Fighter planes over my house today

[Jess from VA]

I live under the landing approach to Regan National Airport.  They are dropping down from altitude then go left on final approach.  Been going on for 35 years.  It's not bad, the new(er) airliners are remarkably quiet, but dropping from altitude they are 'dirtied up' with air brakes out and that makes more noise than the engines.  Over the years, a few have come over me at like 500 feet, and that will get your attention.

However, today while working outside this morning, I heard LOUD stuff.  I spent enough time on Air Force bases to know the sound, and those were fighters.  Watched them come over in 2s and 3s.  I looked on-line and discovered that F-16 and F-35 jets flew over the White House ahead of POTUS' meeting with the President of Poland.   They weren't really low, but they were under the airliner approaches.  Cool beans!!

We Air Force weenies called that the sound of freedom.  It's a great sound, but I'm glad it's not every day.

F35 Lightning


F16 Fighting Falcon  (I once got a backseat ride in a B model with a back seat at Incerlik AB Turkey)

[LadyDraco]

We used to have them in Highland all the time; they did a lot of practice in the BlueGrass Valley.

[scooperhsd]

People think civilian airliners are loud - they are QUIET compared to tactical jets....

[Jess from VA]

People think civilian airliners are loud - they are QUIET compared to tactical jets....

They had to get quiet, with all the uproar and noise lawsuits/restraining orders which eventually arose around many metropolitan airports.  People would buy a (cheap) home right next to them, then file lawsuits about the noise.  Which is called "moving to the nuisance" in the law books.

The military was always given more leeway with aircraft noise, and we built our bases out in nowhere, but we still got noise litigation.  Fighters are noisy, but the B52 Stratofortress (or BUFF; big ugly fat foker/fellow) will rattle windows for miles. 

I never got a ride in one, but I watched a refueling from a KC135 tanker (also loud).

[Jersey mike]

Love that phrase “sound of freedom”.

In our area we have Joint Base McGuire (Ft. Dix) and their live fire exercises from time to time will shake the ground and the sound can definitely get you attention. McGuire is also made up of Ft. Dix, Lakehurst Naval Air Station as well as McGuire Air Force Base so we get air to ground target practice as well as all sorts of training exercises in the air. Helicopters and cargo and tanker planes use fly out toward the coast and circle back toward the base. A couple months ago I saw a few A-10’s in the sky down in south jersey.

[Chrisj CMA]

Jess. I live very close to a tiny little AF base and 30 miles from a very large one. My house is directly on a low level route for helicopters from Eglin/Hurlburt and an approach to the smaller base. I’m happy to see the helicopters at very low altitude going right over my house given my background.  Yes, it’s the sound of freedom

[Hook#3287]

I believe it's a privilege to live near a military base and especially one with military aircraft flights.

My home is within 30 miles or so from Westover AFB, which Nixon kinda mothballed as payback but problem being it was the only airport that could handle C-5's in the north east at that time, so some were stationed there.

They still do some training there and I watched "touch and go" practice at times.

It's amazing watching those beasts fly through the sky.

I believe C-130's are stationed there now and every couple weeks flights of pairs will come by.  Always in pairs.

There's also Barnes airport in Westfield, Ma.  Home to the Air Guard 104th which I believe is scheduled to base F-35's in the future, can't wait to see those wonder machines.

A friend owned a house in the flight path of the 104th and a few years back the gov came and sound insulated her house w/o complaint from her or cost.  Just showed up and offered.

[Jess from VA]

Jeff, the Davison Army Airfield is only some 2 miles South of me, and it has all the helo support for the President and military and Govt big shots for the Pentagon and White House.  Big Blackhawks and smaller attack helos too.  They are mostly at 3-4 hundred feet over me, but once in awhile they are over my trees.  They make more noise than the airliners but don't go all day every day either.  I'm used to that too.  

[0leman]

We have a base here in town that trains fighter pilots.   They take off  here and fly down to Nevada for live rounds training.   Not a big thing.  They do have night flight training once a month.  Usually done by 11, though sometimes go longer.  Get use to the noise of them taking off and zooming by.

Grew up in Tulsa few miles from North South runways.  Got to see B47's and B52's up close.  One day a B52 down low enough that could see pilots.  Those really made noise. 

[Oss]

one of my biggest surprises was watching nine o nine, the b 17
pass over my house about 10 yrs ago and following it to Westchester Airport on my Valk

The sound of those engines is like no other sound I ever heard, except of course for when
my brother and I got to go for a flight out of Cape May Naval Air Station in NJ

The other great time was having a Concorde on final approach for landing fly over my head while driving
my old Mazda 626 with the top out, by Kennedy Airport.  He was about 100' over my head

Dang Man that thing was L O U D

[RP#62]

I love the smell of jet fuel in the morning.

RP

[Serk]

F16 Fighting Falcon  (I once got a backseat ride in a B model with a back seat at Incerlik AB Turkey)

I say this with all due respect and mostly tongue in cheek, but I hate you now.

The only atmospheric craft that's higher on my dream list for a ride in would be an SR-71 (I'd even settle for a YF-12) but those are all decommissioned and rotting in museums now...

[Jess from VA]

F16 Fighting Falcon  (I once got a backseat ride in a B model with a back seat at Incerlik AB Turkey)

I say this with all due respect and mostly tongue in cheek, but I hate you now.

The only atmospheric craft that's higher on my dream list for a ride in would be an SR-71 (I'd even settle for a YF-12) but those are all decommissioned and rotting in museums now...

You know, I made it my mission in the USAF to try and get a ride in every aircraft I could.  As Jr officer in every assignment I had, I was sent traveling all the time.  So riding in the the C-141, C130, and tankers (KC-135 and KC10), which usually took space A passengers, was easy.  You won't get a ride in bombers, or fighters either, normally.

So Incerlik AB Turkey is where all the F16s at Torrejon AB Spain would forward deploy if we went toe to toe with the Russians (at least during my time).  And there were practice deployments there (so there'd be a boatload of them there).  As Area Defense Counsel for all USAF in Turkey (17 operating locations), but the biggest base and most of my business was right at Incerlik, so I had a lot of business with the Base and Wing Commanders, and I asked the Wing King if I could get a ride in one.

He told me most fighter incentive rides were given to enlisted Crew Chiefs who spent their careers wrenching on them, which is fair and common sense.  But he gave me a call and said he'd take me.  They strapped me into a G-suit and I climbed up the ladder and got in.  I figured I could take anything a fifty something bird colonel could take, but I was wrong.

They strapped me into the seat hard, the helmet and coms plugged in, the canopy closed, and I started to get a little claustrophobic in there.  Just before roll out, he told me on the intercom "Mister, that little handle between your legs says eject on it, and if you pull it for any reason other than I have a heart attack, I'll have you before a General Court Martial!!"  "I will not be pulling it Sir."

He rolled down the runway, pulled up, then hit full afterburner and went straight up under full power.  My G suit fully inflated squeezing the hell out of me, and I greyed out, coming close to passing out.  But as soon as he leveled out, the suit let go and I got my senses back immediately.

He even let me take the stick a little, but all I did was roll left and right and wiggle the plane.

It was awesome.

When I got to March AFB (Riverside CA) they had a big F4 Phantom Reserve Wing there and I went right over and asked if I could get a back seat ride in one.  They said maybe, and never called.

   

[scooperhsd]

My first duty station after commisioning was at the (then) McDonnell- Douglas (now Boeing) plant in St Louis MO, where they built F-15's,  F/A-18's , and Av8B's . Permanent staff were AEDO's , with a couple of regular pilots thrown in. I got 3 rides in the backseat of an F-15 (either B1 or B2), where we took off right there at Lambert St Louis airport. About halfway through my tour, the FAA said they wanted us to do "high performance takeoffs"  to clear the airspace ASAP (gear up ,  nose up in Afterburner, at 8500 feet by the end of the runway). I would imagine they might still be doing that (unless the noise complaints were too much).

[Jess from VA]

Wow, 3 rides in an F15 is impressive Scott. 

I know you were Navy, and maybe you've said before but what was your rate or duty specialty?

Were your rides duty related or did you just ask for them (like me)?

My full power straight up takeoff was quite the experience;  I was in very good shape and it didn't matter.

[scooperhsd]

At that time - I was a stash ENS waiting to goto Pensacola for NFO training. So, I guess you could call them "orientation flights". They very specifically would NOT let us fly in the planes being checked by the staff officers, only the 2 first production F-15s. There were about 11 other stashes also waiting to goto Pensacola by the time I got there.

[3fan4life]

A ride in an F-15 is certainly at the top of my list!

Although, I wouldn't turn down a ride in any fighter jet.

I've flown in C-141's more times than I can remember, dang near froze to death every time.

If they had heat in those things they didn't waste it on us Army guys.

Managed a ride in a C5A once it was much warmer than the C-141.

I've flown in every type of helicopter that the Army has except the Apache.

I would love to take a ride in one of those sometime.

My favorite was the old UH-1 Huey's, there's just something special about them.

I got to look around inside a Blackhawk a couple of years ago.

They still look the same on the outside, but the avionics looked nothing like they did in the 1980's.

Back then all of the gauges were analog, now they're mostly digital.

[Jess from VA]

I've flown in C-141's more times than I can remember, dang near froze to death every time.

Ahh the memories Mark.  

Hey buddy, why are you carrying that big overcoat, it's hot as hell here?

You'll know once we get airborne.  

[Oldfishguy]

I had a C-130 save my butt one night. 

I was near the end of my enlistment in Europe and decided to spend a few weeks on a Greek island before  my enlistment ended.  I stayed too long and waited till the end to catch a military hop from Athens back to Frankfurt.  Flights were limited and I was out of money and leave time sleeping on the airport floor when a loud announcement came that said an unscheduled fuel stop of a C-130 was about to depart for Frankfurt.   

That was a beautiful midnight  ride home sleeping on top of a large cargo load and making formation in the morning needing a haircut and a change of attitude for a few more weeks of service.

[scooperhsd]

F16 Fighting Falcon  (I once got a backseat ride in a B model with a back seat at Incerlik AB Turkey)

I say this with all due respect and mostly tongue in cheek, but I hate you now.

The only atmospheric craft that's higher on my dream list for a ride in would be an SR-71 (I'd even settle for a YF-12) but those are all decommissioned and rotting in museums now...

Serk, at your stature of 6' 7" - I highly doubt you would safely fit into the cockpit of anything tactical. Maybe in a cargo plane .