Posted on 03/09/2016 5:06:02 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Not all F/A-18 pilots have heard of Leslie Shook, but every Hornet pilot knows her voice. The Boeing employee is the voice of the "oral alert," a series of pre-recorded commands that help a pilot avoid his or her imminent demise.
Shook is now retiring from the company, which put together a nice tribute video to her.
The F/A-18 can sense when corrective action is needed—right away—and the plane promptly warns the pilot what needs to be done. Bitchin' Betty will bark commands like "Pull up! Pull up!" until the pilot complies. There are numerous Bitchin' Betties across various airplanes, with Erica Lane voicing the AH-64 Apache and Sue Milne the Eurofighter Typhoon (where she is known as "Nagging Nora.")
Why have women shouting a pilots? Early voice studies indicated that female voices, in addition to having a greater range, were more authoritative and more likely to grab a pilot's attention. Shook's voice, sharp and matronly, sounds like your mother. And everyone should listen to their mother.
Probably saved more lives than the Baywatch Babes.
As an aviator I can attest to the fact that male aviators tend to have an aural ‘blind spot’ for Bitchin’ Betty’s voice. It is more of an annoyance. Any Hornet pilot that does not already know the condition of his aircraft by the time Betty chimes in, he should not be wearing wings of gold. Probably did not do so well on his last NATOPS exam either...
Wonder how many aviators’ lives have been saved by this lady’s voice? The video mentions that she did meet a guy who would be dead but for obeying her “Roll right! Roll right!” command.
“with Erica Lane voicing the AH-64 Apache “
Faithfully recreated in the Jane’s AH-64 Longbow simulation game from what I hear.
Assuming she can pass the physical, they should offer her a flight in the backseat of one of the planes..she can hear herself...
I wonder who does the voice for Verizon’s voicemail. “You have three unheard messages. First unheard message ...”
It’s not that unpleasant a voice, but it’s Verizon so it grates on me every time I hear it.
wait, like that's hard? Without her floatation augments, Pamela Sue Anderson probably couldn't even swim.
I always wanted my car to say “Bingo Fuel” when the idiot light came on.
I had a VW Golf that had a bad resistor in the dash cluster which made the oil pressure warning buzzer come on.
I always wanted to switch it out with the ‘pull up!’ stall warning.
Well then, I’ve heard her, too. I had the Longbow in my stack of flightsims 20+ years ago. They’re what got me into computers originally. Aces Over Europe and Jetfighter III were two of my other favorites. Bought a lot of those at $40 or so each at the old Best Buy down past Southwyck Mall in Toledo...
Playing the Longbow 2 game during the Azerbaijan campaign and hearing the voice cheerfully (for the digitized voice) tell you about the Zsu nearby..
Ditto.
I had EVERY Janes game ever released.
Longbow was good because of the miltiplayer duels.
I had CH Products most advanced joystick, throttle and pedals. Unfortunately, they were the older input format and not USB.
“call your mother!”
Jewish oral warning, from “Guilt Trip Gertrude” onboard Israeli F 15’s.
CC
Had a Logitech Wingman Extreme.
It gave up the ghost and I couldn’t find a replacement for it.
Ended up with one joystick that was crap, went to a Saitek eventually.
Sure was fun!
LOL!
I spent ten years fixing the F-18. 100’s of hours in the seat doing engine runs and other testing. I had the NATOPS damn near memorized.
“Warning, Warning” or “Flight Controls, Flight Controls” then the ones that got every ones attention- “Engine fire Left, Engine fire Left” “APU Fire, APU Fire” “Engine fire Right,”. etc
There are many bitching Betty warnings.
I also integrated the Saitek “PC Dash”, which allowed me to configure weapons loadouts and ordnance presets, and gave me dozens of additional functions.
Spent a LOT of time with Longbow and Falcon 4.0 after it FINALLY came out (Dec 14, 1998). Spent a ton of money upgrading to get the most out of that.
I miss my wingman stick, the cord itself got pinched and that was how it died.
:-(
Still have my Logitech gamepad somewhere, but I found it annoying to use.
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