G8 aerial intercept live and in person

[ShawnG]

http://www.wgal.com/...tz/-/index.html

http://abcnews.go.co...89#.T72Ub0VSRWw

So last Friday I was out in my yard doing some routine gardening when the air was full of the sound of an angry jet engine. directly over the roof of my house appears an f-15 at roughly 1500 ft AGL followed a few minutes later by a small c172. Thinking in my head that it was very foolish for a military pilot to operate that closely to a civilian aircraft (I had no idea what was going on) I stood and watched the eagle pilot fly very low and very slow in circles around my neighborhood giving me several good looks at the plane (I was paying no attention at all to the Cessna) I wish I had my camera with me. anyhow, the aircraft moved on to the northeast until a few minutes later when the f-15 screamed back overhead going MUCH faster and roared off to the south.

I was vaguely aware that the G8 summit was happening (I live roughly 40 miles from Camp David) but had no idea that I was witnessing a aerial intercept in action. The C172 according to the news reports landed at an "unnamed grass strip" But the direction and the time that it took would only be the Bermudian Air Park, a small grass strip where you can pay a fee to be flown around in a Stearman over south central PA for a bit. this is literally 3-4 miles from my home. there is always restricted airspace over camp david. an exception is given to a gliding club locally that is within a few miles of the complex, but then only at certain times. the restricted airspace was expanded for the summit, presumably some did not get the memo (check those NOTAMS) Apparently there was no ill intent, and hopefully the pilots will recover from having endured a long "interview" conducted by a man in a dark suit who didn't give his name or remove his sunglasses.

anyway I didn't put it all together until I read the paper a couple days later, but thought it was a story to share here, never know what you're going to see sometimes. Interestingly, I did not see the Blackhawk, but they fly over all the time, an F-15 tends to grab your attemtion more.

[Matthew Kane]

It is cool to see an F-15 or F-18 flying low and slow like that. They blast a lot of fuel trying to keep it flying. Expensive intercept but at no expense to the Cessna Pilot....He probably didn't read the NOTAM so he was not at any fault really.

Cheers

[Maurice_King]

.He probably didn't read the NOTAM so he was not at any fault really.

Actually he would be "AT FAULT" if he did not read and understand ANY CURRENT NOTAM's in force for any area in which he was to fly in, over, or adjacent too end of story, the onus is on the Pilot to know of any NOTAM's in effect and also EXACTLY where they are relevant to local landmarks and NAVAIDS .

[bushflyn]

Good read Shawn. Thank you.

[ShawnG]

There was nothing mentioned about loss of licenses etc... but I'm sure the pilots had a very long and uncomfortable talk with the authorities, and they will probably know all NOTAM's for all flights from now on!

of course these folks weren't so lucky... (from a few years ago)

http://www.sunlakesaeroclub.org/updates_web_data/060101/Flight_of_Mistakes.htm

[tuisong]

Good read Shawn. Thank you.

I agree. We don't have any fighters here in NZ, apart form the Warbirds and museums. So when we stayed with family in Fallon NV USA, I got a huge thrill every time a jet or flight of jets went over the house while taking off from the large airbase there.