"St. Louis Approach...."

[SteveinIndy]

Flight numbers changed to protect the guilty...

St. Louis Approach: "United 123 best forward speed to the marker, you're number one."

United 123 (male voice): "Roger, balls to the wall."

St. Louis Approach: "American 4321, you're number two behind a United 737, follow him, cleared visual, best forward speed."

American 4321 (female voice): "Well I can't do balls to the wall but I can do wide open."

-Radio silence-

Unidentified Pilot (male voice): "Is American hiring?"

 

[Utah-Jay]

OMG, love it

 

[Fearless Tower]

Cute, but the American pilot obviously did not understand the origin of the phrase 'balls to the wall' has nothing to do with anatomy.


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[flyingmoose]

Got a laugh out of me!

 

[SteveinIndy]

Cute, but the American pilot obviously did not understand the origin of the phrase 'balls to the wall' has nothing to do with anatomy.


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Right. I actually explained the true origins to the person I heard the joke from. For those who don't know, it was a reference to the little rubber/plastic balls on the tops of the throttle quadrant arms in WWII figures.

 

[GCA319]

Hmmmm I saw this posted over on Jetcareers a couple years back. I still laughed though.

 

[Fearless Tower]

You know it's a joke since American hasn't hired a single pilot since 2001.

 

[rottydaddy]

Right. I actually explained the true origins to the person I heard the joke from. For those who don't know, it was a reference to the little rubber/plastic balls on the tops of the throttle quadrant arms in WWII figures.

Nope, it predates WWII... although it makes sense in that context, it started back in the heyday of steam power. The device described below inspired it, as well as the expression "balls out".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_governor