It's an extremely slow day for MilAir due to the holiday - an important holiday within the military.
Among the things noted flying this morning have been...
SCARS 55, a C-130H, 82-0055, from the 144th AS, AK-ANG
An EVAC 33127, a C-17A, 03-3127, 6th AS McGuire
CRAB 51, a C-130J, 97-1351, 135th AS MD-ANG
BISON 85, 92-3285, a C-130H from the 328th AS AFRC Niagara Falls NY
ASCOT 2514, a VC-10, tail XV105 from the 101 Squadron of the Royal Air Force
A Navy C-40A, BuNo 165832, from VR-58 Jacksonville FL
Late 1000 hour, there is a group of aircraft (at first I thought they were helos) but might just be A-10s from Martin State although it seems doubtful when listening to them. They are doing some formation flying at low levels on the Weide AAF Tower freq 126.2. One of them just called "Raven Ops, this is RAVEN 1" on that freq. I'm hearing nothing on the normal Raven Ops freqs 143.8/347.2. They still sound more like helos than A-10s in spite of those callsigns.
There will probably be memorial flybys in several locations today.
1059: A pair of NJ-ANG F-16s active on interflight...138.425
1101: The guys on 126.2 are active again...sounds like they finished whatever they were doing...mention "dropping everybody off" and then just doing some flying around. Sounds like a three ship flight.
1104: Navy JV153 (VR-58) to McGuire CP...ETA 1530Z, no fuel required, just picking up passengers...319.4
[This may be the same one noted above as BuNo 165832.]
1112: REACH 201T (C-17A, 97-0046, 437th AW Charleston) lifting off from Andrews...118.95
I've got a Coast Guard station booming in that I've never heard before. It's called Maxwell Point Radio. He's calling various Coast Guard vessels on Marine channel 81A - 157.075.
Hmmm...Maxwell Point...it's not far from Saltpeter Creek.
1141: BLACKJACKS up and working...139.7
1149: I've got THUNDERBIRD freq 143.85 active. Where might they be performing that I'd be hearing them? Perhaps just flying through the area and using this freq for interflight?
At 1152, I believe one of them just pointed out McGuire to their south....but as loud as they are, they shouldn't be that far away from here. [Subsequent traffic indicates they probably were just north of McGuire flying east to west and across Pennsylvania and into Ohio.]
There's eight of them on the freq and definitely the THUNDERBIRDS....heard that fabulous #3 checking in during a roll call of the aircraft.
Guess I should turn on my ZDC-ZNY scanner and find them....
1158: Thunderbird 1 with ZNY-Manta 339.4 and handed off to ZNY-Phillipsburg 306.2 where they check in at FL 210....mention Harrisburg in chat and #1 says they'll use Pittsburgh for a divert.
[Radar is showing rain/thunderstorms across southern PA.]
1204: Not sure where they're flying right now but one of them says this is the first place he's flown over that has caused a lump in his throat...143.85
1205: TBIRD wingman comes back with the ATIS report for Pittsburgh...143.85
1206: TBIRD 5 calling "Ops"...x2, no joy...311.0 (Freq good for Pittsburgh - among other places)
1208: TBIRD 5 comes back to 143.85 and tells flight leader "there's no one home in Pittsburgh" so he'll try Wright-Patterson wx...143.85 [Monitored 344.6 for Wright-Pat Metro which is same as Andrews but nothing heard.]
1210: TBIRD flight handed off to Cleveland Center...ZOB-Tyrone Sector 52 and check in at FL 260...299.2
1210: TBIRD leader asks one of the wingmen if he's talking to the tanker...143.85 (no freq ref given)
1211: TBIRDs handed off to ZOB (I think) on 307.15 and check in there (don't know which Sector this is yet)
[Can't find a 307.15 in ZOB....damn...I've now lost them when they got handed off yet again. They just called "Center" when they checked in on 307.15 so I can't even say it's Cleveland Center.]
1215: Still have TBIRDs on interflight...143.85 [Getting very weak now as they are apparently in western PA or into OH.]
And the Thunderbirds have flown out of range. It was interesting while it lasted.
Around 1320, there were two police helos on 123.025 talking about a propane barbeque grill explosion on someone's deck. They didn't mention the final result (injuries, etc) but it's something that will no doubt make the afternoon/evening news cycle.
1336: JOSA 802 (C-21A, 84-0077, 457th AS Andrews) reports airborne at 1735Z...378.1
NOTE: The Thunderbirds eventually met up with TURBO 10, a KC-135R tanker from the 22nd ARW at McConnell AFB KS according to a listener in the midwest. That must have been the reference to the tanker heard in the traffic while still in this area.
