Sticky Thread for MilAir II

[TinEar]

Starting early in the 0900 hour, I'm hearing a Coast Guard 6568 helo doing a demonstration of basket lifts. He's got an audience on a pier and is picking up from a moving vessel that IDs only as 470. Also in the vicinity is Coast Guard Vessel 47456. They haven't mentioned a specific location yet but the operation is on a river. Coast Guard Station Baltimore is also jumping into the conversation occasionally. As of 0938, they have done a couple of demonstrations and are preparing to do two more. This is on Marine Channel 23A (157.15).
Last lift is completed at 0947. CG 6568 helo tells vessel 470 that he'll see him next time he's down this way - possibly indicating he's from out of the area. CG 6568 also mentions his operating position is off "the yard."
6568 is an HH65A Dolphin from CGAS Los Angeles according to one database I've got.
0955: Vessel 470 reports he's berthed.
0956: CG 6568 reports he's going to BWI for fuel. (He calls it Baltimore International.)

1200: NAVY 7W943 with Atlantic City Approach descending to 8,000 then 6,000 feet and reports direct Cedar Lake. «124.6»
1200: COLT 1 flight (A-10 MD-ANG Martin State) landing at MTN...reports to Tower on both «297.2» and «121.3» that he's doing a full stop landing on runway 15 at 1202.
Report from a commercial pilot that BWI is experiencing 28 knot gusts at the moment.
1204: NAVY 7W943 cleared down to 4,000 feet and again reports direct Cedar Lake. «124.6»
This is possibly a UC-12B from NAS Willow Grove.
1225: JOSA 963 with arrival message to Andrews...20 minutes out, home station C-21, tail 40076, A-3 for flaps, no pax, needs crew bus for 2 from 9 Row to Building 1420. «141.55»

1323: BLUE 13 (Tanker accompanying MAZDA flight from overseas) with ZDC-Salisbury 257.7 reports direct Snow Hill at FL 260...says MAZDA flight will be on this freq shortly.
1326: MAZDA 61 (flight of six F-16s) with ZDC-Salisbury 257.7 FL 280 course 220.
1328: BLUE 13 reports direct Norfolk and as filed. 257.7
1329: BLUE 13 reports direct Hampton, J55...wants FL 270 and wants to put 350 on request. 257.7
1329: MAZDA flight using 140.425 for tac/air-to-air
1331: BLUE 13 cleared up to FL 330 and says he can stay there as a final. IDs as a KC-135. 257.7
1332: COBRA 40 (EA-6B VAQ-209, NAF Andrews, MD) with TRACON Departure 348.725 cleared up to 17,000
1334: COBRA 40 handed off to ZDC-Calvert 133.9 where he checks in at 13,000 climbing to 17.000.
1336: BLUE 13 reports direct HTO (East Hampton Airport) at FL 330. 257.7
1336: MAZDA 61 flight handed to ZDC-Norfolk 327.8 where they request direct Montgomery which is 25 (degrees) right. 257.7 On tac 140.425 they're talking about the reception that they might get when they get home.
1347: MAZDA 61 flight still with ZDC-Norfolk on 327.8 but very weak...believe they repeated freq 297.65 which I'm monitoring to see if I can still hear them. (If they came up on that freq I couldn't hear them.)
The BLUE 13/MAZDA 61 flights were using 268.25 for a refueling boom freq during the trip per a report from overseas.
The six ship MAZDA F-16 flight was returning from Iraq through Moron, Spain.

 

[bigred10]

I'm also listening to the Blue/Mazda flight. I actually never heard Mazda, but Blue 13 was coming in loud and clear.

Blue 13 is trying to hail PAT control? on 321.000 at 13:52

also heard what sounded like another flight on 281.450, no callsigns heard yet
now on 257.700 at 13:55 and starting to fade

 

[TinEar]

BLUE 13 is calling PACK which is Base Ops at Pease NH, his home base.

There's also a TREND 11 flight of six A-10s due in from overseas heading to Whiteman AFB. That might be who you caught on 281.45. They might have been with BLUE 11.

Also heard someone on 281.45 but the tree cutter knocked on the front door and I missed the call.
It's ???? 11, direct Oceana, descending to 12,000 feet, as reported on ZDC-Salisbury 257.7 at 1403. (That was last heard from this flight.)
The TREND flight went the northern route and is now in the midwest per reports.

 

[bigred10]

PACK...PAT sometimes it is so hard to make things out. Thanks!

1410 now hearing some A/A traffic on 142.300 too weak to make anything out

 

[Mark]

Just got home in time to hear and see flyby at Dover Downs NASCAR 400 race
of 2 FA-18s. Callsign was PRIDE 11 flt of 2 ,though passing earlier thru Dover saw 3 FA-18s out
there off runway 1 so maybe one was for airspare or it had mech problems.
PRIDE 11 was A/A 390.950 and UHF tower 279.6250.
They arrived Dover AFB a couple days ago as PRIDE 21 from VFA-15 Oceana NAS.

Mark

 

[Mark]

By the way coming in 2 weeks Dover AFB Open House airshow.
Looks like some good performers also...

http://public.dover.amc.af.mil/library/openhouse.asp

Mark

 

[gcgrotz]

Re: above:

So VENUS 41 must also be used for C-37 97-0401. Veery intelestink. I'll knock that one out of the presumed and into the "need a visual" pile. Thank you very much.

Thank you for also confirming REACH 1 as a JOSA/C-21 on the outbound. I imagined the head of AMC was onboard, and the second sighting lends it a bit of creedence.

Here is the best picture I could grab that day of Venus41 on his last departure turnout. Can't read the tail# sorry.

The trainer that landed that same afternoon was Talon84. I've seen him before, and he is a loud sucker when he takes off! I guess that's a T38?

Right after that a Navy KingAir 2E261 departed. Busy afternoon at CHO.

 

[gcgrotz]

Pioneer44

Here's one I'd never seen/heard before, an unknown helo ID'd as Pioneer44 doing low approaches and a few touch-and-go practices at CHO. This was on 8-15-2006.

That same afternoon a flight of 2 Guard helos ID'd as Guard 26972 landed and went over to the FBO.

 

[TinEar]

Some refueling activity to start the day...
0929: OPEC 13 (KC-10A McGuire) to Giant Killer on 238.1 talking about the VIPER 71 flight.
0946: RAID 10 (KC-135R 319th Wing, Grand Forks AFB, ND) with BOLAR 70 (C-5 Dover AFB) on 352.6 (AR-220 associated) talking about getting to the IP on time. BOLAR 70 says he just took off, is climbing and will try to get a shortcut from ATC to get there at the scheduled time of 1400Z. If not, he'll be about 5 minutes late.
0948: CAMERON AIR talking to CAMERON GROUND on 123.375 saying he's overhead. (Parked on the freq until 1000 and heard nothing further.)
0951: BOLAR 70 (female) calling RAID 10 to say they're now about 10 minutes late. 70 says she's climbing from 16 to 20,000 feet which was just cleared. RAID 10 tells her to request 19,000 for the refueling op and she says she will. «352.6»...A minute later she says her flight has been cleared to 190 and she'll let him know when they're level.....at 0957 she says she's level at 19,000 and has been cleared directly to the IP and should be there at 1400Z (the scheduled time.)....but at 0958 she says her flight is still about 8 minutes behind for the IP and she's sorry about that (get there at 1408Z)...RAID 10 says it's no problem.

1002: BOLAR 70 calls RAID 10 to say she's now 9 minutes behind schedule (she's getting weak and I no longer hear RAID 10) «352.6»
1005: BOLAR 70 gives RAID 10 her squawk - 3440. Response from RAID 10 not heard. «352.6» At 1008 she tells him to recycle his TACAN to verify...then repeats 80.9. (they must be somewhere in AR-220 by now)
1010: BOLAR 70 tells RAID 10 she's slowing down to 300 knots as they prepare to meet up. «352.6»

NOTE: There have been 3-4 flights entering Giant Killer's warning areas but the activity on Norfolk TRACON's 370.925 and GK's 238.1/249.8 has just been too weak to pull out callsigns. They must be going in at lower altitudes than normal today.

1012: U/I aircraft (but probably a PACK KC135 tanker from Pease AFB)) with Langley Command Post on 251.25 wanting a phone call passed to Pease PACK Ops at DSN (852 exchange) to say they will be 15 minutes late. The reason is their first activity ran late and "it was with your guys." (He means refueling activities with Langley aircraft.)

NOTE: Speaking of tankers and refueling....there is a story in the Wall Street Journal that the Air Force is putting off until 2009 the multi-billion dollar contract for new tankers. The Air Force just issued a statement denying that and saying they are issuing a draft request today at 2 p.m. for proposals that will pit Boeing against a team from Northrup Grumman/EADS for the new tanker. They add that a final request for proposals will be made in December.

1031: Northrup Grumman test flight freq 123.2 active with a couple of their aircraft...the test aircraft says he's over Bloodsworth (Island?) and is ready to go. His chase aircraft is ready too.
1032: A pair of F-16s from the NJ-ANG Atlantic City operating on their tac channel 138.425.
1054: Langley tac freq 228.175 active. (weak...I now think it's just signal propagation conditions today, not that they're working lower altitudes that accounts for the weak signals from Langley fighters)

1103: The two Northrup Grumman test flight aircraft on 123.2 are calling themselves DRAGON 1 and 2.
1105: ROMAN 61 (F/A-18, VFA-106 NAS Oceana) with ZDC-Montebello 284.7 descending from FL 270 to 210.
1106: GIant Killer's ops freq 312.3 is active with ACM type activity.
1107: ROMAN 61, flight of two, handed to ZDC-Irons 360.85 where they check in descending to FL 210. At 1109, descending to FL 200. Over the next few minutes are cleared down to 17 and then 14,000 feet.
1119: VENUS 41 (see picture above) with Atlantic City Approach 124.6 doing approaches to runway 31 at ACY. (Corrected runway number...originally typed 41 which would be a good trick.)
1143: JOSA 865 with arrival message to Andrews on 378.1...C-21, tail 40139, 20 minutes out, A-1, has a Code A-4 plus 4 and 1 Space A pax..plans for 1 hour on the ground.
1151: PACER 98 with ADW Approach 119.3
1151: PAT 693 to Andrews on 141.55 with arrival message...tail number 30726, 15 minutes out, dropping off a Code (unspecified) and can take 7 Space A pax outbound to Lawson...then something about going to Atlanta next. (Possibly 03-0726, a UC-35D with a note to go with it as follows...."Seen as 03-0726 at Tyndall AFB Mar 9, 2005"...info from Joe Baugher's tail listings...Scramble has nothing on it)

Couple of ramp freezes posted for Andrews....
AIR TERMINAL RAMP FREEZE 26 SEP 00:40 UNTIL 26 SEP 01:10 (Zulu times-subtract 4 hours for local time)
AIR TERMINAL RAMP FREEZE 26 SEP 00:35 UNTIL 26 SEP 01:05 (Looks like same one but moved by 5 minutes..the one above was last issued)

And this one is interesting....published by McGuire....
305TH COMMAND POST UHF FREQUENCY 349.4 OUT OF SERVICE. 23 SEP 00:59 UNTIL 25 SEP 16:00
The 305th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire flies C-17s and KC-10As...we normally associate 349.4 with Dover and 319.4 with McGuire although we know many McGuire aircraft also use the 349.4 freq. If nothing else, this proves 349.4 is not solely for the use of Dover Command Post.

And we've been wondering why the A-10s at Martin State have recently been using VHF Tower freq 121.3 rather than 297.2....
LC FREQ 297.2 OTS 08 SEP 15:33 UNTIL UFN

To explain the deer clearing operations heard at Phillips AAF when the CRAB C-130Js (and others) land....
AERODROME WILDLIFE HAZ, UNCONTROLLED DEER POPULATION ON AND AROUND AIRFIELD, NGT FIXED-WING OPERATIONS ARE AT PILOTS OWN RISK 25 AUG 22:00 UNTIL 25 NOV 22:00

It's high noon and I've gotta run....back later.
And just as I'm about to shut down the PC, there is a COWBOY flight of Langley F-22A aircraft entering W-386 A-J and working tac freq 233.525 (1209) First heard with Norfolk TRACON 370.925 and then with Giant Killer on 238.1 to enter

 

[CitationJet]

Stuck with the PRO-64 today...

09/25/2006

1318Z 118.950 Potomac DEP - ARMY 10301 (UC-35C 01-0301) - deps ADW dir FLUKY QSY 121.050.
1322Z 118.950 Potomac DEP - NAVY 7C 882 (the am UC-12B shuttle) - deps DAA dir GRUBY QSY 126.4.

1416Z 118.950 Potomac DEP - AIR FORCE 2 (C-32A 89th AW) - deps ADW to 17000' dir MCRAY QSY 134.15.

1719Z 118.950 Potomac DEP - SPAR 30 (C-37A 01-0030 301st AS MacDill) - deps ADW dir HAFNR QSY 121.050.
1746Z 119.300 Potomac APP - PAT 504 () - @ 3400' cleared for the vis. app to 1R @ ADW QSY 118.4.
1755Z 118.950 Potomac DEP - REACH 4138 (C-17A 04-4138) - deps ADW to 11000' dir LDN.

1811Z 118.950 Potomac DEP - JOSA 865 (C-21A) - deps ADW dir LDN QSY 118.675.
1821Z 126.300 Davison AAF TWR - PAT 756 () - i/b DAVEY for rwy 32. [departs @ 1932Z 118.950 to 12000' dir CSN QSY 118.675].
1821Z 118.950 Potomac DEP - PAT 789 () - deps ADW to 11000' dir FLUKY QSY 121.050.
1852Z 118.950 Potomac DEP - SAM 0716 () - deps ADW dir GINYA 17000' QSY 118.675.

1901Z 119.300 Potomac APP - NAVY JS 821 (C-9B VR-46 NAS Atlanta) - 4.5 for 3000' cleared for the vis. to 1R @ ADW.
1936Z 126.300 Davison AAF TWR - PAT 427 () - on the modified L base for rwy 32.

 

[JackTV]

My last day of vacation. Here is what is active so far....
228.45 A/A
249.8 Giantkiller
233.525 A/A
257.075 A/A
391.2
Those radios sound FANTASTIC!!!!!!
14:16-234.6 A/A, 254.2 A/A, 358.85 A/A, 312.3 A/A


Jack

 

[CitationJet]

Re: 03-7026

Hi Tin,

That note should be revised to state "this is the one that I heard inbound Davison in July which sent Tony Orr scrambling for the field to bag it..."

It is UC-35D 03-0726 based out of Dobbins ARB.

Best regards,

Tony

Lawson...then something about going to Atlanta next. (Possibly 03-0726, a UC-35D with a note to go with it as follows...."Seen as 03-0726 at Tyndall AFB Mar 9, 2005"...info from Joe Baugher's tail listings...Scramble has nothing on it)

 

[HM1529]

The New York, Washington and Boston Center freqs contain Sector names. The few freqs for Cleveland Center that are within range are listed by RCAG location rather than Sector name simply because Sector names are not available in any document I've been able to find.

Replying to your note way back on Page 3 of this thread....

I recently found some online maps of ZOB sectors that might be useful to folks. I'm almost totally unfamilar with that area since I live near Philadelphia, PA, but these maps contain sector names and are from the official ZOB website:

http://www.faa.gov/ATS/aglzob/HIGHALTITUDEMAPS.htm

http://www.faa.gov/ATS/aglzob/LOWALTITUDEMAPS.htm

 

[TinEar]

Replying to your note way back on Page 3 of this thread....

I recently found some online maps of ZOB sectors that might be useful to folks. I'm almost totally unfamilar with that area since I live near Philadelphia, PA, but these maps contain sector names and are from the official ZOB website:

http://www.faa.gov/ATS/aglzob/HIGHALTITUDEMAPS.htm

http://www.faa.gov/ATS/aglzob/LOWALTITUDEMAPS.htm

Appreciate your contribution, however, the problem with those links is that they do indeed give sector names but don't associate frequencies with the names so we're still a bit lost.

Glad you reminded me though because since I made that original post, I found a site that has both the maps you link to plus the maps that associate sector names with frequencies which follow the format used by ZNY/ZBW in the recent Letters to Airmen that have been posted here and everywhere. Go to this link and scroll down about a half dozen messages:
http://www.liveatc.net/forums/index.php/topic,1901.0.html
There might be a couple of UHF changes since that map was originally published but it's still very useful to us.
*******************************************

Those radios sound FANTASTIC!!!!!!

Jack, I assume you're talking about the F-22A radios. Yes, they sure are great sounding and clear as a bell. They just cut right through any noise that happens to be on the freq.
*******************************************

1715: Have a REACH 518T giving an arrival message to Patuxent NAS on Base Ops freq 302.55. Seems he has a planeload of Marines to offload. Apparently, Pax told him something about not having people available to unload the plane. The pilot told them, "These are Marines. They can unload their own stuff."

*******************************************

Hi Tin,

That note should be revised to state "this is the one that I heard inbound Davison in July which sent Tony Orr scrambling for the field to bag it..."

It is UC-35D 03-0726 based out of Dobbins ARB.

You're quite right Tony. I remember your mad scramble now. My memory was temporarily erased.

 

[TinEar]

1933: SAM Interplane freq 136.725 active...probably Air Force 1 moving toward the area. (Note the ramp freeze for Andrews I posted last night that goes into effect from 2040-2110 tonight.)
1948: SAM Interplane...speaker saying he's ahead of Air Force 2. «136.725»...says all aircraft are getting slowed to 210 knots....says 92's block time was on the hour but that's obviously not going to happen. (I think both AF 1 and AF 2 are arriving at Andrews about the same time. Tony logged AF 2 outbound this morning.)
1951: Air Force 2 calling Air Force 1 talking about landing times.....AF 1 says he'll be right behind him and they'll all land about the same time. «136.725»
1955: AF 1 tells (SAM) 92, then corrects to 94, he can be on the ground by 7 after the hour...is having a smooth descent and has field in sight. «136.725»
1959: 9000 (29000 or AF 1) calls 94 and tells him his landing time should now be 06. «136.725»

2000: SAM 94 (lead aircraft for AF 1) now with Andrews Approach on 119.3
2003: AF 2 heading for runway 1R...leaving 4500 for 3000 feet. «119.3»
2004: AF 2 has field in sight. «119.3»
2006: AF 2 changes to Tower 118.4 and is cleared to land on runway 1R.
2008: AF 2 reports gear down. «118.4»
2009: AF 1 now with Tower on 118.4 to report 5 miles out...landing runway 1R...cleared to land behind the 757. (AF 1 didn't come up with Approach on 119.3 at all...straight to Tower)

(ref below): Not a problem at all BK217, the more the merrier....but what is 118.675? I don't know that freq.
Okay...Mike provided the answer...TRACON VHF for Dulles area which I don't program or monitor. Thanks Mike.

 

[BK217]

Af1

1957 Air Force 1 descending with info "YANKEE" at Andrews <118.675>
2000 AF1 cleared down to 1500 <118.675>
2003 AF1 switching to 119.5 <118.675>

Didn't mean to cut in on your log Tin ...I just set down here and heard the BIG DOG......
Any idea what the 118.675 freq is ??? I have it in a MIL AIR bank on the scanner.
Thanks Mike !

 

[ka3jjz]

118.675 is a Potomac TRACON/Dulles freq, LURAY sector, per the Wiki

73s Mike

 

[TinEar]

That explains it Mike. Thank you. I don't program the VHF TRACON freqs (other than BWI where I can hear the ground stations) so wasn't familiar with that one. I did a quick check to see if it was TRACON DCA area and left it at that....didn't do IAD.

 

[CitationJet]

09/26/2006

So for this morning...not much.

1323Z 118.950 Potomac DEP - N1 (G4 N1 FAA) - deps DCA dir LDN to 17000' QSY 120.65.
1330Z 119.300 Potomac APP - Flightcheck 67 (B300 N67 FAA) - checking rwy 1L @ ADW.

1413Z 118.400 Andrews AFB TWR - PAT 184 () - vis. to rwy 1L.

1525Z 118.950 Potomac DEP - BULLDOG 1 (flight of four A-10s per Potomac Controller - 354th FS Davis-Monthan AFB) - departing ADW to 4000' initial alt. QSY 118.675.

 

[TinEar]

Concur...slow morning. However, late 1000 hour-early 1100 hour, there are some F-16s from the NJ-ANG at Atlantic City up on their tac freqs 138.425 and 138.875 and just refueled on 288.0 (primary freq for that unknown track off our coast that runs from Pax to W-107). They sound like they're up in W-107.
VHF has a very high noise level here this morning...a buzzing type noise.

1109: U/I Langley aircraft entering W-386 with Giant Killer on 249.8 (too weak/noisy to get much other than his entry area)
1110: There is refueling activity on 228.0 (primary for AR-777) and again weak and noisy freq.
1114: FLIGHT CHECK 67 with Atlantic City Approach 124.6
1125: There is a flight of four fighters operating on tac 138.1. Haven't heard a callsign from them yet. This is V-12 preset for NJ-ANG so it might be them....or not. They do sound like F-16s though.
1135: Sounded like callsign WARDOG but is probably BULLDOG from the fighters on 138.1 to match the fighters in Tony's message leaving Andrews.
1137: "An hour and fifty minutes to get there," reported by one of the guys on 138.1 so this is a cross country flight, not a local flight.
They must be working ARTCC on VHF because I haven't heard a peep on UHF from them....and that would also go along with Tony's catch on 118.95 for TRACON rather than a UHF freq.
1145: And now a flight of four fighters on tac 142.7. These may be the same guys that were on 138.1. Didn't hear a reference to change freqs but they might have done that coming off an ARTCC freq.
1148: Fighters back on 138.1 to report "an hour and a half" -- probably reference to flight time remaining. This makes it look like the 142.7 contains a different group. Haven't heard anything further there - just an ops check by the four of them one time.
Dont' know where that group on 138.1 is going but it can't be back to Davis Monthan AFB Arizona in an hour and 50 minutes. They still sound more like F-16s to me than A-10s but callsign BULLDOG does equate to Davis Monthan A-10s in my database if that callsign is correct and there is no reason to doubt it is.
No matter what I thought I heard or how they sound to me, Tony's catch of the TRACON controller identifying the flight as four A-10s removes all doubt about the aircraft type.
1150: Have probable SPIDER, flight of two, (F-16 ND-ANG Fargo - deployed to Langley) operating on 138.0

1200: Have U/I F-22A activity with Norfolk TRACON 370.925 complaining about runway closing at Langley...say they have limited time to hold before having to divert to Oceana.
1201: Fighters on 138.0 mention being over Cape Charles and also talking about runway shutdown that will last until 50 after the hour....couple of minutes later mention something about Oceana also.
1208: VANDAL 01 flight (Langley) descending with Norfolk TRACON 370.925 (not strong enough signal to tell if it's F-15 or F-22A)
1209: SPIDERs still chatting on 138.0 but now blocked by noise on freq.

Zulu times used in NOTAMs...subtract four hours for local times
Andrews: AIR TERMINAL RAMP FREEZE 26 SEP 21:45 UNTIL 26 SEP 22:15
Langley: AEROBATICS WILL TAKE PLACE 15,000 FT MSL AND BELOW WITHIN 5NM RADIUS OF LFI TACAN. AVOIDANCE ADVISED. 27 SEP 16:45 UNTIL 27 SEP 17:15