I work 2 miles from RDU...I've never seen an F-18 come in there. I use Aviation parkway to get on I-40.
Strange...will check WRAL.
http://www.wral.com/news/2953163/detail.html You're right...wow. Good thing it sounds like the pilot ejected. Wondering if he had problems and was forced to try to land it...got close and couldn't do it ditching nearby.
Wow...I'm sure I'll see THAT when I go home.
I live near a small regional airport where we occasionally have military jets practicing landing on these small runways. A family member who was a Navy flier told me that they do this periodically as a training exercise. (Actually, I happened to notice about an hour ago that they were doing it today - there's no mistaking that sound!)