Posted on 09/13/2019 6:03:53 AM PDT by chief lee runamok
Plane spotters were left in awe at the world's most expensive and secretive plane - while it soared just 60 feet over their heads.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Can these knuckleheads really get that close to an air force runway?
Ah - UK. Yes, I gave them a click after all.
Saw one flying over our house several years ago. It was flying a bit low, enough to impress with the size of the plane.
I was walking across the crown of a small hill and couldnt hear the plane until it was directly over me, when I looked up, it was within 60 feet and perfectly framed above me.
I will never forget that.
God bless and keep the soul of Jack Northrop.
When I was a young Air Force brat my parents would take me to air shows where the fighter jets would go screaming right over the heads of the crowd, so close that it looked as if you could reach up and touch them. It was absolutely terrifying. To this day I can't tolerate loud noises.
It was this same plane, too.
Good article and post. But, B-2s are huge. The plane in this photo is a lot higher than 60 feet above the guys shown. Not to say somebody else couldnt have been closer.
B-2s like F-22s would have been crippled if the Dims would have had their way.
Three of them did a fly over at an Inde 500.
They ROAR!!!!
I saw a B-52 flyover with the bombbays open, wasn’t any higher than 300 feet.
While stationed at Minot AFB at an airshow I saw a B-52 come in like it was landing then went straight up just like the fighters.
Also while I was there the fighter squadron won some award. I was at a stoplight by the squadron’s maintenance barracks. I saw an F-105 come by me at tree top level then go vertical over their barracks. Scared me and surprised the roof did not blow off from the after burners thrust and noise.
Sixteen years ago at my old condo in Littleton Colorado, my wife and I pulled up in the parking lot and got out to the sound of an earth shaking roar! We both looked up to see the bomber slowly come in to view at 150 feet or so...close enough to see the rivets. It was astonishing but I was wondering why they were so low and if it was even, technically, legal. So cool, ‘though!
As I kid I didn’t live far from Fairchild Air Force base and the B-52s would do low-altitude flyovers sometimes. (Why, I don’t know. I believe the B-52 is a high-altitude bomber.) Everything in the house would rattle. The Air Force got so many complains that they either stopped the low-altitude flyovers or changed the flight paths to less populated areas. B-52s at low-altitude are NOT stealthy.
Took our 18 month-old daughter to an airshow. NOT an event for toddlers!
B-1 Bomber came rumbling over at maybe 500 feet. As it approached and got louder, you could see the terror on my daughter’s face building. As it passed overhead, the plane, combined with the screams of my child, was the loudest thing I ever heard.
B-1’s are inconceivably loud. Truly!
I was hunting on a mountainside, feeling pretty powerful with my rifle. Then a B-52 flew by, below me, close enough to see the faces of the crew.
Truly the best sound of the B2 is the one you do not hear until “Ghost Rider Spirit6 , release, impact 70 seconds” sounds over the JTAC net and then the target area firing on you disappears in a cloud of JDAM impacts.... The best B2 I never heard or saw.
The most impressive noisy airplane I recall are the Warthogs working up close and personal.
I live under the flight paths of many USAF planes nowadays, A10s, B2, 52, occasional B1 and tankers grace my skies regularly. Those pesky A10s often surprise me espc when on the mower with earplugs in and they run over the ridgeline coming or going to Cannon Range at Ft Wood. I like ‘em. The pilots wave back/waggle most of the time.
If a military jet flew close over the top of a hang glider or paraglider the wake turbulence could easily tear your wing up if they were going fast. Fortunately, if we are at low altitudes we are usually scrapping for ridge lift very close to a hill, that they are not likely to get near. If the lift is good then we tend to be at higher altitudes than what they come through there at.So I am aware of no close calls.
B-52's are still tasked with a nuclear mission. For many decades the nuclear strike missions (training missions but also actual plans) have been flown at very low level and 300 feet AGL is the highest they are supposed to fly, so they can keep off of enemy radar.
Most B-52 crews pride themselves on flying those missions at 100 feet AGL or less while flying at 350Kts (approximately 400 MPH).
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