Brian Shul - Sled Driver
Speed Check
There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this...sierrahotel.net
My last year in the AF, we had a weekend airshow at Barksdale AFB in northwest Louisiana. We hosted one of the first public SR-71 displays. After the show, the crew fired the aircraft up by placing the left engine inlet immediately behind the outermost engine of a KC-135. The pilot increased throttle on that engine until the SR's engine started, which permitted the pilot to fire up his right engine. The SR took off with one of its show stopping vertical climbs and disappeared into the clear afternoon sky in right at 20 seconds. A few seconds after that, the SR pilot requested clearance for landing at his home base in SOCAL (undisclosed). That request meant he was 45 minutes from home.