Sticky Thread for MilAir III

[Mark]

1540 I just got back myself from Andrews,there was a B-2 flyover (yawn) couple passes
around 1245 local.
I left as F-15 demo was taking flight around 1:45pm.

Mark

Marine AV-8 Harrier demo was real noisy when that thing hovered!

 

[Mark]

The Starfighters were entertaining as well.

 

[Mark]

2300 local REACH 6011 C-5 #86-0011 eastbound headed for Nantuckett AR with ETHYL tanker
KC-135 #58-0077 from 171st Pittsburgh 0300z on 341.750 AR-20 freq.
What surprised me was REACH 6011 said we are 60th AMW aircraft.I have this listed as Dover 436th tail.
Possible 436th plane and 60th AMW crew? or does Travis own this C-5 now?
Sounds to me like it is Travis tail now.
I haven't heard 6011 around Dover for quite a while also...

Mark

 

[TinEar]

2300 local REACH 6011 C-5 #86-0011 eastbound headed for Nantuckett AR with ETHYL tanker
KC-135 #58-0077 from 171st Pittsburgh 0300z on 341.750 AR-20 freq.
What surprised me was REACH 6011 said we are 60th AMW aircraft.I have this listed as Dover 436th tail.
Possible 436th plane and 60th AMW crew? or does Travis own this C-5 now?
Sounds to me like it is Travis tail now.
I haven't heard 6011 around Dover for quite a while also...

Mark

Mark, I've always had 86-0011 as a Travis bird. I just checked Scramble and that's what they show too (22nd AS.)

Wish I had had a nice sunny day like today for the pictures I took instead of dark and wet as it was yesterday. How were the crowds today? Do they still pack the place or has it dropped off some?

 

[freqhopping]

I got to my spot right around 0900. A few minutes before 0930 a DC ANG WILD flight of four departed. I wasn't expecing this, but I was able to get a few pics on take off, but the best were just prior to landing. They made an extra pass to burn off some gas.

The Berlin Airlift flight

The main show got underway after this jumper.

The Geico Sky Typers flew around for hours and went up to Baltimore before it was time for their real show. 123.425 was used by the Sky Typers when as a flight of six. When they did their show two of them broke off and worked on 122.775

"Golden Knights-607"

About half an hour out I picked up REAPER-11 aka Spirit of Lousiana with TRACON on 257.875. Quite a while after I figured he would he been gone I heard him with TRACON departure 348.725. I just caught the end of a transmission on 388.85 some time between then. He worked with airboss on UHF 379.2. He may have done a flyover at the Preakness too.

I never saw a B-52. But I did hear a "-91" maybe DOOM, who said he was heading to Martin State. Descending from 15k to 9k at the time.

 

[freqhopping]

The Heritage Flight got underway with demos by the F-15 and F-22 which then met up with F-4 and P-51. The P-51 did a demo earlier in the day. They used 136.675. I think I may have heard them on 123.425 too which was used for air to air by others also. 122.825 was used by performers to talk to the crowd.

Oh yeah, the 400mhz trunked system is no more.

 

[Mark]

Mark, I've always had 86-0011 as a Travis bird. I just checked Scramble and that's what they show too (22nd AS.)

Wish I had had a nice sunny day like today for the pictures I took instead of dark and wet as it was yesterday. How were the crowds today? Do they still pack the place or has it dropped off some?

Thanks Alan,will update my C-5 list.. DOH!
As far as crowds I got in show around 9:30am and not crowded at all.Seems most people arrive about noon and later.Have seen larger crowds before but when I left at 2pm the signs over I-95 were stating airshow closed and at capacity yet the shuttle busses were still taking people in.
Many people were showing up late just for the Angels.Across the street from base
people were setting up in parking lots etc.Actually not a bad idea.Can still catch aircraft in and out etc.
Still have sore feet this morning as lots of walking.

Some nice pics there Hop! The local Andrews F-16's did do a nice flyby early on which brings me to my only gripe of airshow season so far this year.
As I noticed also down at Florida airshow seems airshows this year are really backending all the good demos into the last 2 hours of show.I remember at Andrews before they would do an F-15 demo in morning and spread the top Mil demos throughout the day except of course for Angels or Blues at the normal close.
No wonder most people show up late anymore as most of the good demos are in last 2 hours... Just an opinion..

Mark

 

[mdmonitor]

Guys,

Thanks for all those great pictures of the Andrews airshow. I couldn't make it this year but those pics are a great substitute. Also thanks for the narratives as well.

Did get a chance to watch one of the C-17s as it landed at BWI in the mid afternoon. Flew really long approach to Runway 33L right over my house. Boy, what a sight---those dudes are big---but elatively quiet for their size

 

[BM82557]

Andrews 05/17/2008

How were the crowds today? Do they still pack the place or has it dropped off some?

Learned a lesson last year so my brother and I arrived at 0810. Hardly anyone there except for security. We picked out our spot for watching the aerial action by 0830 and had plenty of time to look over the static displays and could actually take photos without getting a sea of people in the scene! Spent quite a bit of time going through the E-8C JSTARS which I enjoyed very much. Like Travis we were surprised the DC-ANG launched but took advantage of the photo op. Walked the place over monitoring the 380 system and got some good photos of the F-104's on the south end of the ramp. Parked not far from the Blues were two F-22 Raptors, one of which performed the demo in the afternoon. Quite a bit of chatter on the comm cart freqs, a couple transmissions had to do with locating the keys for the Briefing Room and ordering 6 ice teas. The Golden Knights had to switch to what the air boss called "their discrete frequency of 122.82" due to interference. Like Mark we were disappointed with the B-2 flyover as it was farther away from the crowd and and at a higher altitude than most of the other flyovers. Maybe they don't want some of the aircraft features photographed too clearly. He left Andrews heading to the east so maybe he hit the Preakness like Travis suggested. At 1258 local I had him on 388.85 to OPS with "complete on the Andrews airshow". Bert used RATO for his takeoff so another good photo op there. We also thought the transmissions from the Blues during their performance was at a low power level as jethunder noted in his post. Now to get back to Alan's question about the crowds I'll answer with this, after the Blues were done we had to stand in line for about 1 and 1/2 hours for the buses! I noted people leaving starting about 1600 while the Blues in the middle of their performance.

 

[freqhopping]

Like Mark we were disappointed with the B-2 flyover as it was farther away from the crowd and and at a higher altitude than most of the other flyovers. Maybe they don't want some of the aircraft features photographed too clearly.

Which was perfect for me.


DUKE-42 heading to Martin State. 335.5
Also heard what sounded like a C-160 departing IAD. No comms heard yet.

 

[freqhopping]

The Harrier at the airshow is reporting a landing gear problem. Maintenance is standing by. The gear is apparently stuck up. CFR is on standby.
Will do a vertical landing on 19L. Better this plane than a normal one.

CFR is reporting they can see the nose gear is out.
1148- It landed without any issues.

1350- Been following SD-320 through ZDC sectors. 281.4>327.0>351.9>270.35>319.0

1425- WYATT-21 departing with TRACON 290.475>307.9 Says he needs something called out since he's working with a degraded system.
1433- Switched to 338.25. Says he's looking to get direct his destination.
1435- Handed to 343.775 and direct Martinsburg.
1443- To ZDC-Blue Ridge 285.6 and looking for higher
1450- Handed to ZOB 327.1

 

[SquelchKnob]

GIANT SHOT
11:40 311.0 They did something a bit different then I am used to hearing this time. Read off quite the list of EAM type code. I could not make a guess as to what it meant. Possibly code for Destination OP AREA. (WAG)

11:53 311.0 CELEBRITY calls ELEGANCE advises off the Deck

 

[Mark]

1340 BOBCAT 45 with ADW metro req wx for KCRW,currently over Martinsburg radial
FL 280.

1545 Getting hits on 305.500,"Fat Albert"?
1630 REACH 156 with Norfolk AMC 349.500 inbound half hour out req customs,offloads before we rtb Dover.
1658 GATOR 41 with Philly appch UHF inbound Willow Grove declaring emergency req runway 15.
sw to 366.800 WG appch. I wasn't home to sw myself.
1815 SUMMIT 20 C-130 arriving McGuire,28 pax,3k cargo.
1835 OPEC 78 KC-10 arriving Mcguire,9 pax,nice arrival message to pax broadcast on 319.400 oops!

Mark

 

[freqhopping]

EXPERT-31 VFA-122 F-18 departing. With TRACON 257.2, 16300 for 19.
1813- With ZDC-Linden and looking for FL430.
1815- To ZDC-Bryce 259.1, at FL380.

NICKEL-11 to Oceana. ZDC-Calvert>Norfolk App.

 

[BM82557]

Enroute to Andrews

Just noticed this on Flightaware --

Aircraft Boeing 777-200 (twin-jet) (B772/W)Origin Sharm El Sheikh Int'l (HESH)Destination Andrews Afb (KADW) Other flights between these airportsRoute n/aDate Sunday, May 18, 2008Duration 12 hours 8 minutesProgress5 hours 19 minutes left


6 hours 48 minutes



StatusEn Route (3199 miles down; 2849 miles to go) ScheduledActual/EstimatedDeparture04:19PM GMT04:19PM GMTArrival12:22AM EDT12:27AM EDTSpeed446 ktsAltitudeUnspecified40000 feet






Date Type Origin Destination Departure Arrival Duration
18-May-2008 B772/W Sharm El Sheikh Int'l (HESH) Andrews Afb (KADW) 04:19PM GMT 12:27AM EDT (+1) En Route
13-May-2008 B772/Q Andrews Afb (KADW) Ben Gurion (LLBG) 12:30AM EDT result unknown (?) n/a

 

[TinEar]

Just noticed this on Flightaware --

Aircraft Boeing 777-200 (twin-jet) (B772/W)Origin Sharm El Sheikh Int'l (HESH)Destination Andrews Afb (KADW) Other flights between these airportsRoute n/aDate Sunday, May 18, 2008Duration 12 hours 8 minutesProgress5 hours 19 minutes left


6 hours 48 minutes



StatusEn Route (3199 miles down; 2849 miles to go) ScheduledActual/EstimatedDeparture04:19PM GMT04:19PM GMTArrival12:22AM EDT12:27AM EDTSpeed446 ktsAltitudeUnspecified40000 feet






Date Type Origin Destination Departure Arrival Duration
18-May-2008 B772/W Sharm El Sheikh Int'l (HESH) Andrews Afb (KADW) 04:19PM GMT 12:27AM EDT (+1) En Route
13-May-2008 B772/Q Andrews Afb (KADW) Ben Gurion (LLBG) 12:30AM EDT result unknown (?) n/a

Yeah, that's UAL 9888, the press plane that accompanied the President. Air Force One was over Nantucket about 10 minutes ago (1937.)

1955: E-6B, 164404, VQ-4 up from Patuxent to the south, climbs to altitude and turns to the northeast at 30 degrees. By 2008, he's at FL 290.
2018: Over Sea Isle at this time.

2007: AF 1 off the coast of NJ at this time.
2021: AF 1 over Waterloo and heading in...he's been descending for a while now.
2029: AF 1 has crossed the Eastern Shore and is crossing the Bay now...he's coming in from the south to Andrews...currently at 8000 feet. SAM 91 appears to be well behind him - as much as 90 minutes.
2030: AF 1 with TRACON heading for Andrews...128.35
2032: AF 1 reports Andrews in sight...coming from the south but will make the turn and go in on runway 19R...128.35
2034: AF 1 handed off to Andrews Tower...128.35
2034: AF 1 to ADW Tower...left base for runway 19R...is cleared to land...118.4
2036: AF 1 on the ground...118.4
Got a report from a friend to the north...said the E-6 went north to Trenton NJ, then made a left turn and headed southwest into PA. Funny routing.

2033: Have a U/I with an emergency talking to Dover Tower...says cargo door is open and they lost pressurization...say they have it under control now...126.35

 

[Mark]

2007: AF 1 off the coast of NJ at this time.

2018 Rgr Tin AF-1 just heard sw from ZDC Sea Isle 133.125 to 127.700 Sea Isle low
complaining about bumpy ride now.
2019 AF-1 req lower for turbulence.
2034 AF-1 with tower 118.400 after 128.350.. Good VHF coms tonite after rainstorm(getting Boston ATC almost like next door)
2036 AF-1 gear down for full stop

Rgr Alan REACH 653 inbound Dover worried about previous door press problem so IFE still in effect.

Mark

 

[freqhopping]

GATOR-41 in the air again. FL260 with ZDC-Shenandoah 270.35

 

[BM82557]

Same here. No problem at all bringing my scanner in on Friday. I had it clipped to my belt and before he could say anything I said it's a receiver only - no transmit. He waived me right through. As far as I know, the guys with the blue T-shirts that just said "police", were also Air Force - assigned to the flight line as opposed to the general AF Security Police force that covers the entire base.

Forgot that you got a PSR-500 a while back Alan. What's you're impression of it for milair?

 

[TinEar]

Forgot that you got a PSR-500 a while back Alan. What's you're impression of it for milair?

What I got was a 400, not the 500. I took something else to the show.

I got the 400 thinking it would possibly be a replacement for my trusty, old 785s. To tell you the truth, I haven't really used it very much due to the lack of software for it from Butel up to this point. I haven't fully loaded it nor have I put it onto the main antenna. I've used it with just the whip and it seems okay but seems more prone to desensing in this environment. I really won't know for sure until I can get it fully loaded and onto the outside antenna to be able to compare it to all my other radios.