In another famous SR-71 story, Los Angeles Center reported receiving a request for clearance to FL 600 (60,000ft). The incredulous controller, with some disdain in his voice, asked: "How do you plan to get up to 60,000 feet?”
The pilot (obviously a sled driver), responded: "We don’t plan to go up to it; we plan to go down to it."
He was cleared.
Brilliant quote.
Very clever – hah!
The way I heard it (from memory – this is a legend) was:
"Control this is , Request FL600"
" XXX, FL600 is all yours if you can get up there…"
"Roger, DECENDING FL600……"
It always seemed strange to me that a controler would not know the current level of traffic he was monitoring… It would be interesting to actually know this origins of this Myth, and if its Busted or not!