Renowned Aviator Brian Shul Dead at 75

[okikuma]

Renowned Aviator Brian Shul Dead at 75 - FLYING Magazine

Brian Shul—SR-71 Blackbird pilot, inspirational speaker, photographer, author, and gifted storyteller has flown west. He was 75.

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Flying Magazine

Renowned Aviator Brian Shul Dead at 75

SR-71 pilot, author, and motivational speaker suffered heart attack after a speech in Reno, Nevada.
By Meg Godlewski

May 23, 2023

Renowned Aviator Brian Shul Dead at 75

Renowned aviator Brian Shul, 75, died after suffering a heart attack after a speech in Reno, Nevada. [Credit: U.S. Air Force]

Brian Shul—SR-71 Blackbird pilot, inspirational speaker, photographer, author, and gifted storyteller has flown west. He was 75.

According to a social media post from his sister, Maureen Shul, on Monday, Shul was speaking in front of a large military group in Reno, Nevada, on Saturday night. As was his custom, he ended the event by signing copies of his books—he wrote several, including Sled Driver, Flying the World’s Fastest Jet that chronicled his experiences flying the SR-71 Blackbird.

According to the post, “After his speech and after the book signing Brian suffered a heart attack and collapsed.” The post goes on to state CPR was performed on the spot, and he was rushed to a hospital where he died.

Shul, the Early Years

Shul was born on February 8, 1948, in Quantico, Virginia. He joined the Air Force in 1970 shortly after graduating from East Carolina University with a degree in history. He became an attack pilot during the Vietnam War, flying 212 combat missions.

According to Shul, toward the end of the war he was shot down while flying an AT-28D Trojan along the Cambodian border and endured a fiery crash behind enemy lines. Badly burned and blinded because his helmet visor had melted, Shul crawled out of the burning wreckage.

When he spoke about the experience to audiences, he would joke that he was “just a lieutenant at the time and didn’t know how to make a decision,” so as he lay on the jungle floor he “could not choose between his water bottle or his gun.” A helicopter crew sent to rescue him could not land in the dense jungle, so the pilot kept the aircraft in a hover while crewmen “scooped him up like a sack of rice” and medevaced him out of the area. He would tell the audiences: “I knew then that I was on the right team.”

Shul underwent several surgeries and extensive physical therapy with the goal of returning to flight status. He flew as part of the A-10 demonstration team and later became an Air Force instructor pilot.

Shul followed that up by volunteering to fly the SR-71 Blackbird. The Blackbird, designed as a reconnaissance aircraft, first flew in the 1960s and was still in use in the 1980s. To do this, Shul had to pass an astronaut-level physical, which he did, something impressive in itself since just a few years earlier surgeons did not believe he would recover from his crash injuries.

Shul was a favorite speaker at airshows, fly-ins, and aviation museums. Usually wearing a flight suit and later a polo shirt with an American flag motif, he told the audience declassified technical information about the once-super-secret SR-71, including details as how the windows of the aircraft would get as hot as a pizza oven and he would heat up his lunch. It had to be consumed through a straw—since the flight crew wore astronaut pressure suits and helmets—by holding the tube of food against the window with his gloved hand. He noted that the ability to climb significantly higher and fly faster than any other aircraft were its defensive attributes. “The only weapon on board was the pocketknife carried by the backseater.”

His missions took place at the height of the Cold War. Shul described being chased by Russian MiGs that couldn’t catch the SR-71 and added that the flights were often frightening and very fatiguing—since they required eight hours in the cockpit—but were also rewarding.

“The Berlin Wall came down on our watch,” he noted.

A head-on view of NASA’s SR-71B on the ramp at the Air Force’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, shortly before delivery to Dryden Flight Research Center. [Courtesy: NASA]

The favorite story of most who came to hear Shul speak was about his ground speed check over Southern California, where several pilots—including one flying an F/A-18 Hornet—were engaged in a game of one-upmanship regarding which airplane sported the fastest ground speed. This was during the pre-GPS days when pilots would check on with Center to get a ground speed check.

As told by Shul, his backseater, Walt Watson, was in charge of the radios. They were coming close to the end of a long flight when they heard a Cessna pilot requesting a ground speed check (90 knots), then a twin Beech asked for one (120 knots), followed by a Navy F-18 pilot’s request for one. That caught Shul’s and Watson’s attention because they both knew the F-18 was equipped with ground speed readout on the heads-up display. As Shul told it, Center had just informed the F-18 pilot that his speed was 620 knots across the ground when Watson clicked on and asked for a ground speed check. Center replied: “Aspen 30 heavy we show you at 1,942 knots across the ground,” and Watson replied, “Center, we’re showing a little closer to 2,000.”

Photography, Writing

After retiring from piloting the SR-71, Shul focused on writing and photography. His books put the reader into the cockpit of airplanes few people will ever see.

His first two books—Sled Driver: Flying the World’s Fastest Jet and The Untouchables—are about the SR-71 Blackbird. His third and fourth books put you in formation with the Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds. When talking about the book Blue Angels: A Portrait of Gold, Shul said he was allowed to take the stick for a few minutes during a flight and that flight time— all four minutes of it—was in his logbook “in gold.” He then went on to fly with the Thunderbirds, which resulted in the book Summer Thunder.

Shul’s books are filled with rich descriptions and colorful photography. His last book, Eagle Eyes: Action Photography from the Cutting Edge, features in-flight photographs. At the time of his death, Shul operated a photography studio in Marysville, California. In addition to aviation, nature was one of his favorite subjects to photograph, and the hills around Marysville were rife with it.

I knew Brian personally. I met him one summer when I worked at an aviation museum. He was the guest speaker, and I was his host for a three-day event. We stayed in touch over the years—he was very pleased to hear I had become a flight instructor and reminded me that the job is “the most important link in the chain.”

Wherever he went, Shul drew crowds like a rock star. When you heard him speak, you could not help but be impressed by all he accomplished and respectful when he spoke of the gratitude he felt every day. He often described himself as a man with two birthdays, as he was given a second chance at life at the age of 25 after being shot down in Vietnam. He left audiences feeling grateful for all they had.

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 20 years and a CFI for more than 18 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.

 

[Vance]

I attended two of his talks and found him inspirational.

He was a great story teller and a remarkable aviator.

I am sad for his passing.

I donated his book “Sled Driver” to the Santa Maria Museum of Flight as part of my downsizing for the move to Santa Maria.

 

[Jazzenjohn]

I refueled him on his first operational mission in Okinawa Japan. Around 1983 or 4 I think.

 

[Smack]

A sad day.
The man was super-inspirational.
He could relate a story to the average pilot even though he was near demi-god status.

 

[bryancobb]

In the mid 1980's, the US had some military stuff taking place in Honduras and SR-71's were used to grab intelligence from the Nicaraguan border. I was a munitions guy in the USAF and was at Macdill AFB in Tampa. The AC-130 Specter gunships that were participating were coming to MacDill for us to re-arm them. One day as I was driving a load of ammo to the C-130, an "Attention all radio-users this net...attention all radio-users this net" call came over my radio.

It further said..."We have an IFE in-progress (in-flight emergency), type aircraft-SR71, nature of emergency-hydraulic failure, aircraft is 20 miles out and will be landing on runway zero-four in approximately four minutes !" That really got my attention and I watched the jet land safely and taxi over to the hot pad where I was parked. My load of munitions got the pilot's attention and while he was waiting for a security detail to arrive to tow his jet to a closeable hangar, he walked over to my "bobtail" and chatted with me. I THOUGHT I remembered it being Maj. Shul but I was mistaken. I have Maj. Shul's card with his personal phone number at Beale AFB on it. In 2020 I sent him an email with the scan below attached and asked if it was him at MacDill in 1986. Below is his response. I still don't know who that pilot was, and I have no idea where I got Maj. Shul's card and phone number. He says that's his writing???

 

[okikuma]

In the mid 1980's, the US had some military stuff taking place in Honduras and SR-71's were used to grab intelligence from the Nicaraguan border. I was a munitions guy in the USAF and was at Macdill AFB in Tampa. The AC-130 Specter gunships that were participating were coming to MacDill for us to re-arm them. One day as I was driving a load of ammo to the C-130, an "Attention all radio-users this net...attention all radio-users this net" call came over my radio.

It further said..."We have an IFE in-progress (in-flight emergency), type aircraft-SR71, nature of emergency-hydraulic failure, aircraft is 20 miles out and will be landing on runway zero-four in approximately four minutes !" That really got my attention and I watched the jet land safely and taxi over to the hot pad where I was parked. My load of munitions got the pilot's attention and while he was waiting for a security detail to arrive to tow his jet to a closeable hangar, he walked over to my "bobtail" and chatted with me. I THOUGHT I remembered it being Maj. Shul but I was mistaken. I have Maj. Shul's card with his personal phone number at Beale AFB on it. In 2020 I sent him an email with the scan below attached and asked if it was him at MacDill in 1986. Below is his response. I still don't know who that pilot was, and I have no idea where I got Maj. Shul's card and phone number. He says that's his writing??? View attachment 1158507
View attachment 1158509

A very nice story Brian.

As you know, those who have held secret security clearances are sworn to secrecy with all operations, locations and timelines for a lifetime. There are many things I have been involved with in my past that I cannot speak about. Even when I have seen and read about it with complete accuracy in Aviation Leak (Week). So in Brian's defense, he continued to maintain OPSEC in respect to that email.

Wayne

 

[BEN S]

Jaques Cousteau's son outed our classified secret diving rig on his TV show...
Everyone went nuts....

 

[GyroChuck]

landing on runway zero-four

I had an instructor who would complain whenever on the radio he heard a zero before the runway number. He would reply there is no zero before that number on the runway.

 

[Sv.grainne]

I was told that zero before the runway number is acceptable. Zero Three for runway 30 for example. Runway numbers are always 2 digits.

 

[Sv.grainne]

A very nice story Brian.

As you know, those who have held secret security clearances are sworn to secrecy with all operations, locations and timelines for a lifetime. There are many things I have been involved with in my past that I cannot speak about. Even when I have seen and read about it with complete accuracy in Aviation Leak (Week). So in Brian's defense, he continued to maintain OPSEC in respect to that email.

Wayne

Always amazed me that my code word access, could not divulge the code word, were often quoted in books by Tom Clancy and others.

 

[Mayfield]

I was told that zero before the runway number is acceptable. Zero Three for runway 30 for example. Runway numbers are always 2 digits.

Hi Bobby,

Actually https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/150-5340-1M-Chg-1-Airport-Markings.pdf will indicate that single digit runway markings are never preceded by a zero. A runway labeled "03" on an airport diagram is generally marked with the numeral 3 on the approach end of the runway and called runway three when talking with a controller or on CTAF.

On the other hand, DOD has several agreements with ICAO that require military airfields to mark runways using the ICAO standard. For example, at Edwards one of the paved runways is marked with the numerals 04. At a civilian airport it would be marked with a single digit.

In other ICAO countries it is normal to say runway zero three, but not at U.S. civil airports. The military has different rules and phraseologies.

Nothing bad will happen to you if you say runway zero three to the tower, or on CTAF, it's just not common. There's a lot of good info in https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/fs_html/chap11_section_1.html#ihC1a4jack

Check out table 11-1-35.

Also, in your post above, I suspect you meant "three zero" for runway 30.

Jim

 

[Sv.grainne]

Thanks Jim.

3 for runway aligned 030 mag, 30 for 300.

 

[bryancobb]

Many of the pilots from the 160th SOAR have written highly-detailed accounts of their exploits since the unit was born in the early 1980's.
In the internet era, you simply have to agree that everything you do is on the web for everyone to see. Things are different these days.

In the Air Force from 79-86, I had a TS clearance. I worked on all kinds of bombs/missiles/bullets during these peacetime years. The times we were reminded of OPSEC adherence were few and usually pertained to deployments and movements of tactical nuclear weapons.

My daily routine involved AIM-9 L/M missile assembly/testing/maintenance. The L/M's seeker had the new capability to discern between actual jet-exhaust and a decoy-flare and disregard the flare. This was a "conventional" munition and we were not told that this capability came with any OPSEC considerations. The seeker head was super-cooled with high pressure Argon. I literally recharged dozens of the softball-size, stainless steel Argon bottles every day. It was common knowledge and even in the early days of the internet, this capability was all over the web.

I swapped to the ARMY in 1986 for helicopter Warrant Officer flight school. In class one day, the instructor was covering the strengths/weaknesses of US weapons that could be launched from the (then brand new) AH-64 Apache'. He was teaching outdated stuff about AIM-9 E/J/P and telling us Sidewinders had no way to avoid being fooled by decoy-flares. I asked him if he had ever heard that Argon fixed that weakness in L's and M's.

He screamed at me that I was disclosing top secret information and in 10 minutes the MP's had me in hand cuffs and was hauling me away. The internet was very young but as the MP Major questioned me, I showed the him VOLUMES of drawings and information on the Argon use by using a search engine called HotBot. I learned "real-quick" that the ARMY was wound-a-lot-tighter than the Air Force I was accustomed to.

 

[bryancobb]

Hi Bobby,

Actually https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/150-5340-1M-Chg-1-Airport-Markings.pdf will indicate that single digit runway markings are never preceded by a zero. A runway labeled "03" on an airport diagram is generally marked with the numeral 3 on the approach end of the runway and called runway three when talking with a controller or on CTAF.

On the other hand, DOD has several agreements with ICAO that require military airfields to mark runways using the ICAO standard. For example, at Edwards one of the paved runways is marked with the numerals 04. At a civilian airport it would be marked with a single digit.

In other ICAO countries it is normal to say runway zero three, but not at U.S. civil airports. The military has different rules and phraseologies.

Nothing bad will happen to you if you say runway zero three to the tower, or on CTAF, it's just not common. There's a lot of good info in https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/fs_html/chap11_section_1.html#ihC1a4jack

Check out table 11-1-35.

Also, in your post above, I suspect you meant "three zero" for runway 30.

Jim

Nope! MacDill's Runway was "Zero-Four and Two-Two." (Photo Data 2023)

 

[Tyger]

Putting a zero before a single-digit number does not help anyone to read it, but it may help someone hear it properly, that's why the military often puts a zero in front over the radio. And that in turn is likely why it gets marked as such on a military runway.

One thing that gets me going is when I hear civilians say "copy" on the radio to mean "I heard you". That's what "roger" means.

 

[Tyger]

He screamed at me that I was disclosing top secret information and in 10 minutes the MP's had me in hand cuffs and was hauling me away. The internet was very young but as the MP Major questioned me, I showed the him VOLUMES of drawings and information on the Argon use by using a search engine called HotBot. I learned "real-quick" that the ARMY was wound-a-lot-tighter than the Air Force I was accustomed to.

That's just a ridiculous reaction. And what a nice way to point out to everyone else that it was sensitive information. I doubt that it was actually TS.
But let's face it, the entire classification system that we use is broken broken broken, and mostly from overuse.

 

[Jazzenjohn]

I had a TS clearance too, and I agree Tyger. The sounds more like a guy who wanted someone jacked up than worried about disclosure, but then again, I was Air Force and it truly was quite a bit more relaxed than the other branches. I remember once riding in a car with a Capt. license plate in Camp Butler in Okinawa and seeing a guy way up on a hill, at least 100 + yards away saluting the car. That would never happen on any Air Force base I've ever been to.

 

[Mayfield]

Nope! MacDill's Runway was "Zero-Four and Two-Two." (Photo Data 2023) View attachment 1158523

Good morning Bryan,

You may have missed the second paragraph in my post that you cite.

Jim

 

[Mayfield]

One thing that gets me going is when I hear civilians say "copy" on the radio to mean "I heard you". That's what "roger" means.

Hi Tyler,

I read you!

Jim

 

[Tyger]

I had a TS clearance too, and I agree Tyger. The sounds more like a guy who wanted someone jacked up than worried about disclosure, but then again, I was Air Force and it truly was quite a bit more relaxed than the other branches. I remember once riding in a car with a Capt. license plate in Camp Butler in Okinawa and seeing a guy way up on a hill, at least 100 + yards away saluting the car. That would never happen on any Air Force base I've ever been to.

That guy saluting from the hilltop was probably actually a Marine, haha.

There's a reason why they split the USAF off from the Army after WWII. Well, a whole bunch of reasons, really.

I once stayed a couple days at a BOQ on Luke AFB. I arrived fairly late in the evening, in street clothes, and showed the civilian (presumably ex military) gate guard my (Army) ID. He said "Oho, someone from the real military!"