!!!! Possible spoileres ahead !!!!!
On their way to Libya, there is a moment when the 3 Mirages change their radar frequency or something like that, and start flying very close to each-other, making it look like one single signal instead of 3 on the Libyan airspace control screens. Can anyone tell me if something like that is really possible in the real life?
Yes it is. But it requires some serious skills from the pilots.
shareHey...there is a small glitch here. The ATC in Libya scoffs his junior because the unidentified blip that shows up on their radar turns out to be just another Airbus which was right on time. Now check this. Since the Mirages were doing a "Canon ball" run to the horn of Africa they were trying to fly at their fastest speed (with afterburners on). This would make the blip on the radar approach more speedily than it otherwise should have been. I wonder why the younger as well as the older ATC guy didn't notice it. Too hard to miss the difference in speeds of an Airbus and a Mirage fighter jet.
shareSince the Mirages were doing a "Canon ball" run to the horn of Africa they were trying to fly at their fastest speed (with afterburners on).
a Mirage 2000 is not capable of supercruise.. so its actual cruise speed is not much diferent than from an Airliner..
And even if it would be supercruise capable the pilots would know best how to keep a speed conssitent with an Airliner.. they do that kind of stuff constantly since pretending to be an Airliner can be used for infiltration.
What the libyan control would be wary of is 2 planes dissapearing.. the 3 Mirages had each a transponder.. then after they meet with the A320 the lead Mirage and the Airbus interchange transponder codes and the 2 escorts switch off theirs.. the control should see 2 planes vanishing
I loved this scene in the film. I was expecting trouble for the pilots and instead it was a cool joke scene!
An hour isn't an hour but a little bit of eternity in our handsshare