control and correct the problem.

If he doesn't do it fast enough, the engine flamesout and the Blackbird responds by trying to fly sideways.
A quote from it "It'll get your attention."
A mild understatement, it throws your head all over the cockpit like an insane pingpong ball.

[Valin]

On some air bases the Air Force is on one side of the field and civilian aircraft use the other side of the field, with the control tower in the middle. One day the tower received a call from an aircraft asking, "What time is it?"

The tower responded, "Who is calling?"

The aircraft replied, "What difference does it make?"

The tower replied "It makes a lot of difference. If it is an American Airlines Flight, it is 3 o'clock.
If it is Air Force, it is 1500 hours.
If it is a Navy aircraft, it is 6 bells.
If it is an Army aircraft, the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 3.
If it is a Marine Corps aircraft, it's Thursday afternoon."

[colorado tanker]

Thanks for sharing the funny stories. I find the SR-71 a fascinating airplane - I wish that or a replacement were still flying.