Captain Warren Cross This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. *** Unconfirmed Sightings - by Brad Corletti ***

   www.terra-group.org/boussh/Unc - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/27/2003   Last Visited: 4/16/2005

   RAAF Captain Warren Cross eased his flightstick forward in a calm and self-assured manner as he screamed across South Australia in his F/A-18 Hornet. At a stately 1000 kph, he brought the aircraft down low, to a height not usually flown. Although several thousand feet above the ground, in aviation terms, he was practically driving.
   
   He approached the critical moment of this training flight - the ridge up ahead, a low stretch of hills, was his target. He was to fly over it at a sufficiently low altitude to avoid the hypothetical radar while still maintaining enough height to avoid any chance of collision - and for the purpose of the exercise, to properly deplay the dummy Durandel parachute-retarded bomb.
   
   It was an exercise in self control - and control over the airframe. A steady hand would be required to pass through the critical envelope. The instruments would be of little help here, the instruments are secondary devices - themselves affected by the aircraft's passage through the air, with little to objectively measure themselves against. A rookie would throw his aircraft about trying to 'chase' the instruments, only to throw himself far out of the envelope.
   
   Captain Cross was no rookie.
   
   Barely paying attention to the instruments, he relied on the only instruments he could truly rely on - the world outside, and the feel of the airframe.
   
   He threaded the needle perfectly.
   ...
   A flash of red light - the oddly circular aircraft turned and Cross got his first good look at it. It was strangely shaped, almost appearing like an F-15 Eagle with no wings.
   
   Wait a minute.
   ...
   The fighter accelerated north, and Warren, not having much else to do, turned to follow. Silence reigned on the commline.
   
   The fighter turned again, to port, and Warren followed. The fighter turned to starboard. Warren got the impression it was playing with him.
   ...
   Warren knew that he was setting himself up for public ridicule.