F16 decides to fly in formation with a PC-12 and beechjet

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=76c_1215478326

Had a couple F-16's play with me in my c-120 near Wilcox AZ,I thought it was super cool but a working pilot might not be in the mood to play.

Y'all may not believe this, but 22 years ago, while flying the US National soaring championships in Barstow, CA, we had about 15 gliders climbing in a thermal out in the desert near the airport. All of a sudden we hear a jet engine... which is somewhat unusual and terrifying in a sailplane competition.

It got louder and louder, which is particularly un-nerving. Our gliders were 90% fiberglass and do not show up well on radar, none of us had transponders, and none of us wer talking to anyone because it was a nationals race.

I was near the top of that thermal, and looking around in apanic, when I looked down through the gaggle of gliders only to see a dark gray F-15 circling in the thermal about a thousand feet underneath us. Now, turning in a 500 foot or less diameter circle, at 45 knots, is not exactly a normal flight regime for a jet fighter. The F-15 was hanging on the thrust of its engines and whatever little lift was being pulled off of the wing center section strake vortex lift, lord knows that the main wing panels were beyond max alpha.

This monster was just circling under us for a couple of turns, and then went away... leaving about 15 of the country's best sailplane drivers with stained underwear and unable to concentrate on anything for a minute or two.

Years later, I was up at Tehachapi gliderport, and talking to a guy who was a test pilot at Edwards AFB and also owned a glider. Our coversation turned to the F-15, which he had flown, and I asked what the stall speed of the airplane was in a turn. He said that a good pilot could get a light F-15 pretty slow just powering around in a tight circle, mostly on thrust. I told him that nobody would believe me but I actually had been in a thermal with an F-15 in a glider race one day, and he smiled a huge smile... all guilty and sneaky... and just said to me "You know, the F-15's targeting radar is pretty good. I had all of you guys lit up clear enough so I knew I wasn't gonna eat any of you up. But I figured that the noise would spook you after a while so I left to go back to the base."

But there was also the time when my friend Chip Garner, a national level glider competitor, got HIT by an A-7 down near the US/Mexico border that did not see him. Luckily it just took off a small part of the wingtip, and barely scratched the paint on the A-7. The Guard definitely bought Chip a new set of shorts soon afterward... Chip had been flying his glider near one of those innocent looking light gray military IR or VR training route lines on the Sectional chart.

I would think it would be cool too. and the guy flying in a MOA what do you expect?

Nope, just because they're in a MOA doesn't give a military pilot authorization to formate on another aircraft without permission. MOA airspace is JOINT use airspace, NOT military airspace. Restricted areas are truly military airspace, but MOA airspace is joint use.

These pilots had every right to be concerned about a military pilot running intercepts on them, and that military pilot needs to spend some time on the ground. I believe in this case, that's exactly what happened.

I've flown a lot in military airspace, and I've never felt that I was treated with anything but respect by the military aviators sharing that airspace. That's the way it is supposed to work.

You should have no fears flying in MOA airspace. You SHOULD keep your eyes open, and not be stupid. But, that's true of both sides. The military aviator is required to "knock it off" any time a civil aircraft may be in conflict with the military operation.

MTV

I'm with Lizard and Trev Dog! I think that would be fun and cool to see a fighter jet buzz by me or fly formation. Might scare the crap out of me seeing a jet come out of no where, though. But I'm thinking (and I don't know the whole story) the corporate pilots overreacted, especially since they knew they were flying through an MOA. I can't wait for the day some hotshot fighter jet pilot comes up and buzz's me while I'm cruising through an MOA. I just hope he gives me a warning so I can have my camera ready!!

One of my airliner buddy’s used to fly a Caravan for FedEx up and down the Owens Valley in CA (north of Edward’s AFB) and he has told me many awesome story’s of fighter jet pilots buzzing by him and doing barrow rows in front of him and so on. I don’t know, I just think that would be the coolest thing.

No need to get all rattled up over nothing. I’m sure the fighter jet pilot didn’t mean no harm. Just trying to have fun and show off a little.

58Skylane wrote:No need to get all rattled up over nothing. I’m sure the fighter jet pilot didn’t mean no harm. Just trying to have fun and show off a little.

Well said young Padawan...

Though I'm betting Brass, FAA, and those 135 guys don't appreciate a good buzz job like some of us do.

Gump

While I can see how the "stiff collar" side of aviation wouldn't like it and it may be a bit unnerving to not who exactly it was at first but it's too bad how it went down. Coulda been some good pic's and a friendly wave followed by a fun little tale at the party.
Some spunky little bastard out for an afternoon stroll in the F-16 gettin' bored and playin' with the GA boys a bit. Sounds like fun to me.
At least you know that he's got the right training to be ten feet away and with the stuff in that thing to see aircraft he probably saw them when they were preflighting on the ramp.

Funny excerpts for me were; "we gotta climb, we got a 3,000 fpm tcas climb for avoidance", nothing like trying to out climb an F-16!
"he was ten feet way, just there to bother us", sounds like he was flying a good trail and it's too bad that they had to see it that way.
"let me get the airplane under control", yeah, every time I have to push in the power and disengage the auto pilot while pitching up she gets all out of sorts too!

Now I've almost been run over about four times in my career by military jets while spraying or fertilizing. I believe that most of them didn't see me ahead of time as I was down below the trees and they would've had a hard time planning an organized closure on me because I was in the process of fairly aggressive manuvering while dispensing. Exhilarating none the less.
It seems like the couple times I see them when ferrying I can't ever get them to come by and say hello.

Close proximity operations while multi tasking is what those boys do, good for them. Knowing lots of pilots and having worked with them in critical environments I'm gonna say that whoever that boy was in the 16 is probably a good one to have on you when the shooting starts. Usually the ones that don't get along in the regular world really kick in and shine when the shit goes down.

He's just gotta pick who he tries to play with a little better. Hopefully he'll be looking for the big yellow one in the future!

In the draw just below Republic WA, in a MOA, there I am minding my own business flying up the Sanpoil river at about 300 I mean 500', Just flying the river;(middle of the summer) when an A10 out of Widbey Island goes by me like i'm standing still, He was waving to me out of the top of his canopy between me and the river, I could even hear him about the time I saw him!!!!
I did not know the RV6 could do all those little movements like that all at once??
Good for the heart and muscles and I do wish I would have known he was coming as I would have had the camera out.
Must have been getting even with me for all the crooked windrows and tracks in the neighbors fields. If you are real stealthy they don't even know your there until they start pullin on the steering wheel. Have to by a beer every once in awhile but hay it's a good excuse.
GT

No A-10s at Whidbey. That's a Navy P-3 and EA-6B base. They were probably the Idaho ANG out of Boise.

Sorry
My Mistake was an A6, I'm not that familiar with military aircraft. I almost ran into one chasing cows with a Stinson about 20 years ago just east of Republic also.
I know they are over here all the time and fun to watch. What would be flying out of Eilson just out of Fairbanks, I had one of them take a good look at the 195 this October when I came south, Is that a A10?
Used to see the Orions when spotting for fires.
GT

I've seen fighter's a few times, twice while camped out at Copper Basin, Idaho, a few years apart. They like to come in over the pass by Antelope, and then cruise the entire basin a couple hundred feet up, and back on out. The same thing I do, it just doesn't take them as long! Another time at the ghost town of Gilmore, one fighter was out just enjoying the scenery at 200' AGL, he saw me parked in the sage brush and came back for a look see and a wing waggle, it made my day. I've been in the air in an ultralight near Jamestown North Dakota (soaring with gaggles of pelicans with 6 cameras on the plane all shooting, it was a thing for the National Geographic) that was adjacent to a low level B-52 training area. Seeing them cruise by a few miles or so away at very low altitudes was as close as I wanted to ever get.
EZ FLAP: Years ago, a hang gliding friend who's day job was corporate pilot for the Boise Cascade corp. flew with us one weekend on the 9K ridge pictured in my avatar, and a few days later I looked up from my place (no flying that day, too windy, but straight into the ridge line) and there was old Rod in the company Lear, tucked in nice and tight, just where you'd want to be to get the most out of the ridge lift, and throttled WAY back, another very good pilot just doing his thing.
Once at the MAAA fly-in (Montana Antique Aircraft Association, the weekend after Oshkosh at Three Forks Montana, the only fly-in with a beer truck roaming the ramp) a biz jet unexpectedly arrived, the pilots, I understand, not knowing there was a big fly-in going on, no problem of course, it was not a closed airport or anything. After they dropped off their passenger (Sammy Hager the Red Rocker, who was performing at a big outdoor concert a few miles away) they took off and disappeared, disappointing all hoping for a fly by, they were strictly business. But, a few minutes later here they came, high speed and low with a steep turn out, they just couldn't help themselves!

There I was..... telling lies with my friends at the airport, commonly used by the local reserve unit for IFR procedures and what has to be "strafing" practice of the runway by Apache helicopter gunships. One of the older gentlemen asked nicely for a flyby and was disappointed to get no response. Being myself, I asked a bit more sarcastically for something fun. The reply was dry, monotone and very 'professional pilot' voice, two words; "just watch". What followed was something akin to the Red Bull demo at OshKosh b'gosh! the guy was an artist. Still, I am me, so I judged him on CTAF with a 9.6. His reply was this rotate/turn/spin the aircraft in place/not lose any altitude trick, while probably targeting a group of slack-jawed children on the ramp. AWESOME! Now properly belittled, I publicly gave the 10 via CTAF, and he replied in the same dry, monotone and very 'professional pilot' voice, "thank you" and departed the area toward the airfield where they are based. Quite a bit was communicated in those four words. Any local area flyers will probably know where these guys fly out of, but like the majority of us, I love this sh!t and will not get this guy in trouble, even inadvertantly. These guys are out there, with the possibility of gettting sent out to places unfriendly, and they can still have the humanity to play and have a little fun. I respect that and I'll take any of the flight demos that they see fit to provide. (unless I bust a TFR and then I don't want none of that militant crap!)

The Learjet that gave us 2 flyby's at Austin, NV this summer was way cool!! Totally unexpected!!

On one of my road trips down south, I had stopped at Grasmere (U91) (inside the Jarbidge MOA) and took a little break. I heard some fighter jets in the area and looked up and saw 3 fighter jets dog fighting each other. I thought that was the coolest thing to watch for about 5 minutes.

If the F-16 jockey really wanted to mess with them he should've turned his transponder off... pulled to their "7 o'clock" about ten feet low... THEN turned it back on and lit the burner....

From a post December 2007....

Down here in the vast desert wastelands of sunny Nevada, I was riding my four-wheeler back towards home from the old ghost town of Marietta. It was June or July, mid afternoon and hot, and I had just ridden out from underneath a thunderstorm, and had gotten drenched in a little gully washer rainstorm and looked like a drowned cat. Once the sun popped back out I stripped off my shirt to soak up some sun, and was tooling down the trail fat, dumb, and happy.

I crested a ridge and started down this big, empty, open valley aiming at a little spring called Rattlesnake Well. Being the careful, conservative trail rider that I am, I had my ball cap on backwards, a cigar in my right hand, and a cold beer from the cooler in my left. Just a little slice of perfection. It smelled good, I could see forever without a single sign of human mess except for the trail I was riding, just one of those glad to be alive moments. I gave the bike it's head, and rode along daydreaming about nothing, sipping my beer and savoring my smoke, just completely wrapped up in the moment.

Then somebody hit me between the shoulderblades with a two by four. My beer went flying, and I damn near swallowed my cigar. As my head snapped up I saw a blurred image of rows and rows of gray rivets, and then just noise.

F/A-18. From Fallon. That sumabitch must have spotted me, put the pedal to the metal, dropped down to the dirt, and swung in from behind to make the kill. He came over the top of me at maybe 30 feet, down the mountainside and across the valley floor kicking up dust as he went, then pulled it up to the vertical and poof, was gone. Of course I was sporting wood by then, and yelling at him to come back and do it again. But the guy must have been afraid I was someone who didn't like airplane noise or appreciate a good buzz job, because he fled the scene.

Gump

GumpAir wrote:From a post December 2007....

Down here in the vast desert wastelands of sunny Nevada, I was riding my four-wheeler back towards home from the old ghost town of Marietta. It was June or July, mid afternoon and hot, and I had just ridden out from underneath a thunderstorm, and had gotten drenched in a little gully washer rainstorm and looked like a drowned cat. Once the sun popped back out I stripped off my shirt to soak up some sun, and was tooling down the trail fat, dumb, and happy.

I crested a ridge and started down this big, empty, open valley aiming at a little spring called Rattlesnake Well. Being the careful, conservative trail rider that I am, I had my ball cap on backwards, a cigar in my right hand, and a cold beer from the cooler in my left. Just a little slice of perfection. It smelled good, I could see forever without a single sign of human mess except for the trail I was riding, just one of those glad to be alive moments. I gave the bike it's head, and rode along daydreaming about nothing, sipping my beer and savoring my smoke, just completely wrapped up in the moment.

Then somebody hit me between the shoulderblades with a two by four. My beer went flying, and I damn near swallowed my cigar. As my head snapped up I saw a blurred image of rows and rows of gray rivets, and then just noise.

F/A-18. From Fallon. That sumabitch must have spotted me, put the pedal to the metal, dropped down to the dirt, and swung in from behind to make the kill. He came over the top of me at maybe 30 feet, down the mountainside and across the valley floor kicking up dust as he went, then pulled it up to the vertical and poof, was gone. Of course I was sporting wood by then, and yelling at him to come back and do it again. But the guy must have been afraid I was someone who didn't like airplane noise or appreciate a good buzz job, because he fled the scene.

Gump

That’s awesome, Gump!!

While reading your story, I just remembered another story (damn I’m getting old and forgetful). My brother Mike was out in the Chocolate Mtns. East of Palm Springs with his geology class (on a two week mapping field trip). He was sitting on a ridge mapping a small valley when a fighter jet buzzed him close enough that he felt the hot jet blast! He was like most of us that appreciate a good fly by and was hoping the jet would come back by so he can get a picture, but never did.

If you spend enough time in the NV/CA deserts, you’ll eventually see some cool military stuff flying over and around.

Okay, guys, buzz jobs are lots of fun. Watching a high performance airplane being flown by a high performance pilot is even more fun.

Now, go back and LISTEN to that ATC tape.

What the civilian was saying, and what he was getting on tape was that the reason he VIOLATED Class A airspace without an IFR clearance is because he got a TCAS climb alert. You don't ignore TCAS alerts in those airplanes, and he was flying right at the top of legal VFR airspace, on a VFR flight plan. When he popped up to clear the alert, he violated Alpha airspace.

So, he got it on tape that his altitude bust wasn't his fault.

Military aviators are expected, above all to be professionals. Most all of them are. Every once in a while, though, like every other pilot, one of em does something dumb. This was an example of one of those times.

Okay, now back to buzz job stories...

MTV

M6RV6 wrote:Sorry
My Mistake was an A6, I'm not that familiar with military aircraft. I almost ran into one chasing cows with a Stinson about 20 years ago just east of Republic also.
I know they are over here all the time and fun to watch. What would be flying out of Eilson just out of Fairbanks, I had one of them take a good look at the 195 this October when I came south, Is that a A10?
Used to see the Orions when spotting for fires.
GT

The A-10's are all gone from Eielson....but there were some here for an exercise in October

I have fun avoiding the KC135's The F-16 mostly blast off out of the area, but the 135's do lots of pattern work and their base leg is right over my airstrip. I lift out of the trees and I'm all eyes I also have to be careful with the Army helo's in the area. They like to fly up the river at tree top level and my strip dead ends right into the river. Several times while I was pre-flighting, I would hear them coming and woosh...right by the end of the runway. I have a # I can call now to check what's happening before I take off