Thats a great story, and well told.

Love the Close Encounters footage. lol
"EWA517 would you like to report a UFO over?"

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The king of speed lived.
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What a *quality story.

I love that plane. An absolutely stunning piece of *engineering.

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If you visit NYC, be sure to check out the Intrepid Museum (it's an old aircraft carrier with lots of planes and a space shuttle).

I actually did go to the Intrepid last time I was in NY (ye gods, it was 17 years ago... now I feel old) especially to see the SR 71 and the shuttle.

Bored my poor wife (then girlfriend) to tears, but it was geek nirvana for me. Totally worth it!

I was hoping the ISS or a shuttle crew was going to pop in... ha ha. But of course why would they be on public freq...

Very well told... has a lilt and flow that reminds me of Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant story. Amazing bird.

Ok, so I heard a similar story from a SR-71 pilot that went like this:

A SR-71 was entering LA control control space and was listening to the chatter of pilots requesting various altitude changes, so the pilot of the Blackbird decided to have some fun.

He called ATC and requested Angels 7-0 (I think this correct: 70,000 feet). LA control came back and said smirkingly, "Ok, if you think you can reach it, you're cleared for Angels 7-0."

"Roger LA ATC," the pilot came back, "Descending to Angels 7-0".


Dunno if it's true or not, but it's a story.

Ok; super geek time:

1) Smithsonian Air and Space, including the Udvar Hazy extension at Dulles; B-29, SR, and shuttle and for extra geek points
2) Make a special call and get an appt slot WAY ahead of time for the Smithsonian Air and Space's Paul E Garber restoration facility...There's is (or was) unbelievable stuff in there...

Have never been to DC. It's on my list for when I am rich and do my road trip across the USA.

Of course, as plane geek, if you are West Coast---
I have never been to Paul Allen's personal museum...but want to go!

http://www.flyingheritage.com

Have you gotten there? (Everett, WA)

Sadly, I've only been to a few places in the US (NY, New Orleans, SF, Florida when I was a kid).

It's a long haul from NZ!

that might be a BIT more "West" of the coast than I was thinking lol.

And it is indeed a very long haul, as far as I can tell (never been to NZ)

The way I've heard it, it was an SR-71 requesting clearance to Flight Level 600 (60,000 ft). Class A controlled airspace extends up to and including 80,000 ft, and the SR-71 was above 80,000 ft. and descending and needed clearance before entering the Class A airspace. The controller came back and "asked how do you plan to get up to 60,000 ft." The pilot responded, "we don't plan to go up to it, we plan to go down to it." He was cleared to FL600.

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