Wow...what a day for MilAir! This was one of the busiest days I've ever encountered. There were PITTMAN flights going to and coming from the New York City CAP that runs through tomorrow. There was an emergency aboard PITTMAN 52 right after he and 51 got to the CAP and refueled. First, he declared a "Land ASAP" condition wanting to set the jet down at JFK and then decided to declare an emergency and go to McGuire - which he did accompanied by 51. That left the CAP bare. So, HUNTRESS called PITTMAN 45, who was halfway home over Maryland and had him return to the CAP. He did and met up with SKATER 07, the tanker, as soon as he got there to refuel. I lost PITTMAN 51/52 as they started descending into McGuire but assume he landed safely. PITTMAN 51 returned to the CAP along with 45 and are there now awaiting the arrival on 53/54.
(Just heard PITTMAN 53/54 heading for the CAP at 1800. They were on 363.0 with ZDC-Woodstown and changed to ZNY-Kennedy on 282.3. Switching to 260.9 with HUNTRESS at 1805. They switch to 327.9 for refueling which they've been using throughout this CAP other than short periods when they refueled on primary freq 260.9. The aircraft in this CAP are F-16s from the 77th Fighter Squadron at Shaw.)
For the short time I've listened to this CAP today, I've confirmed three of their VHF presets to go along with those we recovered for the 79th. The 77th is using:
V-8 143.8
V-9 141.75
V-10 140.375
The freqs they are using for clearance into the CAP (similar to our Guard Dog 135.525/288.35) are 135.65 and 363.1 which belong to New York TRACON rather then ZNY.
In additon to the CAP flights, there was a SCARY flight of two F-16s from Andrews - indicating that the whole unit didn't leave for Iraq last weekend. The SCARY flight just went to Patuxent for work. They used 348.725 TRACON, 143.6 tac, 281.4 ZDC-Calvert, 305.2 Pax Advisory, 354.8 BayWatch...came back on Pax 281.8 to leave the area, 335.5 with TRACON, 139.9 with SOF and 349.0 to land with ADW Tower.
There was also a FAST flight of F-16s from the NY-ANG Syracuse that landed at Andrews this afternoon.
Down in W-72 and W-386 the area was loaded with F-15s and F-22As working with a couple of AWACS flights. GOLIATH came in first with many, many groups of F-22A aircraft and then it was BANDSAW's turn with scads of F-15s. They all cleared into the area with Giant Killer on 233.7, 238.1 and 249.8 - depending on which area they were working. There were a couple of new callsigns heard for Langley today - CEASAR and TRAETON. That TRAETON callsign might have been what was heard as TRENTON in the recent past. I'm not sure if they were F-15s or F-22s just because I got not much more than their entrance into W-386 with GK although I did hear TRAETON using 228.45 for tac and on that freq they sounded like F-22As. However, I did confirm the DRAGON callsign as F-22A today also working in that area and added it to the Raptor callsign list. There was a NACHO flight that self-identified as Raptor but we already had him in the recent past from transmitter characteristics identified as F-22As.
And I can't forget to note there were also F-16s of the VA-ANG Richmond working in W-386 with GK using callsign SLAM. It was a three ship flight. They were heard on tac 141.875, with GK on 238.1, with Norfolk TRACON on 370.925 and 360.6.
Somewhere in there was an AXEMAN flight of A-10s from Martin State with Raven Ops on 143.8 (immediately after PITTMAN 51/52 were heard for their emergency on the same freq) and then over on 347.2 which they might have changed to because of interference from the F-16s.
Meanwhile, BICEP flights of F-16s of the NJ-ANG were working in W-107 with Giant Killer on 255.0 and on their tac freqs 138.425 and 138.875...as was a BATON 51 EC-130J from Harrisburg in the same area working alone.
Heard a REACH 984 contacting a FORCE 25 tanker on freq 139.875 which he identified as "McGuire Interplane." (But we knew that, right?)
And that's the short version.
1836: PITTMAN 51 and 45 (who is using PITTMAN 52 for this trip) are on their way back to Shaw...currently with ZDC-Bay 379.3 after leaving ZNY-Kennedy on 282.3. They're at FL 260 and are using V-8 143.8 for chat on the way home.
1842: PITTMAN 51 flight over to 281.4 with ZDC-Calvert where they check in at FL 260 direct Shaw.
1845: PITTMAN 51 requesting altitude 240 or 250...cleared to 240. «281.4»
1849: PITTMAN 51 tells ZDC controller that there is "chop" at FL 240. He doesn't want another altitude but is just letting them know the conditions.
1849: PITTMAN 51 handed to 235.625 ZDC-Blackstone where they check in and he reports FL 260 again and in non-standard 2-mile trail front to back formation. Ground tells wingman to strangle the squawk which is why 51 tells him about the non-standard formation.
1852: There is now a CHALICE E-3B/C AWACS aircraft from Tinker AFB OK with Giant Killer on 238.1. This is the third one of the day working this area. He's fairly weak at this time so might be down in W-72 or farther south. Mentions a VIPER flight but that's all I got.
1854: It's CHALICE-FOXTROT now on a different transmitter and sounding good. 238.1/249.8
1857: PITTMAN 51 tells ZDC they are going to hold hands again (51 and 52, nee 45) so will be in standard formation. 235.625
1858:
CHALICE-FOXTROT tells Giant Killer to contact
CHALICE-GOLF and push them to freq 303.1 «238.1» CHALICE-GOLF comes up with GK on 238.1 and gets the message.
1859: The two AWACS aircraft are talking on 303.1 but are too weak for me to pick much out of the conversation. They are talking about their schedules.
(303.1 = AWACS Interplane?)
Seems half the AWACS fleet is in this area today.
Continued below...........
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DPD1 Dave said:
That's interesting, because that is Raytheon base out here in the west, for both LAX and Van Nuys. And I heard the same thing a few times in the last couple months. I wasn't sure who Cameron ground was. Sounded like some sort of radar testing. Might be local Raytheon testing near you. Maybe working out of Pax or something?
You're probably right about the flight being around the Pax area. Comms were consistent with aircraft at that distance from me...not anywhere near the Langley area. It was interesting while it lasted.
