Sticky Thread for MilAir

[n3bxv]

Reach 400 calling Andrews/Sam Command with "emergency", on <378.1> AND of course No response!

Finally reaches a SAM Aircraft somewhere and asks them to pass message to Command Post - KC-135 inbound with emergency to KADW(originally used call "Turbo" instead of Reach)

Reach 400 Heavy with Potomac TRACON 124.55... Now with approach 128.35 checking in "Reach 400 Emergency"..

1908 finally gets a hold of Command post on 378.1, "confirm medical standing by? " T
They're at 3000 for 2000 on approach and still can't talk reliably with the CP!

Now to Andrews Tower 118.4 and too hard to hear for me...

 

[Mark]

Yes caught that here also,SAm Command still has no good ears.Should be able to recieve half hour out calls but more like 15 minutes tops.

This is only TURBO listing I have for KC-135
TURBO KC135 AMC 384 ARS/22 ARW MCCONNELL AFB KS

 

[TinEar]

This has sure been an interesting day for MilAir with lots of different and new things popping up. It also resulted in new freqs to add to the rotation and little space to cram them into.

Only been fired up for a minute or two but am hearing Andrews F-16s (RAVAGE) down at Pax and F-15 flights into Giant Killer's area (TRAP and others) along with some flights on the ZDC UHF freqs.

1931:HOOPER 91 flight (F-15 Langley) into GK's area on «249.8». Reports as a two ship.
1933: RACK 71 flight (F-15 Langley) into GK's area on «249.8» Will be MARSA with HOOPER flight, will use reduced lighting and release flares. RACK is switching to 389.1 for ops.
1935: RAVAGE flight on 264.55 at Pax.
1941: STEEL 72 mentions 288.0 as boom and then mentions 264.55 in some context that I didn't understand. «305.2» That 288.0 freq has been used during several exercises at Pax for a boom freq.
1955: VELCRO 91 into GK's area on «233.7»
1957: RAVAGE flight with STEEL 72 for refueling on «288.0»
2000: RAVAGE 1 tail 85-509 will take 4500 pounds of fuel and RAVAGE 2 tail 85-481 will take 3500 pounds. RAVAGE mentions two aircraft were cancelled.
2003: GAUCHO flight of F-15s from Langley announce RTB to GK on «233.7»
2005: DRAGNET E3C giving Giant Killer a five minute notice to completion in W-386 area. «249.8»
2024: BULLY flight now preparing to refuel with STEEL 72 on «288.0» BULLY 1 tail 85-577 to take 2,000 pounds and BULLY 2 tail 85-476 will take 4,000 pounds of fuel. BULLY 2 is going to the boom first. Haven't mentioned that BULLY is tac 139.15.
2035: STEEL 72 KC-135R from the PA-ANG finishes refueling the fighters and goes to Pax Approach on 305.2 to get his clearance back to Pittsburgh.
2042: MICRO 21 flight of three F-15s from Langley RTB with GK on «249.8» Leaving FL 300 for 14,000. (They sure have been working out these Langley F-15s recently.)
2054: STOMP 11 flight (F-15 Langley) into W-386 w/GK on «249.8»

(Ref below): Thanks for the article Chuck. "Burgess" was the big WOW for me. I heard that several times in traffic during that exercise and never could pull it out. The Vienna and Deale sites were no problem but Burgess stumped me every time. It was pretty obvious the NJ guys were training for a deployment since they flew day and night for weeks.

 

[n3bxv]

Alan, here's an article on the Big NJ/MD/DC ANG exercise that you listened to earlier this year --
http://www.dcmilitary.com/navy/tester/11_12/local_news/40327-1.html

281.4 Steel 72(KC-135, PA ANG, Pittsburg) inbound into R-4008, change to <305.2> Pax approach/advisory checking in to refuel 3 sets of F-16s(the DC ANG i'm sure!)
DC ANG f-16s Ravage and Bully, using UHF 264.55(typo before), A/A 143.6
?288.0? as refuel freq for Steel 72, looking for three flights of F-16s, Ravage, Bully and Angry...

Steel Refueling Ravage on Boom 288.0....

Taking a break from log to watch Survivor..

 

[Mark]

Good article N3. Figured after hearing that intense drilling someone would be deploying soon and looks like the 177th Jersey Devils are headed over.Wish them Good Luck!
I'll keep ear out for their departure soon..

Mark

 

[n3bxv]

Did you catch the Push Victor/Orange -1 = 139.9 and Victor/Orange 5 = 143.6.... for Ravage

 

[TinEar]

Nope, sure didn't Chuck. This afternoon when they went to Pax they used "Blue" for the freqs but the button numbers were all as normal as they are for the "Orange" you listed.

 

[ka3jjz]

Some stuff from my files on a few freqs mentioned in the last couple of threads... 265.4 - if it was a typo, it came up as a good freq - according to the Dec MT Milcom, that frequency is part of the NORAD Southeast SOCC freq plan. 281.6 belongs to the Western SOCC. It sounds like there's some swapping going on. (Boy, could Larry have printed that freq list any smaller? Even with my new glasses, it's a tough read...)

288.0 is in my history files as AR777 ops secondary both GK and Huntress

 

[TinEar]

No typo Mike. They had Red and Blue air freqs of 281.6 and 265.4 with HUNTRESS for the exercise with the B-52s. There must have been at least 20 F-15s at any given time in the air as they ganged up on the CHILL B-52s playing the role of an invading bomber force. The senior F-15 pilot was the flight leader of the HARP flight and assigned those freqs to the first two fighter waves to reach the work area just as it all began. It turned out to be one of the most interesting exercises I've heard in this area and certainly involved more aircraft at any one time than I've copied in the past. Sure was a busy MilAir day.

 

[DPD1]

Just a little call confirmation... Had Rocco 72 pass through today on the way to Travis. Gave tail 57-1431, which is supposedly 141st ARS. I'd only seen the Rocco call attached to 108th wing before, so maybe that's the SQ for that call.

Dave
http://www.dpdproductions.com
- Custom Scanner, MURS, GMRS, & Ham Antennas -

 

[BMT]

I have the complete list of NORAD freqs programmed in one scanner. They have been known to use other SOCC freqs here in FL.

I will program any freq in a heart beat just to see if it's active in FL. Reminds me when Customs 282.425 was published in MT. We used to have a monthly get together in Orlando and i memtioned 282.425, guy told me I wouldn't hear anything as that was a TX freq. Month later the same guy couldn't shut up about what he was hearing on the freq.

BMT

 

[TinEar]

It has been a rather quiet MilAir day. This morning there was an A-10 flight from Martin State in the 1100 hour along with an A-10 flight, probably from the CT-ANG Bradley on the ZNY freqs, over to Warren Grove Range 283.1 and on tac 139.9. Around noon there was a flight of three TEAM KC-10A tankers from McGuire - TEAM 51/52/54. 51 and 54 were working together off the coast and with ZDC Casino 127.7, ZDC-Sea Isle 133.125 and ZDC-Cape Charles 132.55. TEAM 52 was working the same freqs and I suspect refueled the fighters at Warren Grove. Those TEAM tankers also had considerable amounts of chat on the interplane 139.875 freq. About 1245 they announced direct McGuire while with ZDC-Casino.

Around 1400, three flights of F-16s from Andrews - all two ship flights - went down to Pax Range for the same exercise they've been running the past few days with the GAMMA RAY FAC. GUNNY/RAVAGE/ANGRY. Their freq progressions were tac (143.6/139.15/143.15) to Reagan TRACON 348.725, ZDC-Calvert 281.4, Pax Approach 305.2 and finally to BayWatch 256.5 for their work. Looks like they're finishing up shortly after 1500 and begin contacting SOF 139.9 with mission results, etc. Then it's over to TRACON on 270.275 for Andrews approach to the runway and to 349.0 with Tower for landing. Apparently, there was no refueling scheduled during this portion of the exercise.

Additionally, there are flights of F-16s from the VA-ANG Richmond up early in the 1400 hour on tac 141.875 and 141.6.

Unknown fighters at the same time on 138.75.
At 1419, a SMOKE 41 flight entered GIant Killer's area on 249.8 at FL 240 and asked about PACK 11, his KC-135. (PACK=KC-135R from the 133rd ARS NH-ANG Pease). The only ID I have for SMOKE is F/A-18s from out on the West Coast but I don't think that's who I'm hearing.

1429 there is a SLAM 51 flight (F-16 VA-ANG Richmond) into GK's area on 249.8 that says they'll be MARSA with a BASH flight (BASH=VA-ANG F-16)
141.625 tac active at this time also...turns out to be SLAM flight
141.875 tac is BASH flight.
SLAM flight indicates to GK they'll be refueling from PACK 11 also.

The Andrews Command Post/SAM Command 378.1 frequency is still crappy (technical term) today. Some aircraft are making contact when close in while others can't make contact within a minute or two after takeoff or almost in the pattern when arriving. They take their frustration to the 141.55 freq. Sooner or later they're going to fix this thing. They could grab a $75 commercial antenna off the shelf and solve it but instead will spend $5000 for a military grade antenna and all the headaches that go along with government procurement procedures.

 

[freqhopping]

I found an interesting video. Wonder what it's like to be the target of a scramble?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1460232537409592658&q=vfr&pl=true

 

[TinEar]

Very nice video. It's kind of different though to see A-10s working a scramble on an ADIZ violator rather than air combat fighters. Notice how he showed off a bit after dropping the series of flares and then did a half dozen rolls in front of the bad guy. You can hear the pilot or passenger in the plane talking but it sounded more like they were watching an air show rather than being the target of the A-10. Could they really be that dense? I couldn't get much of their conversation though. Thanks for the link Travis.

 

[TinEar]

I notice some changes to the format for the threads today. The most important is that the ability to edit posts has been removed. Not sure yet if this was meant to be or if it's a mistake during the writing of the new format. However, if it stands, there will be no more logging of MilAir during the day. It's unreasonable to provide a new message for each item that appears.

At about 1240, there is a HOOK 33 (EA-6B, VMAQ-4 MCAS Cherry Point) that has been calling SAM Command on 378.1 over and over again for better than 10 minutes and, of course, is not heard. He hasn't gone over to 141.55 yet.
There is also an OMAHA 4 Customs aircraft up in contact with THOR on 282.425.
And at 1240 there is an ANVIL 35 (C-130H, 130th AS, WV-ANG Charleston) also calling SAM Command on 378.1 and he gets no better results than anyone else. He continues to call with no joy and finally goes to 141.55 at 1250 but gets no reply there either. By 1255 he's back to trying 378.1. You know the result of that.

(Now I'm confused...all earlier posts had the edit capability removed but this message allowed this edit. Perhaps the edit function is only good for a few minutes. Hell, I don't know.)

 

[freqhopping]

A UH-1 with a red cross on the front just flew by. But I never heard him talk to IAD or DCA. No comms where they should be, really odd.

Someone with a heavy Spanish accent is calling SAM CP. Callsign is SHOCK-26.

At 1402 he called dispatch on 372.2 and IDed himself as a C-130, tail # 63-7853, no pax or cargo. Then he went back to calling SAM CP on 378.1.


"63-7853 assigned to the 327th Airlift Squadron flying by the Matterhorn in 1999"
http://www.spectrumwd.com/c130/image2/c130_796.jpg

The 327th AS is at Willow Grove, PA.

 

[TinEar]

Around 1540 there are a couple of VA-ANG F-16 tac freqs active - 141.6 and 142.175.

 

[n3bxv]

Very nice video. It's kind of different though to see A-10s working a scramble on an ADIZ violator rather than air combat fighters. Notice how he showed off a bit after dropping the series of flares and then did a half dozen rolls in front of the bad guy. You can hear the pilot or passenger in the plane talking but it sounded more like they were watching an air show rather than being the target of the A-10. Could they really be that dense? I couldn't get much of their conversation though. Thanks for the link Travis.

Alan,
If you read the text about the video(over to the right on the google video page) it explains what happened. The private aircraft was in a MOA when the fighters were cleared by ATC to enter the Area. The private pilot offered himself up to the A-10s as a target for the "intercept" so that's why they're enjoying it so much.....

{edit to add and test edit feature} Did anyone hear anything from the Chinook thats been flying around Anne Arundel County yesterday and today? I saw him a couple times but have been away from the radios...

 

[TinEar]

Oh! <said sheepishly>

I wanted to just say, "Oh," but the program demands at least 10 characters in a message.

I heard a helo flying around but never went outside to look for it and wasn't monitoring the county or BWI to be able to hear the traffic.

[Edit] Chuck, when I made the earlier comment about the edit function, the button wasn't even there at the bottom of the messages. It's back.

 

[n3bxv]

A UH-1 with a red cross on the front just flew by. But I never heard him talk to IAD or DCA. No comms where they should be, really odd.

Found this on another list, a log from Friday, it's probably related --

'Guard 678,' a Huey with a red cross symbol up and down the river (talking about the Potomac)
and
"GUARD 21678 working Davison GCA for the transition passing his
serial as 73-21678, with the 121st MedCo/DC ArNG