Anyone for A Speeding Ticket

[zdcol71]

Smells a little of urban myth, sorry if its done the rounds.....
Two Brisbane Patrol Officers were conducting speeding enforcement on SH15 Cunningham Highway, just west of the Amberley Airforce Base at Ipswich.
The officers were using hand held radar devices to check speeding vehicles approaching the crest of a hill. The officers were suddenly surprised when their radar guns began reading 500 kms per hour.
The officer attempted to reset the radar guns, but they would not reset and then turned off.
Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar had in fact locked on to an RAAF F/A-18 Hornet which was engaged in a low flying exercise near the location.
Back at the QLD Traffic Control Headquarters the Patrol Sergeant fired off a complaint to the RAAF Base Commander.
The reply came back in true RAAF style:

Thank you for your letter. We can now complete the file on this incident.

You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Hornet had detected the presence of, and subsequently locked on to your hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it, which is why it shut down.

Furthermore, an Air-to-Ground missile aboard the fully armed aircraft had also automatically locked on to your equipment location.

Fortunately, the Senior Pilot flying the Hornet recognized the situation for what it was, quickly responded to the missile system alert status and was able to override the automated defence system before the missile was launched to destroy the hostile radar position.
The pilot also suggests you cover your mouths when cursing at them, since the video systems on these jets are very high tech.

Sergeant Johnson, the officer holding the left radar gun, should get his dentist to check his left rear molar. It appears the filling is loose.
Also, the snap is broken on his holster.
Thank you for your concern.
Wing Commander Brown, SFO
RAAF. Amberley. Ipswich, Qld.

[JC260]

This story has been around for so long it's not funny.
It started out as a pommy story (even it's legitimacy is highly doubtful) about the RAF and the local plod

Someone has just tuned it to sound australian. Sad really.

[Mr Hardware]

BEWWW!
I was going to tear apart the dozen reasons as to why it was most certainly a pack of lies and BS, but i'll let snopes do it for me.

[Velociraptor82]

At 500km/h I doubt the range of the rader gun would pick up the plan far enough away that the officer could reset the thing before the plane appeared and went out of range. But who cares if it is true or not. Its a great story.

[F6T]

Old as mate.....no less BS though

[geckoGT]

Yeah great fiction. I am sure the RAAF always fly around Amberley with operational and armed air to ground missiles on board ready to take out targets, considering there is not RAAF bombing range in the area. To my knowledge such systems will search and acquire potentially hostile targets but they still require a human to push the button so this idea that it was lucky the pilot could override the system is BS.

Apart from that, to my knowledge Amberley was not the home of the Hornets, Williamtown near Newcastle is.

Oh and I have seen a lot of still shots from on board video cameras used on australian aircraft whilst I was in the defence force planning patrols in the top end and during my training as an anti-armour operator. It is nowhere near clear enough to give someone a dental check up.

As far as I am concerned, myth busted.

[Ben73]

I wish it was true.

[Jim Goose]

Like was said, it did the rounds as a story from the UK and it was a Harrier, it then also appeared in a US version..... now the aussie version.....
Much like a lot of internet "myths" which appear to morph into different countries of origin.

[geckoGT]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Like was said, it did the rounds as a story from the UK and it was a Harrier, it then also appeared in a US version..... now the aussie version.....
Much like a lot of internet "myths" which appear to morph into different countries of origin.

The version I read it was a Tornado in the UK, so now it has been a F/A18, Tornado and Harrier. I am guessing it was a F15 in the US edition.

In the UK it also said that a sidewinder missile was armed and almost fired, pity a sidewinder is a short to medium range air to air missile and would not be used on a ground target (it is not radar guided, it is IR guided).

[Ausfire]

LOL, Great Story zdcol71, haven't heard that one before.

I have a good story regarding the retiring F111 Pigs that occurred about 15 - 20 yrs ago now.
Not sure of exact details but pretty sure this one is ridgy Dig!!
(There are some other ex Raafies here that could probably confirm)

The Australian Defence Department was looking at getting rid of the ageing F111 fleet back in the 80's i believe. They were having this meeting in Canberra to discuss this when all the F111 Squadron boys back at Amberly conducted a full mission to prep a F111 (Pave Tac fitted) take off, out to sea, high speed run down the coast zip in to Canberra, take a photo of the meeting through the window using pave Tac (?) and then flew straight back to Amberly, This took all of 40 mins round trip (apparently).

Back at the base the photo was developed and then sent to this meeting via email or fax. Once the people withing this meeting saw that photo and the time it took from start to finish, they kept the PIGS and then upgraded them to the G model.

Here a little fact for ya's, the F111's were governed to Mach 2.4, I believe the engines were actually good to Mach 3.6 but the airframe could not take it, Would that be like trying to put a new 5 ltr Coyote motor in me XE ??? lol.

[grandpa_spec_F6]

Originally Posted by Ausfire

This took all of 40 mins round trip (apparently).

Theoretically possible (mach 2.4 being something like 2500km/h) but I think if they did something like that they would have peeved off the big wigs big time.

If it IS true....

[mrbaxr6t]

this is funny, I hadn't heard it and wouldnt it be fantastic if this happened and it fired (at a mobile speed camera car) I for one would pay dearly to see one blown up

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by Ausfire

LOL, Great Story zdcol71, haven't heard that one before.

I have a good story regarding the retiring F111 Pigs that occurred about 15 - 20 yrs ago now.
Not sure of exact details but pretty sure this one is ridgy Dig!!
(There are some other ex Raafies here that could probably confirm)

The Australian Defence Department was looking at getting rid of the ageing F111 fleet back in the 80's i believe. They were having this meeting in Canberra to discuss this when all the F111 Squadron boys back at Amberly conducted a full mission to prep a F111 (Pave Tac fitted) take off, out to sea, high speed run down the coast zip in to Canberra, take a photo of the meeting through the window using pave Tac (?) and then flew straight back to Amberly, This took all of 40 mins round trip (apparently).

Back at the base the photo was developed and then sent to this meeting via email or fax. Once the people withing this meeting saw that photo and the time it took from start to finish, they kept the PIGS and then upgraded them to the G model.

Here a little fact for ya's, the F111's were governed to Mach 2.4, I believe the engines were actually good to Mach 3.6 but the airframe could not take it, Would that be like trying to put a new 5 ltr Coyote motor in me XE ??? lol.

Flying past the speed of sound is actually an offence (unless its in wartime) over populated areas....

The story is an old wives tale and not true sorry to say.

The fact about the engines "governed" is also not true... an engine is designed to make a certain amount of power to suit the airframe that it goes into. A jet engine alone does not or is not capable of flying to M3.6. Its the airframe which is designed to do so.....

[Ausfire]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Flying past the speed of sound is actually an offence (unless its in wartime) over populated areas....

The story is an old wives tale and not true sorry to say.

The fact about the engines "governed" is also not true... an engine is designed to make a certain amount of power to suit the airframe that it goes into. A jet engine alone does not or is not capable of flying to M3.6. Its the airframe which is designed to do so.....

Well there ya go, They didn't fly at Mach over land either, they went out off the coast then opened it up, I know what happens when they break sound barrier over land, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8124lhm6d7o these 2 knuckle heads did this over range hut at Evans Head, result, lifted roof up, broke all windows, busted! this is no wifes tale! As for the engines, not sure what trade you were Goose, but i heard this story numerous times through out my carreer , same thing.

[SXR6]

LOL, its still a funny read though.

[Rodp]

It would have sounded a lot more believable if they left off the last few paragraphs. Clearly someone who has watched too many Hollywood movies.

[AWD Chaser]

Because I'm in the know I'll pick away at the details..

Hornets are based in Tindal, NT and Williamtown, NSW. Extremely rare for a Hornet to do excercise at Amberly. F-111's, and now Super Hornets are now based there.

automated defence system before the missile was launched to destroy the hostile radar position.

Hornets can/do fly with live missiles, however, it is very rare over a populated region. There is no Automatic launch on the Hornet. The cheapest missile that can be fired from a missile is $85,000USD, but the standard missile now fitted costs about $300,000USD a piece...

get his dentist to check his left rear molar. It appears the filling is loose.
Also, the snap is broken on his holster.

The FLIR pods fitted to the hornet cannot focus to this level of detail...

[chrisfpv]

lol, this will be a ****a to anyone who hasn't heard it before.