OK?
Posted on 02/26/2006 7:12:29 AM PST by SandRat
The newest bird in the Air Force fleet — and one of the noisiest — will make its Tucson debut next weekend. The F-22 Raptor, a sleek and supersonic stealth jet that's more advanced than any other in Air Force history, will be among dozens of new and vintage warplanes in town to train for the 2006 air- show season.
Two or three of the futuristic fighters will touch down during the annual Heritage Flight Conference at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, a three-day event that allows pilots to practice formation flying for eight to nine hours a day. It's part of the certification process to perform on the air-show circuit.
The training conference runs from Friday through Sunday.
To military aircraft enthusiasts, the Raptor's arrival is cause for ooh-ing and aah-ing.
"The F-22 is a pretty spectacular bit of technology," said Scott Marchand, director of collections and aircraft restoration at the Pima Air and Space Museum. The radar-defeating aircraft, which cost about $130 million apiece, came into service three months ago, so recently that few civilians have ever seen one in flight.
"This is a rare chance to get a sneak peek at the next generation of air-dominance fighters," Marchand said. The F-22 "is a much noisier airplane" than the A-10 attack jets that typically fly above Tucson, Marchand noted.
And the Raptor also has much more advanced capabilities, such as the ability to cruise at supersonic speed without afterburners, and sophisticated sensors that allow the pilot to track, identify and shoot a threat before it detects the F-22. But some Tucsonans concerned about military-jet noise see the extra flights as an added headache and safety risk.
National security requirements are one thing. Practicing for air shows is another, said Daniel Patterson, city planning commissioner.
"I'm not sure it's appropriate to have all these additional overflights in a big city. It seems like it would be more appropriate for a remote location," said Patterson, who is also a co-chairman of Tucsonans for Quality of Life, a citizens group concerned about the environmental impact of the air base.
He said the air-show training heaps one more aggravation onto residents already negatively affected by things like extra helicopter flights and on-again, off-again night training at D-M.
Col. Michael Isherwood, D-M's vice commander, said he doesn't expect a major increase in noise because the F-22 is not at full power when flying in formation.
According to an Air Force noise study, an F-22 flying 500 feet above ground level sounds about the same as a chain saw operating nearby.
About 40 aircraft will take part in the training sessions, including historic warplanes such as the World War II-era P-51 Mustang and the F-86 Sabre, which was flown during the Korean War.
While the training flights will be visible to city residents, the event is not open to the public.
Marchand said a prime viewing spot is the parking lot of the air museum, 6000 E. Valencia Road, between South Wilmot Road and Interstate 10.
My guess is the F-22 will end up being deployed at Luke.
Raptor comes to Roost in Tucson!!!
I expect the F-22A to be deployed at the same bases that the early F-15's were deployed at: Luke AFB in Arizona, Langley AFB in Virginia, and Holloman AFB in New Mexico.
Yea, that's my take as well.
Should be one hell of a show!
there ought to be pictures...
BTTT
LOL!
There's that moonbat term again, when writers are afraid to say "in my really stupid opinion"... , when they are about to say something mindless...
That may end up in Monday's paper.
Then I read about some dingbat moaning about extra formation training being noisy. Once upon a time it was called the "sound of freedom". To many of us it still is. Then they compare the sound to a "nearby" (how nearby?) chainsaw, when the jet is 500 feet away. They won't be flying down that low much, and certainly not over the city, except of course when coming in to land or taking off. The sound diminishes by 6 dB for each doubling of the distance.
OK?
"I'm not sure it's appropriate to have all these additional overflights in a big city. It seems like it would be more appropriate for a remote location,"
I have to agree with him there. Far better that any training accidents happen over open desert.
FWIW, I was raised on Marine Corps airbases, I love the sound of jets.
Perfect.
The last time I heard my windows rattle was 5~6 years ago, when I was living in Michigan.
It was always on Saturday mornings, so I assumed that the National Guard had regularly scheduled training flights out over Lake Huron.
The booms weren't quite as loud as what I remember growing up back in the '50s and '60s,
but I at least recognized the sound and knew what it was immediately.
OK, Mr P.
In the sixties DM WAS pretty much remote, at least on the very edge of civilization.
DM is huge so it must have been difficult for you and all those others looking for cheap land to get close enough (at least on two sides) to be bothered.
DM has, in part for those reasons, always been a training hub, always been busy; and during Vietnam was THE busiest airfield/airport in America.
In this case 'the cost of freedom' supports a very large segment of your community - the feds won't be mailing you a check in the event they move away.
I'd recommend that you hold your fire until we see if Boeing moves out of Long Beach so you can see what loss of a 'dangerous nuisance' means to the local economy.
APRPEH ASKED:
[OK?]
Just beautiful, dude! I'm almost ready to pay more taxes, just to get a few more of those into the air.
Speaking of taxes... now's the time.
Tucson is unique in quality weather for training our young men and women to fly these marvelous machines that keep our country free; to hear them complain is tiresome to say the least. If the city is dumb enough to allow homes to be build along and under flight patterns and people are stupid enough to buy the same, so be it - Davis Monthan is far more important than a few malcontents.
During the height of the Cold War Beaufort used to ask people who called to bitch about the noise, "Are you sure they are ours?"
What a cool bird!!!
Supersonic is the way to go. Love the booms.
P.S. Nothing like dozens of F-16's launching two at a time at night, afterburners aglow. Kunsan AFB. Go Wolfpack!
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