F-16s Pursue Unknown Craft Over Region

Washington Post ^ | Saturday, July 27, 2002 | Steve Vogel

[Pro Consul]

"It was this object, this light-blue object, traveling at a phenomenal rate of speed," Rogers said. "This Air Force jet was right behind it, chasing it, but the object was just leaving him in the dust. I told my neighbor, 'I think those jets are chasing a UFO.' "

Military officials confirm that two F-16 jets from Andrews Air Force Base were scrambled early yesterday after radar detected an unknown aircraft in area airspace. But they scoff at the idea that the jets were chasing a strange and speedy, blue unidentified flying object.

[First_Salute]

Do you know, did the Air Force ever consider outfitting a special B-52 for airshow maneuvers? Sans all the weighty wartime stuff?

While preferably the aircraft should remain in the hands of good airmanship, it occurs to me that a special ship might be worth the work.

Same for some other craft, too.

[Gunrunner2]

>>Do you know did the Air Force ever consider outfitting a special B-52 for airshow maneuvers? Sans all the weighty wartime stuff?. . . Same for some other craft, too.<<

Nice idea, but, no, we have not, and the reason’s are simple.

First off, it would make no economic sense to take a very expensive, fully fitted, operationally capable aircraft and transform it into nothing more than an airshow aircraft. This would not be a good use of a scarce asset—as we never have enough aircraft. In fact, years back when the USAF Thunderbirds transitioned from T-38’s to F-16’s, one of the “selling” points to congress was that the Thunderbird F-16’s remain fully functional combat aircraft and not merely a drain on valuable fighter assets. Having said that, each wing, however, usually has a dedicated aircraft for airshow demos, and that aircraft is pained a little different and may have a chrome gun barrel, but that is about all.

Second, changing the aircraft would actually invalidate the whole concept on why the services fly in air shows. We fly in air shows to show to the American people what their tax dollars are buying in terms of hardware and pilot training. (Your average pilot regularly performs everything you see performed in an airshow—fighters included— during an operational or training mission). In addition, we participate in air shows to demonstrate to our allies and our enemies what our men and machines are capable of—kind of like flashy deterrence. If we made an “airshow bird” then we would not be demonstrating to the tax-payers that they are buying the best aircraft for the bucks, and we would be telling our allies and enemies we can look good at air shows, that’s all.

Finally, our aircraft are the top performers in any airshow and don’t really need to be modified.

Best regards.

[LibertyGirl77]

That's what my boyfriend (engineer working with the FAA) says. His theory is that, because of the solar flare storm going on (solar flares can mess with radar and other equipment), NORAD picked up something on radar that actually wasn't there. The F-16's saw it on their radar, too, and fired on it, only to have it 'vanish' a few minutes later.

Given the visual desciprtions in this story, his theory sounds very likely. Missiles travel much faster than F-16s, and would certainly appear to be 'outrunning' them. I wonder where the missile ended up, though....

[LibertyGirl77]

Oh, hell. < Blows her skeptic cover >

I've seen it, too. About six or seven years ago, when I was still a teenager, a friend and I were lying on the large trampoline in his backyard on a warm summer night. We were looking up at the stars, talking about our crushes and stuff, when my friend pointed out a satellite. Just as I saw it, I saw another one near it, and said, "Look, there's two of them." Then we noticed a third. The three white lights made a perfect equilateral triangle, and were traveling at exactly the same rate of speed. We thought that was odd for satellites, and looked closer.

We then noticed that in the trangular field between the 'satellites,' starlight was being blocked out. Whatever it was, it was a solid object--not a group of satellites. There was absolutely no sound. We both freaked out and ran inside.

[Charles Martel]

Hard to believe THIS hasn't been posted yet:

8^)

[bok]

They arrived in 50 motherships, offering their friendship and advanced technology to Earth. Skeptical of the Visitors, Mike Donovan and Juliet Parrish infiltrated their ranks and soon discovered some startling secrets. The Resistance is all that stands between us and the Visitors.

[Charles Martel]

An F-104 being discussed in the same thread as UFOs... I can't resist:

"Bluejay 4, do you see it?..."

[Las Vegas Dave]

What is your take on Dr . Greer ? What do you know about him...?


I heard him on several radio and TV shows, and my impression is that he is/was in love with Clinton (Bill).

[Las Vegas Dave]

The Blackbird was designed using a "slide rule"!
(Before hand held electronic calculators for you younger freepers).

[Ben Bolt]

Hi Dave !

Oh lordy .. I had yet to get around to checking out this Dr . More often than not once a rat always a rat so I think I'll pass on my homework .

Whatever I may have gleaned from this person the wife and I could do without the slant . Thank you Dave ;)

[GVNR]

"they have some very interesting toys that they aren't sharing with the rest of us kids."

They have a lot of interesting EVERYTHING that they won't share with us kids!

IF there are really UFO's - they'd never make it public as long as there were ANY chance of gaining access to new military technology.

Also, it's pretty-much the same as what goes on in our government, international negotiations, etc.
You can bet your boots there's a whole-lot that happens behind the scenes that's not for public consumption!

[radu]

"Does anyone here believe in UFO'S? (Hint: they may NOT be extraterrestrial "aliens")"

Yes, most definitely. Seen too many odd things in the skies over the past 40 years of watching. Unfortunately I've never seen anything up close.

Do I claim they're ET'S? Nope but I'm open-minded and nothing would surprise me. It would be nice to find out what all these things really are in my lifetime. I'm dying of curiosity. I can't make myself believe we're "it" in this universe. "If we are, it's an awful waste of space."

I do know that if the things I've seen in the skies are terrestrial, the gov't.'s have yet to unveil them to the public. I don't think humans could survive flying in them the way they maneuvered.

[FormerLurker]

In my opinion, it looks like a frisbee was thrown from behind the house or garage.

If you look at it frame by frame, you'll notice that the object performs a 90 degree turn without slowing down. Frisbees don't do that....