Speeding Ticket For An F-18

A friend in Australia sent this to Me and I thought I'd share it with BTS.

Top this for a speeding ticket...

Two Hunter traffic patrol officers from Newcastle LAC were
involved in an unusual incident while checking for speeding
motorists on the F3 Freeway. One of the officers used a
hand-held radar device to check the speed of a vehicle approaching over the crest of a hill, and was surprised when the speed was
recorded at over 800Kph. Their radar suddenly stopped working and the officers were not able to reset it.

Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar
had in fact latched on to a Williamtown FA-18 fighter jet which was
engaged in a low-flying exercise over Wyong, approaching from the ocean. Back at police headquarters the Local Area Commander fired off a stiff complaint to the RAAF Liaison officer at Williamtown.

Back came the reply in true laconic RAAF style:

'Thank you for your message, which allows us to 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 onto, your hostile radar equipment and
automatically sent a jamming signal back to it. Furthermore, an air-
to-ground missile aboard the fully-armed aircraft had also
automatically locked onto your equipment.

Fortunately the pilot flying the Hornet recognised the situation
for what it was, quickly responded to the missile systems alert
status, and was able to override the automated defence system before the missile was launched and your hostile radar installation was destroyed.

Thank you for your enquiry

Pretty funny if it really happened.

I don't think a radar gun would show up as a "hostile radar", but I've seen and heard stranger things, still...it's quite amuzing. What'd be even more funny is if the RAAF gave the pilot a ticket for speeding.

Snopes

Claim: A hand-held police radar unit successfully tracked a military aircraft on maneuvers, nearly causing the aircraft to fire a missile in response.

Status: False.

Still a good story.

[edit on 5-5-2008 by Sublime620]

I think this is one of those fabricated stories that get emailed around the world. I've just had it sent to me today, and on 'googling' a phrase contained in it ... "Fortunately the pilot flying the Hornet" ... I found that it had been posted in some American forums earlier this year, but with some obvious differences...

"Two California Highway Patrol Officers were conducting speeding enforcement on I-15, North of MCAS Miramar."

"Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar had in fact locked onto a USMC F/A-18 Hornet which was engaged in a low flying exercise near the location."

"Back at the CHP Headquarters the Patrol Captain fired off a complaint to the USMC Base Commander. Back came a reply in true USMC style:"

No doubt someone eventually will come up with a UK version!

Good fun though.