Jan Johnson
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 5 months, 2018–2021
5:59 · 5.3M views · Jan 1, 2017
Retired Major Brian Shul tells the story of a ground speed check with LA Center while flying the SR-71 Blackbird. He recounts it live at the Hiller Aviation Museum.
Shared as the pilot's own telling of a famous, amusing SR-71 anecdote that never gets old.
6 comments from Hacker News
Awesome. This story never gets old. I just found this recent video of it as well: this video EDIT: Speeds mentioned in vid are 100 knots higher in the video than GP's link (1942 vs 1842)?
If you haven't heard the "SR-71 Speed Check" story, it's pretty amusing. As told by the pilot: this video
The pilot of the Blackbird maintains that it's true. Not sure you're going to find any confirmation other than that. But it isn't some joke or story cooked up by a random person for laughs. this video
I thought it was apocryphal as well, but this is the pilot who did it. this video Not saying it’s impossible that he made it up or embellished, but it seems likely that it actually happened.
Shul telling the story: this video ("Major Brian Shul relays the true story of a ground speed check with Los Angeles Center, while piloting the SR-71 Blackbird over Southern California.")