.. Not Railroading, but I had to share!!!

I heard them coming... it was "too loud" to be just one.......

MAN!!!! We have some BIG Mosquitoes in these here parts

Beautiful!! Very Beautiful!!!!!!

And I thought we had big bugs in these here parts.

Last week 5 flew over our house. A welcome change from the slurry bombers flying in and out during wild fire season.

Once in A while I'll see a couple of Huey's flyover but I've never seen so many copters at once. Cool!

Are they all black and unmarked???????

Back in the early 70's, we lived in the southern part of Orange County, California. Every once in a while we'd hear those coming over our house. El Toro Marine base was a few miles north of us and Nixon was heading to his home near Capistrano, just to the south.

Thanks for posting these, they bring back memories...

ezdays Wrote:Are they all black and unmarked???????

I was thinking the same thing.. These were brownish and marked with camo paint. 3 Chinooks and 2 single rotors. These were taken with my cell phone, which is why they aren't in the best of focus.

I could tell just by the volume level that there were more than 2, which is the norm around here....

Thanks for the comments... It brought back memories for me too. The Boeing plant always was flying the Chinooks when they were building them 40 years ago....

Hey Mikey,
Were they playing "Flight of the Valkries" over a loudspeaker? Better hide those pinky rings.

Mike Kieran Wrote:Hey Mikey,
Were they playing "Flight of the Valkries" over a loudspeaker? Better hide those pinky rings.

Too Funny!!!!

Several weeks ago while working outside with the volunteer fire department there was a sudden and extremely loud thunder. It was loud enough that we could hear it over the noise of our equipment (chain saws and generator) Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and looked up, in time to see 3 very low flying F18s already past our location. Don't know why they were there or what they were doing. We live about 30 miles from PAX River Naval Air Station, where they often do testing of aircraft, but I don't ever recall any aircraft flying so low, or fast, over the area where I live.

We got inquiries at the fire department for the next 45 minutes about the noise, apparently the whole neighborhood heard it and was shaken up.

MD helicopters builds Apache attack copters in their Mesa plant, probably 50 miles from where we live. They do test flights over the desert to the east of there. That's got to be exciting to see, although it would be more fun if they fire off a few test missiles. I'd guess if they do any test firing, it would be over in the Goldwater Range, just to the southwest of us.

Puddlejumper Wrote:Several weeks ago while working outside with the volunteer fire department there was a sudden and extremely loud thunder. It was loud enough that we could hear it over the noise of our equipment (chain saws and generator) Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and looked up, in time to see 3 very low flying F18s already past our location. Don't know why they were there or what they were doing. We live about 30 miles from PAX River Naval Air Station, where they often do testing of aircraft, but I don't ever recall any aircraft flying so low, or fast, over the area where I live.

We got inquiries at the fire department for the next 45 minutes about the noise, apparently the whole neighborhood heard it and was shaken up.

We live about ten miles north of Luke AFB and have F18's flying over our house every day. They turn just to the north of us, which is open desert, but are still noisy, but fun to watch. Some people complain about the noise, I always think of it as the sounds of freedom. They're scheduled to become the first F35 training base, and I can't wait to hear those babies fly over the house.

I don't know if I would want to live near a training base (what does this button do?).

I remember the week after September 11, 2001, there were planes patrolling New York Harbor. I was living 2 blocks from the Brooklyn Army Terminal (where Elvis Presley shipped off from). Those planes were buzzing my building big time. It was like that scene in Annie Hall where he was living in a house under Coney Island's Thunderbolt roller coaster. P.S., someone actually lived in that house.

Puddlejumper Wrote:Several weeks ago while working outside with the volunteer fire department there was a sudden and extremely loud thunder. It was loud enough that we could hear it over the noise of our equipment (chain saws and generator) Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and looked up, in time to see 3 very low flying F18s already past our location. Don't know why they were there or what they were doing. We live about 30 miles from PAX River Naval Air Station, where they often do testing of aircraft, but I don't ever recall any aircraft flying so low, or fast, over the area where I live.

We got inquiries at the fire department for the next 45 minutes about the noise, apparently the whole neighborhood heard it and was shaken up.

I saw in a documentary somewhere, that they usually fly low and fast in tribute to a fallen soldier - for the funeral services. That may have been the reason.

I was initially concerned that there was another attack, and they were going there... but then figured if that were the case they'd probably be supersonic. There was nothing in the news about it, perhaps it was a funeral fly by.

OOOOOHHHHH Good Catch!

If you look carefully, you'll see those first two helicopters are VH3s, other wise known as Marine One.

They have been up and down the coast, and I was just buzzed two weeks ago by a pair of VH3 white-tops, and escorting CH46s like in your photo (though we only had two of the Sea Knights).

Your photos are a little fuzzy, but the basic distinguishing features are present (rotor configuration, etc). The VH3s are the only military Sea kings left in service, part of the squadrom HMX-1, which ferry around the President and other white house personnel.

I had a photo i snatched of them at a PATCO station on september 20. I remember when Obama first got into office, I saw the VH3s three times in one day. I saw them in the morning, I caught up with them in Northern New Jersey, and then when i got home, they returned over my house.

I've actually been seeing the helicopters of HMX-1 alot lately. I saw them at least twice over this past summer, and twice again when Obama was out surveying storm damage here in New Jersey.

Once again, cool shot!

Here is one of my better ones. Its hard to see, but the "white tops" are a dead give away, and the Helicopters are clearly VH3s.

Wow! Never thought that it may have been a VIP

Now - who was in the area yesterday?????