Mark said:
FLYERS rtb Philly appch 291.700 heard previously on 397.900 Lehigh Valley FLYER
announced possible mid-air collision involving FLYER 4.
Mark
Wow! That's a great catch Mark. Did it sound like a "touch 'em and say you're sorry" mid-air or did it sound like a crash?
[Nevermind...answered in your log]
1117: Warren Grove Range active...283.1 (Possibly CT-ANG A-10s - would match the 138.525 interflight from earlier)
1120: U/I aircraft with Willow Grove Ops...343.0 (FLYER probably per Mark's log above)
I don't have good reception on that freq today and am not hearing any interflight from them.
Extremely high noise level on the MilAir bands today.
1127: TESTER 04 (USN Test Pilot School, Patuxent River NAS) with BayWatch...354.8
1133: DRAGON 74 (Langley F-15) to Giant Killer to announce RTB...249.8
1136: BLACKJACK 1 (CG HH65) with HUNTRESS...chasing a target...it's a high wing Cessna 1000 feet above BLACKJACK...139.7
1138: BLACKJACK 1 tells HUNTRESS he doesn't think he can catch the target...says he was way below him when they started...he's trying to catch up now...139.7
1139: BRAVE F-16s scrambled from Andrews...passing through 1000 feet...139.7
1140: BRAVE 61 tells 62 to stay in 2 mile trail...139.7
1140: BRAVE 61 says his mission is to headbutt the target south...139.7
1140: BRAVE 61 tells HUNTRESS to have BLACKJACK stay above the TOI, BRAVE will stay below...139.7
1141: BRAVE with TRACON...says he has the target 5.5 miles off his nose...348.725
1141: BRAVE 61 says he has negative radar contact...then reports tally visual...same from 62....61 is tally both the TOI and BLACKJACK....heading 290 degrees, 5500 feet...139.7
1142: BLACKJACK 1 to TOI on Guard 121.5...trying to make contact to follow (female on BJ 1)
1143: BRAVE 1 asking HUNTRESS where they should escort the TOI to...139.7
1143: BLACKJACK 1 (male now) tells HUNTRESS they have comms with N65516 (best I could do on the registration)....121.5
1144: BLACKJACK 1 tells HUNTRESS the TOI is transiting at course 300...report they've estabablished contact with the target....139.7
1145: BLACKJACK 1 and the TOI talking on Guard...121.5...target is complying with BJ's demands and sounds very nervous (wouldn't you?)...121.5
1146: BLACKJACK 1 and BRAVE 61 both talking to HUNTRESS...TOI is heading south at this time and is following BLACKJACK...139.7
1146: TOI tells BLACKJACK he's following him...wants to know where they're taking him...121.5
1146: BJ says target was heading for Manasas...139.7
Noise level prevents me from hearing HUNTRESS...he seems loud enough to be heard otherwise.
1148: BJ 1 tells N56515 (??) he's escorting him to Manasas Airport....TOI says he's complying...121.5
1149: BRAVE 61 tells TRACON that BLACKJACK is escorting the target to Manasas and HUNTRESS wants them to go to the Guard Dog CAP...348.725
1150: BRAVE 61/62 have broken off from the engagement and are climbing to FL 200...348.725
1151: BLACKJACK 1 and the TOI still talking on Guard but are getting weak as they descend into Manasas...121.5
1151: BRAVE 61/62 handed off to Potomac and check in...350.25
1152: BRAVE 61 to HUNTRESS and he updates him on status....61 says they're burning off some gas for now and will let him know when they leave Guard Dog...139.7
1153: SAM interflight freq active...136.725 (Proving they haven't moved it all to 303.0)
1153: BRAVE 61/62 back with Potomac...says 61 and 62 are going to split up so needs a separate squawk for 62....350.25
1154: BLACKJACK 1 and TOI still talking on Guard freq but too weak...121.5
1154: I do believe this was all part of Falcon Virgo excercise that was scheduled for tonight and into the early morning hours....now have Potomac talking to CAP Flight 2516 on Guard freq 121.5 asking him if he wants to return to Davison...wants him to contact him on 118.95 to state his intentions. This has got to be the same aircraft that was intercepted based on similarity of tail numbers. The Potomac ground station that just contacted him was very loud and clear (obviously transmitting from BWI) and I heard the registration clearly for the first time.
1156: BRAVE 61 tells HUNTRESS they'll stay up until it's over...139.7
Although the exercise was scheduled for tonight, I think they simply pulled a fast one on the fighters and BLACKJACK helo by sending them out early. The TOI pilot sure played his part well...a good actor sounding all nervous and frightened.
1200: BRAVE 61 and 62 are now shadowing another target...139.7 (Breathe easier now knowing it's part of the exercise.)
1200: BRAVE has a TOI at 10 miles at 10,000 feet tracking 010...139.7
1202: BRAVE 61/62 terminate this intercept and take new positions in the CAP area...139.7
1203: BRAVE 61 tells 62 he's lower on gas than 62...so....when they finish, 61 will land first and 62 will hold out at Nottingham....139.7
1205: BRAVE 62 in the south playing Blue, 61 in the north at 25,000 feet playing red force...fight's on...139.7
I believe there was only one Coast Guard helo up - BLACKJACK 1 - even though there were two speakers, a male and a female, spouting orders to the TOI and to HUNTRESS.
1207: BRAVEs handed off to Potomac TRACON...269.5...they establish contact there
1208: BRAVE 61/62 perform the intercept on each other...ask for type and tail and go through the steps...ID as single Fox-16...tail is DC 85-480....and off they go into north/south positions again...139.7
These guys sure had me fooled when they scrambled. I knew about the exercise tonight but the time sure didn't match and they sounded like they were doing it for real rather than the unemotional voices they usually use in an exercise. The good thing is that we were able to catch the BRAVEs right from the time they got off the deck and BLACKJACK 1 as soon as he was high enough to report on the target.
1212: BRAVE 61 calls CAPITOL back at Andrews and tells him to let him know when the exercise is over...139.7
1213: BRAVE 61/62 setting up for another intercept...62 will be red this time, 61 is blue....139.7
1216: BRAVE 61/62 exercise this time calls for intercepted aircraft to be NORDO (no radio)...139.7
1217: BRAVE 61 mentions receiving text (message)...62 acknowledges...139.7
1218: BRAVE 61 says pilot (of intercepted aircraft) is flashing a sign at him...139.7 (I can only imagine what the flash was!)
1218: Finished with that one...taking up north/south positions again (still in Guard Dog track area)....139.7
1219: BRAVE 61 calling Potomac to say in 5-10 minutes they'll start coordinating their approach to Andrews...say again they'll get together as far as Nottingham, 61 will go in to land and 62 will hold...350.25
1221: BRAVE 61 tells Potomac they'll come out of Guard Dog as a flight, go to Nottingham where 61 will drop off 62...350.25
1221: BRAVE 61/62 ready for another intercept...fight's on...139.7
1223: BRAVE 62 makes the intercept...gives time as 1723, authentication Tango Mike...61 asks for a repeat and 62 tells him the authentication was his initials...139.7
1226: BRAVE 61 calls HUNTRESS...says nevermind...then gives tail on his intercepted aircraft (BRAVE 62) as DC 85-465....end the exercise...139.7
1227: BRAVE 61 to Potomac to say they're ending their mission...350.25
1227: BRAVEs report cameras off...139.7....BRAVE 61 tells HUNTRESS about 61 landing, 62 holding at Nottingham...fuel aboard 61 is 2800 pounds and he's Code 1...139.7
1228: BRAVE 62 reports Code 2 for GPS and has 4500 pounds of fuel remaining...139.7
1228: BRAVE 61 reports descending to 4000 feet....250.25
1228: BRAVE 61 tells CAPITOL he received text....139.7
1229: BRAVE 61 flight reports direct Nottingham...350.25
1229: BRAVE 61 tells Potomac he's at 15,000 expediting to 11000 and now cleared to 5000...want a UHF freq and gets it...350.25
1230: BRAVE 61 shows up on that UHF freq and checks in and goes through the entire routine of how 61 will land, 62 will stay at Nottingham, etc...270.275
1231: BRAVE 61 being vectored toward Andrews....62 says he'll maintain 4000 feet....61 wants overhead to runway 1R...270.275
1232: BRAVE 62 descending to 3000 feet and holding at Nottingham as published...270.275
1232: BRAVE 61 to Andrews Tower...reports 6 miles south on initial to runway 1R...349.0 (had to repeat that several times...can't make contact with Tower)
1233: BRAVE 61 tries VHF for ADW Twr...still no contact...118.4
1234: BRAVE 61 back to UHF with Tower and makes contact this time...heading for 1R...349.0
1237: BRAVE 62 reporting in place at Nottingham...270.275
1239: BRAVE 62 talking to either CAPITOL or HUNTRESS but is down in the hash and difficult to copy...139.7
I don't think I've ever heard the noise level as high as it has been for the past several days on the MilAir VHF band. It's awful! All through the earlier intercept I could hear HUNTRESS talking but couldn't copy a word of it due to the noise. He was loud enough to be clearly copiable under normal conditions. The Falcon Virgo 07-04 exercise that was posted for tonight should probably still come off as planned. There should be the same players we just heard along with a C-38 from Andrews according to the press release. Here's part of the notice....
Exercise Falcon Virgo 07-04 is designed to test NORAD's intercept and identification operations. Civil Air Patrol aircraft, C-38s, and US Coast Guard HH-65 helicopters will participate in the exercise.
Residents in the area can expect flights to occur during the late night and early morning hours.
1245: BRAVE 62 tells Potomac he's ready to proceed into Andrews for an ILS to runway 1R...270.275
1246: BRAVE 62 cleared by Potomac to the approach...270.275
1249: BRAVE 62 to Andrews Tower...349.0
1251: BRAVE 62 reports gear down as he prepares to put himself on the deck at Andrews...349.0
1300: Break time...fingers worn to the bone.
Ref below: Thanks Paul. See log at 1216 for definition of NORDO (no radio). If 65516 was correct, then I copied it correctly the first time I logged it. I'm not sure whether I screwed it up the second time or if the interceptor reported it wrong. The designator as CAP Flight 2516 was probably correct too.
Seeing your registration info to the Civil Air Patrol leaves no doubt that's correct - 65516. I just didn't have time to look it up while listening/logging. Thanks again.
Just remembered...we had NORDO used during this past CAP too with the PITMAN fighters. One of them couldn't be reached on the radio. Flight leader told HUNTRESS his wingman was NORDO, met up with him and determined a cord had come loose on his radio.
