A10s

[Lakesrider]

Miht be early arrivals or doing some early recon for the airshow down at Pease. Might just be looking for those Shark-Bear...Bear-Shark thingy-madinghys....

[TomC]

perhaps a training mission? we got buzzed by a couple while a Polar Caves a few years ago..

[Sue Doe-Nym]

Probably just a pair of Wart Hogs doing recon for Forum Fest.

[MarkinNH]

They could merely be passing through or performing some training manuvers. Someone told me a few years back that they like to practice and train in this area due to the mountains and the way the air currents flow. I don't know how true that is or if there is any truth to it at all.
A couple of years ago I was at a house up on the top of Red Hill and they were doing some low level training. For whatever their reason,they were dropping flares of some kind as they were fling around overhead. It was quite interesting to watch.

[autofinder]

A10's out of Westfield Ma, Barnes Air National gaurd unit. Train with 157th Air refueling wing out of Pease. Simulated Air strike passes over us , kind of just for fun. Real training mission is air refueling with KC-135R out of Pease.
Sometimes if clear you can see them refueling. Best shot weekends. Have training misson every year.

[sky_nh]

Sounds like Yankee One MOA was hot.

[Lakegeezer]

Originally Posted by sky_nh

Sounds like Yankee One MOA was hot.

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.

[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!

[TOAD]

Originally Posted by autofinder

A10's out of Westfield Ma, Barnes Air National gaurd unit. Train with 157th Air refueling wing out of Pease. Simulated Air strike passes over us , kind of just for fun. Real training mission is air refueling with KC-135R out of Pease.
Sometimes if clear you can see them refueling. Best shot weekends. Have training misson every year.

Barnes no longer has the A-10. They were replaced a couple of years ago with F-16's. They might have been out of the Connecticut Air Guard at Bradley but I'm not sure if they even have them any more.

[jmen24]

They fly out of Fort Drum, in upstate NY. Home to the 10th Mountain Division.

They fly in over my office in New London once a week.

A-10's are an aircraft used by the Army as tank busters and bunker busters.

Spend some time mid-week up around Newfound lake, Tenney Mountain and any other peak in that area if you really want a show. They dogfight in and around the peaks and valleys, it is one of the coolest things I have been able to see, that close up. They were there almost every week of a 3 month condo renovation on Tenney Mountain.

[VitaBene]

Originally Posted by MarkinNH

They could merely be passing through or performing some training manuvers. Someone told me a few years back that they like to practice and train in this area due to the mountains and the way the air currents flow. I don't know how true that is or if there is any truth to it at all.
A couple of years ago I was at a house up on the top of Red Hill and they were doing some low level training. For whatever their reason,they were dropping flares of some kind as they were fling around overhead. It was quite interesting to watch.

My house looks at Red Hill and they passed by between it and Red Hill at probably 300 feet- it was pretty awesome. I took a pic on their return over Berry Pond and will try to post it later. Probably scared the bejesus out of some private pilot coming out of Mboro Airport!

[Killevippen]

I was outside doing some end-of-summer maintenance work and could literally "feel" the plane coming. I remembered feeling, hearing, then seeing something similar a few years back so I ran to my deck to see if I might get a look. I live on the northern part of the lake, very close to M'boro airport, so watching planes approach is but one of the many occasional attractions we get each summer. Amazingly, the A10 (as I now know thanks to these posts) went directly over my house, maybe 300 feet or so above, heading SE. I could feel the inside of my chest vibrate as it flew over. My 5-year old ran out with a startled, but definitely excited "What's that?!!!?." I told him some type of military plane, "and maybe if we're lucky it'll pass by again" of course knowing that there was probably no chance.

So I went back to my work (sadly, attaching the 2" ball to my truck to do you-know-what in couple of weeks), when I got that sense that it was heading back my way. So again I ran to the deck and again it flew over, just slightly between my house and the woods heading N -- was it even lower this time? My little guy was very excited, though I'm not sure he actually saw it. This began a good thirty minutes of "what type of plane is that", "how do people build those plans", "is that plane faster than the plane that takes us to Philadelphia" .... and so on. It's great to be 5!

As for my thoughts, having just finished reading Junger's War, it did make me think about what it must be like hearing those planes, and the like, overhead when they are there for business. Definitely glad I can only imagine, and even more thankful for those who are serving our country and face the real prospect every day.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by MarkinNH

They could merely be passing through or performing some training manuvers. Someone told me a few years back that they like to practice and train in this area due to the mountains and the way the air currents flow. I don't know how true that is or if there is any truth to it at all.
A couple of years ago I was at a house up on the top of Red Hill and they were doing some low level training. For whatever their reason,they were dropping flares of some kind as they were fling around overhead. It was quite interesting to watch.

I was on the back of my boat in Center Harbor that year. They stayed in the area for a while shooting the flares and buzzing back and forth. really cool show they put on that day

[LIforrelaxin]

It was an impressive pass on Sat. There where some people out hoping for a second pass on Sunday, unfortunately I don't think it happened. Although I understand the need for these exercises, I sure the hell wish there was a bit more information on when they where going to happen.... My neck really hurts after doing such a hard a quick double take as they went by....

[NoBozo]

"Condor 1 MOA" covers western Maine. I was doing a checkride with a local pilot a few years ago at Rangley Lake, Maine. He commented that it's always a good idea to call that special number, before "going up", just to see if the Military is doing anything today in the MOA.

Not uncommon to see a Cruise Missle flying over. Imagine having a Cruise Missle fly past your Cessna while you are oblivious, and just minding your own business. Take a picture Honey... NB

[patman]

A few years ago we were at the top of Mt. Lafayette, and a group of A10's flew through...BELOW us. It was interesting looking down and seeing the top of the planes as they flew by. They made a few loops of the nearby peaks, then headed off. Quite a sight.

[PaulH]

We saw two A10s fly overhead at about 10:15 Saturday morning while we were loading the suitcases into our plane for the trip home from Moultonboro Airport. They appeared to be well above the trafic pattern altitude and posed no conflicts for anyone.

Paul

[SIKSUKR]

Originally Posted by patman

A few years ago we were at the top of Mt. Lafayette, and a group of A10's flew through...BELOW us. It was interesting looking down and seeing the top of the planes as they flew by. They made a few loops of the nearby peaks, then headed off. Quite a sight.

We see that quite often from across the road while skiing at Cannon.Something to see when they fly right up through Franconia Notch below you.