Meet the bossy voice behind Boeing’s F-18 cockpit warning system


ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) - Stern, sharp, bossy, are all adjectives to describe the voice of the FA-18 Super Hornet's cockpit warning system.

For 20 years you might have heard Leslie Shook voice at Boeing headquarters. But if you heard her voice in the cockpit of a FA-18, you're in trouble.

"I'm Bitchin' Betty, I'm the voice of the FA-18 aircraft." said Leslie Shook.

Her hard nose nickname comes from the fact that hers is the voice that fighter pilots dread when they're in the cockpit of a jet.

"Some of it is to just make sure you do this, or make sure you do that. But, it's like your mom using your middle name when she calls you. You got to pay attention cause you know you're in trouble." said Leslie Shook.

"We trust that she is telling us what we need to do and we trust her and we do what she says." said Boeing, Flight Operations, Weapons Systems Dana Perkins.

"When they first boot up the first thing they do 'Flight control, flight control.' So I hear myself there." said Leslie Shook.

Mix together some twang from Tennessee, a dash of sweet Georgia sounds and some Show-Me-State staccato and you've got the makings of a Missourian who is not music to the ears of many pilots.

Shook recently toured the Boeing production facility where the jets are made and met some of the pilots who were very familiar with her vocal chords. Though Leslie is retiring from Boeing, Betty will continue in the F-18s for sometime to come.

A voice of warning remaining on alert. The woman behind it will now get to focus on her garden.
