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ATC asked 4.000ft of vertical separation to SR-71 to avoid Concorde collision

theaviationgeekclub.com
30 pointswikidani6 comments
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A nice variation on the “LA speed check story”[1]. Perhaps we can call this one “Shanwick Altitude Check.”

[1]: https://theaviationgeekclub.com/sr-71-blackbird-pilot-tells-...

I thought the same thing! SR-71 stories always get me to smile a bit to be honest

Flagged: Just churnalism of this blog post from 2021: https://atchistory.wordpress.com/2021/12/05/reminicences-4-c...

Almost sounds like an xkcd what-if thing, but real curious what would result from two jets passing this close to each other at supersonic speeds.

Good question. It's a shock wave, yes ? So if a plane survives that quick turbulence then thereafter is smooth sailing ?

The SR-71 refused to give its exact altitude, the concord seems to vary its altitude within a 5000 ft band as tempretures changed, but still well above other aircraft. The traffic controller simply wanted to ensure the SR-71 stayed well away from the concord.

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