Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them

Post by sleavey » Tue, Sep 01, 2020, 6:39 PM UTC

closeparen wrote: post #163

sharkweek wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I listened to the audio book of “The Only Plane in the Sky” (do recommend), and they played real recordings of ATCs on 9/11 as the planes were hitting buildings. It was surreal listening to them talk about the catastrophe but all while maintaining a total sense of calm.

The New York Times interactive feature on this is excellent. Includes some phone and radio traffic from the air defense system as well. http://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/...

Post by ultrarunner » Tue, Sep 01, 2020, 6:40 PM UTC

kitteh wrote: post #189

OJFord wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The upthread-linked Reddit debunk [0] is A) SR71 would've been on a different frequency to both other planes; B) ATC computers at the time were capped at 990 knots; C) SR71s' speeds were classified, no way the crew would've asked or ATC responded with it. Unfortunately. https://np.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/8x5ndw/til_wh...

Correct, people keep repeating this story - it's false. I know controllers who have actually controlled the U2 and SR71 and they've explained why it's not true (they don't use the same freq, etc.). Also Brian Shul (the originator of this anecdote) and his RSO were the only SR71 crew removed from the program. There is a reason for that.

Post by bronson » Tue, Sep 01, 2020, 6:41 PM UTC

tzs wrote: post #161

gambiting wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine they have multiple receivers and can listen to any number of frequencies at once, but as a pilot you won't be listening to civilian frequencies....because why would you? It's just noise that's getting in the way of the mission.

That's covered in the original story. This was a training mission, to get the crew up to the number of hours needed to be cleared to go on real missions. The reconnaissance systems officer (RSO) was the one listening to all the radios, not the pilot. This seems a perfectly sensible thing for the RSO to do on a training mission, since on a real mission he might need to monitor multiple frequencies: > I was beginning t…

Post by cglace » Tue, Sep 01, 2020, 6:43 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #230

pc86 wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airline pilots typically earn their 1500-hour minimum for their license in "small but conventional aircraft" so the odds of them mistaking one for a jetpack is approximately zero.

And I probably have 5000+ hours driving cars. That doesn't mean I don't occasionally confuse one type of road vehicle for another, especially when dealing with odd/rare types.

Post by solarkraft » Tue, Sep 01, 2020, 6:45 PM UTC

bagacrap wrote: post #164

achow wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well at the risk of sounding pedantic, things on rails - railways, metro/subway etc. are not in same category.

they aren't easy to derail? aren't wet leaves enough to cause issues?