Nightowl 09 Nightowl 05 Uav Ops

[barefootdipole]

USMC Bogue Field North Carolina

USMC UAV Pioneer's NIGHTOWL 05 and NIGHTOWL 09 working Bogue Tower on 126.450 with nightly ops for the last two weeks....most ops have been late night between midnight and dawn.

Both Nightowl 05 and Nightowl 09 are up now...doing loops over ICW and inland about 2 miles from field....very low and very visable and VERY VERY audible.....since they are basically flying lawnmowers !

Interesting that last week there was a third unidentified vehicle on the runway making much MUCH more noise, and a very louder and deeper pitch than heard from the Pioneer.....wonder if it may have been another type UAV being tested/trained. It sounded like nothing heard here before ! (also wondered if it may have been a RATO test - rocket assisted takeoff....long loud rushing sound going down runway...but nothing heard taking off)

the USMC UAV's have been absent locally for quite a long while, as the local USMC units just returned from their long sandbox deployments.

always fun to watch and hear.....as they pass overhead here at abt 200' i should ask them to check my house on IR for heat loss.... :-)

Barefootdipole
Carteret County


PS: tonight at 0720z... Nightowl 11 has joined the training.

[gldavis]

Are you hearing voice comms coming from the UAV's? Is it "normal" pilot to tower comms?

[barefootdipole]

Originally Posted by gldavis

Are you hearing voice comms coming from the UAV's? Is it "normal" pilot to tower comms?

that would sorta defeat the UNMANNED part of the UAV principal... :-)
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no 'voice comms coming from the UAV' :-)
but yes, comms are heard from the command&control trailer and the remote pilot back to Bogue Tower....usual airspace and landing/takeoff instructions

[trainman111]

Well then how else would they be able to keep in comms with tower? Just because they are a UAV doesn't mean they are exempt from communications requirements.

[CORN]

I was wondering that myself. With the talk about using Predators, etc to "fight terror" by flying over major US cities to keep a look out they would have to have some kind of remote transmitter (along with a transponder) on the UAV (poss relayed by Satellites to the ground station) so they could talk to ARTCC. Cause no matter how high they fly or where they fly to get to say Chicago, Los Angeles, etc they WILL have to fly thru FAA controlled airspace. I sure would like to see one fly in person someday. How about the USAF Air Combat Command add another single ship tac demo: The UAV (whatever type)demo.

[DPD1]

The pilot does have the ability to talk through the aircraft when needed. But most of the places that see the most UAV activity have pre-assigned 'work areas' where the UAVs hang out. That way they just steer people away from the areas they know they'll be in, and they don't have to talk to them much. But once in a while they will talk through the aircraft when they venture out of their normal work areas. The audio often has an echo, as I assume it's due to open speakers in the control trailer. Watching them fly isn't exactly thrilling. I watched the first flight of the UCAV and was under-whelmed... About the same feeling as going to an RC plane park.

Dave
www.DPDProductions.com
Antennas & Accessories for the RF Professional & Radio Hobbyist

[CORN]

Yeah, i heard that. Most of the last part of my post was mostly sarchasm but i'm glad to know about the first part. I'm sure the whole thing is like a RC adventure and a video game. Eventually the DOD might be enlisting 10 year olds to fly them. lol

[davidp124]

Hey Joe; when you make your trip to Vegas to go to the Nellis Airshow take a drive up to Creech AFB, about 40 N/NW of the base. That's the PREDATOR's base. You might luck out and catch one flying.

Dave