Jets Flying Overhead

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Originally Posted by GTO

I believe there is a base in Vermont that they fly out of. The past couple of weeks we have seen 3 helicopters flying over, a large cargo plane flying very low and heard ( but could not find them in the sky) one of the jets flying around. VERY LOUD. A few years ago I watched 2 flying over the lake doing maneuvers and shooting flares at each other.

Yes. We were in VT the last week of July for vacation. We go every year to Smugglers Notch and this year for the first time we heard them flying over head for days. But we were damned if we could see them!

[mowtorman]

Are flying regularly over Mt. Mansfield and the Worcester Range. Someone in the VT Air National Guard told me a regular flight for them is over the Green and White Mountains to Bangor. As a guard member you could sign up to take a vacant back seat if you want to on the F-16s. He said it was an absolute thrill with some high g maneuvers and he was sick almost the whole ride haha. I've seen the F-35s on the runway and take off but have not spotted one over the mountains even though they are much louder than the F-16s. They are way ahead of their sound on a perfectly clear day should be able to see one.

[Barney Bear]

At what elevation do the jets fly in this area? 🐻

[mowtorman]

The air guard friend said the pilot buzzed near the Mt. Washington Observatory just for kicks and did one barrel roll just because he knew my friend was struggling don't mess with these guys !! I took my 3 little kids (at the time) to the VT Air Guard family (3,5, and7) open house. They said there was a mockup of an F-16 on public display and one of the airmen pointed at some hangars. I walked down with the kids to an open hangar with one F-16 with a tall ladder to the cockpit (These things are big). I climbed the ladder with my 5 and 7 year old one at a time in front of me and they each climbed in the cockpit. The 5 year old was in the cockpit and we hear yelling "Hey get out of there what are you doing?". Needless to say it was fully at the ready. He wasn't angry he just said that there is some type of button at the base of the seat that activates the ejection seat. If it goes off the person would get blown into the ceiling of the hangar and most likely killed. Got away with that moment but not one for the parenting hall of fame. They roped off the hangar when we walked out.

[MAXUM]

Originally Posted by mowtorman

If it goes off the person would get blown into the ceiling of the hangar and most likely killed. Got away with that moment but not one for the parenting hall of fame. They roped off the hangar when we walked out.

That is absolutely correct on the ejection seat. While I was in the Navy there was a plane captain who was working on an F/A-18 in one of the hangers at NAS San Diego that was killed when the ejection seat activated - he was in the cockpit at time of the incident. The seat blew through the roof of the hanger. It was rumored that the plane captain failed to deactivate\safety the seat.