dxb105@csc.anu.oz (06/04/90)
From: dxb105@csc.anu.oz In article <16020@cbnews.ATT.COM>, doug@mathel.ncsu.edu (Doug James) writes: > In modern jet aircraft [...], the transition to supersonic is so smooth that > you have to know what to look for to even notice it has occurred. When Australia had its first F/A-18s delivered they gave the then defence minister, Kim Beazley, a fly in one. The conversation went something like this: Pilot: And now, sir, would you like to go through the sound barrier? KB: No, thankyou. Pilot: As you prefer sir. Would you just push that lever forward, please? KB: (doing so) What does that do? Pilot: Puts us through the sound barrier, sir. This isn't _quite_ an urban myth; it was in the Sydney Morning Herald... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ David Bofinger ACSNet: dxb105@phys.anu.oz (from outside Australia, add .au) Snail: Dept. of Theoretical Physics, RSPhysS, ANU, ACT, 2601 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "It is the logic of our times No subject for immortal verse That we, who lived by honest dreams Defend the bad against the worse." -- C.D. Lewis, `Where are the War Poets?'