F16 over Tracy CA

[lowpasskid]

anyone else see the jet over southern tracy at 7pm tonight?
pretty cool stuff for us out in the sticks!
i thought for a moment it was going to shoot down a plane
headed west,came real close to it then turned away.
THE LOWPASS KID

[Mluvara]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

The president should be in Stockton, so I wouldn't be surprised if this is what the activity is about since they restrict flight operations of his location.

Michael

[Shawn Aro]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

He was here in Reno Todat too

[Shawn Aro]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

today shawn

[fenceliner01]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

Yeah, I remember the last time The President was in Reno. All air traffic was completely shut down while he gave a campaign speech, with the exception of a single F-16 flying "CAP" over the city.

On another note, an acquaintence of mine is an F-16 pilot in the CA Guard unit in Fresno. He flew, for lack of a better term "Combat Air Patrol" over southern California during the week following 9/11 and said it was the weirdest feeling in his flying career being the only aircraft in the sky over Los Angeles.

Mike A.

[Unregistered]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

For awhile after 911 there were F-16's at Travis AFB. Most nights a pair would take off on patrol, pretty cool.
A few weeks after they started, one night two came out low at dusk with AB burning and really scooting. Just after they got over the Vaca mountains we heard two VERY loud and distinct booms. Whatever they were after they were sure in a hurry.
It was strange that first week, as the only things I saw in the air were the 16's and an occasional E2C very high up.

[MarcusT]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

One of the CAP F-16's is turnin' and burnin' over Elk Grove (south of Sacramento) right now . . . the pres must be headed up to Sacramento on the I-5 . . . Should I be posting this?! Is that the Secret Service at the front door?!

"Who me? Internet? Don't know what you're talking about, sir!"

Mark

[Epenney]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

Mark,

A light plane flew over Galt about that time, headed north/northwest. An F-16 dropped out of the clouds right after the plane flew over, and headed in the same direction.

Earlier today we had an F-16 come right over the house at about 600'-700' that put on a brief low-speed airshow over Galt.

Eric

[Unregistered]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

Ok, so for those who can read a TFR better than I can, is the restricted area similar to a class of airspace? For example, do the two circles within one another represent different TFR altitudes or is the larger circle the overall TFR? If the large circle is the main TFR, that bites! That is a huge area to have to circumnavigate.

Size and location:
Centered on 375329N 1211454W
30-nm-radius TFR up to 17,999 ft MSL with inner 10-nm-radius no-fly zone up to 17,999 ft MSL
Effective time:
1530 local until 1635 local October 3
Requirements for flight 10-30 nm area:
Limited to arriving or departing local airfields
Must be on active VFR or IFR flight plan
Squawk discrete code obtained from ATC
Two-way communication with ATC
No loitering
Operations not authorized: FLIGHT TRAINING, PRACTICE INSTRUMENT APPROACHES, AEROBATIC FLIGHT, GLIDER OPERATIONS, PARACHUTE OPERATIONS, ULTRALIGHT, HANG GLIDING, BANNER TOWING OPERATIONS, AGRICULTURE/CROP DUSTING, BALLOON OPERATIONS, AND ANIMAL POPULATION CONTROL FLIGHT OPERATIONS.

[King]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

It was strange that first week, as the only things I saw in the air were the 16's and an occasional E2C very high up.

You don't realize how noisey it is until there are NO aircraft in the air. VERY STRANGE those first couple of days.

[supercub]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

Something was turn'n and burn'n over Tracy again this morning about 11:00am local. There was a thin overcast about 1000ft....so never did see him.....but was loitering for about 15 minutes near Tracy.
Brian

[MarcusT]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

It's definitely a different sight for the civilians around here . . . an F-16 tooling around at low speed and high power, maneuvering between 1000 and 3000 feet, with Sidwinders clearly visible ... some would say it's overkill for this particular "job", but still cool to see a warbird doing it's real job, rather than just making noise at an airshow.

Mark

[Hawkeye]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

Hmmm..wonder how hard it is to hotwire a Pitts?

Why hotwire a Pitts when you could hotwire a Sea Fury!!!

That's like going to a Ferrari dealership and hotwiring the Yugo parked out back..........

[SCEPTER]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

Why hotwire a Pitts when you could hotwire a Sea Fury!!!

That's like going to a Ferrari dealership and hotwiring the Yugo parked out back..........

hell hath no fury,as a woman scorned.

[BellCobraIV]

Re: F16 over Tracy CA

Why hotwire a Pitts when you could hotwire a Sea Fury!!!

That's like going to a Ferrari dealership and hotwiring the Yugo parked out back..........

I don't know about that, I was a big warbird lover my whole life, and grew up around several of them. I have had some pretty spectacular rides in them. But the Best flight/ride I have had was after my dad got the Pitts, The roll rate, climb rate, relating to stick deflection was awesome. I had the best time ever in that airplane. So maybe what you have in the Sea Fury is more like a 427 Corvette with all it's brute Horsepower and finess and the Pitts is really the Ferrari afterall.

As an after thought see how long you can fly in a Pitts for 200 bucks, then see how long you can fly the Sea Fury for 200 bucks. The Dashmeister might have it right afterall.