On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 20:25:46 GMT, Mike Marron
wrote:

"Scott Ferrin" wrote:

This from the latest AW&ST

"SECRET STREAKER?

On the morning of Jan. 7, an aircraft using call sign "Lockheed Test
2334" told the FAA's Albuquerque Center it would be "going supersonic
somewhere above Flight Level 60 [60,000 ft.]" for about 10 sec. It was
flying over the Pecos Military Operating Area in eastern New Mexico at
the time, transmitting on 350.350 MHz. When a center controller
queried, "Say aircraft type," the unidentified vehicle's pilot
responded: "We are a classified type and can't reveal our true
altitude." About 15 min. later, the same pilot--on a different
frequency (351.700 MHz.)--requested permission for a descent to 30,000
ft. and flight-following to "Las Vegas with final destination
somewhere in the Nellis Range" complex. The U.S. Air Force's
super-secret Groom Lake test facility is located in the northwest
portion of the Nellis AFB, Nev., ranges. The Albuquerque Center
controller quipped, "Trip home a bit slower, eh?" There was no
response from the classified aircraft. The radio interchanges were
recorded by Steve Douglass, a "military radio monitor" hobbyist in
Amarillo, Tex."

Couldn't this just be a plain old F-22? Going over 60k is nothing
special. The part about "can't reveal our true altitude" sounds like
BS. If they can see them on radar I'd think they'd be able to tell
how high they were.

Reminds me of the following famous SR-71 story...

Los Angeles Center reported receiving a request for clearance
to FL 600 (60,000 ft). 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.




LOL. I thought about that one :-) There's another one about speeds
being called out:

"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
groundspeed."

"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 groundspeed that day as almost
instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, 'Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests
groundspeed 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 groundspeed readout for us?"

There was a longer than normal pause.... "Aspen, I show 1,742 knots"

"No further inquiries were heard on that frequency""