A10s

[LIforrelaxin]

Originally Posted by Lakegeezer

I stopped by the Moultonborough airport this morning to check the sectional. MOA Yankee 1 does not extend into the area the A10's were flying. They are sure fun to watch, but perhaps the pilot was having a bit of a joy ride in illegal territory, especially if below 500 feet or over 180 mph.

They where not below 500 feet that I would feel fairly confident in.... I watched them come in and out of my view as we where in the NWZ by trexlers.... I could always see blue between the horizon and the planes... my guess is that they where in the 1500 -- 2000 ft elevation ..... as for speed...
The 180 mph, is not really realistic for a wart hog, after doing so looking around it looks like they can slow down to around 200mph for short periods of time but nominal cruise speed is 300+ mph.... with a max speed of 500+ mph....

[ApS]

One way to estimate height is by a white-pine tree along the shore, below the object. A mature white pine will be about 100' tall.

When I last saw A-10 "Warthogs" over Long Island, they may have been flying into a strong headwind. They appeared to hover in the air, but making sideways corrections of 20 or 30 feet in a split second. Very impressive.

Also seen over Center Harbor in 2008.

This is what they look like as one could see it from below:

[PHDIII]

Originally Posted by LIforrelaxin

They where not below 500 feet that I would feel fairly confident in.... I watched them come in and out of my view as we where in the NWZ by trexlers.... I could always see blue between the horizon and the planes... my guess is that they where in the 1500 -- 2000 ft elevation ..... as for speed...
The 180 mph, is not really realistic for a wart hog, after doing so looking around it looks like they can slow down to around 200mph for short periods of time but nominal cruise speed is 300+ mph.... with a max speed of 500+ mph....

We live about 1 mile South of Trexlers on the East side of LI. When they passed our place the second time they were, IMO, below min. altitude since I saw them at such a low angle from my deck which is about 160' above the lake. I'm thinking 300-400'. Regardless, with so much uninhabited terrain just minutes North I'm not sure they should be making low passes where there are so many people. I suspect if their Wing Commander learned of this, they'd have some 'splaining to do.

Having said this, I remain a huge supporter of our military. With our son, an Army Capt., deploying to Afg'stan next month my daily prayer for all our military members is to: "Be with them, Guide them, Keep them safe..."

[NoBozo]

Originally Posted by LIforrelaxin

The 180 mph, is not really realistic for a wart hog, after doing so looking around it looks like they can slow down to around 200mph for short periods of time but nominal cruise speed is 300+ mph.... with a max speed of 500+ mph....

Actually, the A-10 can slow down to 130 mph or so.. "Clean"...Clean means without deploying flaps. With flaps deployed for landing.. OR other Slow Flight the Min Speed will be lower. The weight of Fuel and Armament on board is a BIG factor. Cruise speed is about 335.... and Max "DO NOT EXCEED" is 450.

AGAIN: Numbers will vary according to WEIGHT...ie..Fuel and Armament on board at the time.

As a pilot and avaition observer, I have noticed A-10s appear to almost Hover...hanging on the thrust of the engines...while doing turns... at speeds not much above what a Cessna would be doing. NB

EDIT: A older Cessna 172 will cruise at 105..and Stall at 38 or so.

[WeirsGuard]

Maybe some of you pilots out there can correct a former KC-135 Nav on this, but as I wrote in reply to the post on the C-130's, under VFR rules I remember being able to go down to 500' over unpopulated areas and 1500' over populated areas. I remember this from having done "flybys" in our Tanker for a number of airshows. Over water; low population, you can go right down to just above the water. Circumstances and airspace restrictions come into play, but as a general rule, military aircraft are certainly allowed to go pretty low. I bet those low flying A-10's are fully complying with the rules. To someone on the ground it may seem like they are just playing - and you're probably right - but it is all legal and it may just be the Squadron Commander yankin' and bankn' down low.

As an aside, the Warthog sure is slow. Dragging them across the Atlantic on a deployment seemed to take twice as long as when we refueled the go-fast jets. It was amazing how quickly those fighter pilots became your best friend over the middle of the pond when you have all the gas!