Seattle Sonic Booms

[Andy0689 0]

Anyone else hear them today? I'm south of Tacoma and my house got shook like something hit it. I was outside and got rattled pretty good by the second one.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/100921834.html

Andy
I'll believe it when I see it on YouTube!

[aphid 0]

Odd. Why scramble National Guard aircraft form Portland, when a perfectly good and active Naval Air Station is 3 minutes north at Whidby Island?

Am I missing something?

[normiss 640]

on-call rotation?

[aphid 0]

When it comes to military stuff, I'm not informed. What does that mean?

Thanks

[JohnMitchell 14]

Quote

Odd. Why scramble National Guard aircraft form Portland, when a perfectly good and active Naval Air Station is 3 minutes north at Whidby Island?

Am I missing something?

Yep, Air Defense Command calls the shots. The two F-15's that scrambled are the Alert Birds, standing by with pilots, 24/7/365, at Portland International Airport. These National Guard F-15's are assigned intercept duties for anything in the Pacific Northwest. They are equipped with live armament for intercept operations. Navy Whidbey has EA-6's stationed there. They are electronic warfare jamming aircraft, with no ability to shoot down hostile aircraft, so are of little use for intercept operations. There are occasional transient F-18's at Whidbey, but they are not necessarily armed properly and probably not available for immediate scramble.

I've had the pleasure of working with ADC and the PDX fighter squadron for many years. They are very competent people.

[JohnMitchell 14]

Nope, see my post above.

[Amazon 7]

Quote

Anyone else hear them today? I'm south of Tacoma and my house got shook like something hit it. I was outside and got rattled pretty good by the second one.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/100921834.html

They train off the coast fairly frequently or at least they used to... so when sailing off the mouth of the Columbia River and out to sea a ways..... you might get a nice boom or two to liven up your day

[normiss 640]

Nice!

Mine was a SWAG.

[Andy9o8 0]

If this thread was in Speaker's Corner, the title would be
"Sonic booms from Obama fighters frighten children."
It would probably be a poll, too.

[pbwing 0]

Quote

If this thread was in Speaker's Corner, the title would be
"Sonic booms from Obama fighters frighten children."
It would probably be a poll, too.

HA! And let me guess...it would only have 2 questions!!

YES, Obama should be allowed to frighten children with sonic booms.

NO, Obama hates children and his sonic booms are an afront to our freedoms.

[kallend 1,672]

Quote

Quote

If this thread was in Speaker's Corner, the title would be
"Sonic booms from Obama fighters frighten children."
It would probably be a poll, too.

HA! And let me guess...it would only have 2 questions!!

YES, Obama should be allowed to frighten children with sonic booms.

NO, Obama hates children and his sonic booms are an afront to our freedoms.

You've been paying attention to JR, haven't you?

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[JohnMitchell 14]

Quote

If this thread was in Speaker's Corner, the title would be
"Sonic booms from Obama fighters frighten children."

As a kid growing up near Carswell AFB in Texas, I heard sonic booms from the Mach 2 B-58 Huslters on a daily basis as I played outside. Us kids didn't mind them a bit, but the adults said the booms made them jumpy.

I think kids don't know to be scared until they pick up on it from high-strung adults. Some of the comments on yesterday's radio programs just made me want to say "Hey, grow a spine."

[aphid 0]

Thanks for the explanation. I have in-laws at Pt Townsend and I've seen F-18's in the air often enough I just assumed they were more common at Whidbey.

John