supersonic flyby

[Tobra]

I remember when I was in the Navy, the ship was out near the air field, and the road went past the end of the runway. Had to stop when a plane was taking off if you were on the road. Saw an F-14 take off once. He got his wheels off the ground, went straight up and was out of sight in the blink of an eye, impressive, most impressive

[bell]

found another cool one, not quite supersonic but VERY low.

http://media.putfile.com/Seriously-Low-flighing

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by Tobra
I remember when I was in the Navy, the ship was out near the air field, and the road went past the end of the runway. Had to stop when a plane was taking off if you were on the road. Saw an F-14 take off once. He got his wheels off the ground, went straight up and was out of sight in the blink of an eye, impressive, most impressive

Old friend of mine was one of the acceptance pilots for the Air Force on the McDonnell Douglas F-15. He got tired of sitting on the factory ramp in St. Louis and waiting for all the airliners to get out of the way and called the tower one day with a request.

Asked them what was the highest altitude they could give him if he stayed in the ATA (airport traffic area) and they replied that they controlled the airspace up to 10,000 feet. He asked if they could call radar and get unlimited climb if he stayed in the ATA (which is 3 miles around the airport) and they got back to him in a minute with an affirm reply.

Gary lined the airplane up on the runway and held the brakes. Slowly advanced the throttles past Mil power into afterburner and released the brakes. As the speed built up he pulled the stick back and went into a vertical climb, directly overhead the St. Louis airport and the runway he had just taken off on. By the time he was past 10,000 feet he was right at the end of the runway and talking to radar for higher climb.

The departure he founded is still active with the airport and McDonnell Douglas (aka Boeing) factory there. Its called the "Eagle 1" departure.

We flew together for many years and after this he was assigned to be one of the first pilots for the F-117 based out of Area 54 while it was still a black program. Been trying to get him to drive a 911 for years but he is a BMW fan.

[svandamme]

http://www.dslreports.com/r0/download/977386~a60daeeac25eee841021417f7708981b/low_flyby.wmv


BAF Belgian Air Force... in Alpha Jets over Corsica

[svandamme]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7069648842128183770&q=tomcat

[fastpat]

Originally posted by svandamme
didn't they do the last f14 recovery just recently?

I think he means either a landing on the carrier or flying to a shore landing, recovering the aircraft.

[scottmandue]

There was a great documentary on the F14 on Discovery channel, keep you eyes open they may run it again.

I was lucky enough to attend a couple of air shows at Pt. Magoo where they flew F14's, anyone know if they still fly out of there?

[Joeaksa]

Scott,

Its Pt. Mugu, the Pacific test base. Spent a lot of time there years ago...

They are phasing the F-14 out of the Navy so doubt that they will be seen for very much longer.

Joe A

[Seahawk]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Scott,

Its Pt. Mugu, the Pacific test base. Spent a lot of time there years ago...

They are phasing the F-14 out of the Navy so doubt that they will be seen for very much longer.

Joe A

Got this email today. The Tomcat boys and girls aren't letting go:

Great pic and last of the REAL fighter guys

The last ever F-14 end of deployment fly-off. F/A-18s launched earlier that morning leaving this VF-31 and VF-213 Tomcat-only flight deck scene. The final squadron, 213, transitions to the Super Hornet in September. This photo marks the high point in carrier aviation tactical capability; range/accuracy/sensors/air-to-ground precision/75 mile+ air-to-air range, etc. perhaps forever and certainly for the foreseeable future as the Navy transitions from 'best of breed' to 'does several things fairly well' aircraft. If I'd known it was going to come to this I might have sent the Soviets a few bucks myself!


Edit: No joy on the pic...I'll try again.

[svandamme]

for those interested , checkout the tomcat-sunset page

http://www.tomcat-sunset.org

they're organising a farewell to the big cat at NAS oceana

total bummer that i'm on the wrong continent, i sure as hell would have liked to see them fly one more time, in person
no more airshows, no more action , the only cats left flying are the iranians.... oh the irony...

[Seahawk]

[84porsche]

This has to be one of my favorite threads so far. Keep it going. I had diecast models of the F-14 and F-15 growing up and that pretty much occupied most of my time as a kid and first saw Top Gun when I was 8 years old.