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> "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are all doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress."

I find something very entertaining when I hear stories of pilots/air traffic controllers communications during emergencies/exciting situations that are extremely calm.

It reminds me of the classic SR-71 Blackbird "Speed Check" story.

Edit: For those unfamiliar, the story is here http://oppositelock.kinja.com/favorite-sr-71-story-107912704...



Rod Machado, in one of his private pilot manuals, has a story about a Blackbird returning to the US across the Gulf of Mexico and requesting flight level 850 (85,000 ft) from the Houston ATC. The traffic controller, apparently not recognizing the call sign and thinking it was a joke, said something like, "If you can get up there, it's yours." The pilot replied, "Ma'am, we're coming down to 850."


Brian Schul, the pilot from that story, was at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos today.


Awesome. This story never gets old. I just found this recent video of it as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyHH9G9et0

EDIT: Speeds mentioned in vid are 100 knots higher in the video than GP's link (1942 vs 1842)?


Wonderful story! Thank you for sharing!


hudson landing soundtrack was also very impressive.




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