4 ms·
Note: this is just a general guess. But my money is on this just being a military test—some SR71-like replacement (probably air-breathing, maybe even unmanned)
by LolWolf 9y ago
Note: this is just a general guess.
But my money is on this just being a military test—some SR71-like replacement (probably air-breathing, maybe even unmanned). It's not really out of the question, but a big hole in this idea is that merging with general air traffic is usually a no-no even by military standards.
Anyways, on a somewhat unrelated note, it just reminds me of this[0] story, for anyone even remotely interested in flight.
[0] https://oppositelock.kinja.com/favorite-sr-71-story-1079127041 https://oppositelock.kinja.com/favorite-sr-71-story-10791270...
- IntronExon 9y agoI think the next “SR-71” is hypersonic, part of the “cancelled” HTV-X3 successor program under FALCON. There would be no “chasing” something like that, and it would be.... striking.
- rrmm 9y agoNo one in the calls even seemed particularly surprised at the speed, so maybe in the high-performance business jet territory.
- ridgeguy 9y agoThat linked story never gets old.
- bigtones 9y agoAlways makes me smile. So well written.
- jonah 9y agoIf you haven't heard him tell it, it's worth a listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg73GKm7GgI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg73GKm7GgI
- LgWoodenBadger 9y agoI've never heard this before, I've only read it. I like the context of the written one better. Seems like the focus/slant/whatever changed from the one-upmanship of the written one to let's-piss-off-center of the spoken one.
- Gargoyle 9y agoThe altitude is the curious part to me. 37,000 feet is right in the commercial aviation region, though it sounds like they were staying well away from established corridors.
- cypherpunks01 9y agoMilitary test of a stealth plane is the simplest explanation, but why would it not talk to ATC? As a test to see whether it could make it a few hundred miles in a busy air corridor without being noticed?
- LolWolf 9y agoProbably to not be on record of the ATC, would be my guess.
- c3534l 9y agoI mean, it's been identified as aircraft by pilots nearby. And it has the ability to disguise itself from radar. That's all you really need to conclude spy plane. I know that people had made sightings of previous US planes before they were declassified. A slightly scarier possibility is that its not American.
- cornellwright 9y agoATC primary radar is pretty weak. Not showing up (particularly after changing flight direction) doesn't mean much. It's very odd (and illegal) for something to be up in flight levels without a transponder though.
- themodelplumber 9y agoWow that SR-71 photo makes the pilot's face look so doctored. It looks like a video game rendering of a face.
- jonah 9y agoPart of it may be that he was badly burned in a crash in Vietnam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Shul#Vietnam_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Shul#Vietnam_war https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajjlNYvO1CU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajjlNYvO1CU
- bitmapbrother 9y agoThis thing disappeared from radar. So if it was a secret military aircraft the it appears to have the ability to hide and unhide its radar signature. Also, if you listen to the FAA telephone calls you'll hear the air traffic controller mention that the object was heading south bound, at a fast clip, and then did an abrupt maneuver and took off north bound. Now, you could say the object just did an Immelmann, but I'm not aware of anything that can perform an Immelmann that fast in an object that large.