WOW!!! Boeing E-4B Advanced Airborne Command Post "Doomsday Plane" (ARIS17/73-1676) trailing a KC-46 Pegasus tanker (ARRIS43/18-46041) at 20k over Pasadena a few minutes ago. Jaw-dropping sight. ๐ญ๐ธ
๐จ๐ป Holy WOW!!! An officially "retired" stealth F-117 Nighthawk over Glendale, returning from the coastal ranges with a KC-135 (COPPER4/62-3550) a few minutes ago!!! Spotting one in the wild has been on my dream list for a long time! ๐ป๐จ
๐จ๐ท WOW!!! Just caught a "retired" stealth F-117 Nighthawk over Burbank, headed south to the coastal ranges with a KC-135 (59-1476) a few minutes ago!!! 15 years after "retirement," a handful are still used in adversary support and test and evaluation roles.๐ท๐จ
INSANE! I just spotted a solo F-117 Nighthawk returning north by naked eye. No tanker or ADS-B. The tankers were RTB and I guesstimated the time the F-117 might come back north and there she was. You can make out the โTRโ Tonopah Test Range tail code - ๐ฝ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ธ
Just spotted this once top-secret, "retired" F-117 Nighthawk over L.A. trailing a KC-135 (62-3551) on its way to a playdate off the coast! ๐ฝ๐ญ๐ธ (hat tip
@AircraftSpots
)
Just spotted this once top-secret, "retired" F-117 Nighthawk over L.A. trailing a KC-135 (62-3551) on its way to a playdate off the coast! ๐ฝ๐ญ๐ธ (hat tip
@AircraftSpots
)
Spectacular spot over Glendale this morning - KC-135 tanker out of Edwards (GHOST01/61-0320) with 4x F-22 Raptors and an F-16, and one of the F-22s on the boom! ๐ปโฝ๏ธ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ธ
WOW!!! Caught Edwards-based KC-10 (79-1951/ARRIS02) refueling a KC-46 (18-46046/ARRIS17) tanker at 20k feet over Pasadena. They broke off and reestablished contact as I watched, more photos below ๐ญ๐ธ
The last time I photographed a flying F-117 prior to yesterday was in 2006 - it flew in the mother of all formations (F-22, F-16, T-38, F-16, F-117, B-52, B-1B, C-17, KC-135) at the 2006 Edwards AFB Airshow! ๐ป๐ฅ My photos-
๐จ๐ป Holy WOW!!! An officially "retired" stealth F-117 Nighthawk over Glendale, returning from the coastal ranges with a KC-135 (COPPER4/62-3550) a few minutes ago!!! Spotting one in the wild has been on my dream list for a long time! ๐ป๐จ
Thread of my ๐ธ from the Edwards Air Force Base Air Show and Open House - the first in 13 years! First up, NASA's SOFIA 747SP showing off its telescope, NASA Gulfstream/F-15/Navy F/A-18 formation, and an F-22 Raptor high speed pass. More below...
A spectacular view of Northrop Grumman B-2 "Spirit of Louisiana" (93-1088) stealth bomber over Glendale as it lines up for a low altitude flyover of the Rose Parade -
Boeing B-29 Superfortress "FIFI" (N529B), one of two flying B-29s IN THE WORLD, passing over Glendale this morning at 6500 feet. You never know what might fly overhead!
A bucket list shot that worked out with a bit of luck, best viewed large. I was on a bridge 300 feet above the elevation of the Rose Bowl just as the B-2 was nearing its lowest altitude. I don't think it's possible for a civilian to get closer to a gear up B-2 than 500-600 AGL!
Extremely up close and personal with the Northrop Grumman B-2 "Spirit of Hawaii" (90-0041) stealth bomber as it descends towards the Rose Bowl in Pasadena! More photos below-
Extremely up close and personal with the Northrop Grumman B-2 "Spirit of Hawaii" (90-0041) stealth bomber as it descends towards the Rose Bowl in Pasadena! More photos below-
Went up to Mt Washington and got three F-15 Eagles from the 144th Fighter Wing and a KC-135 from March ARB flying over Dodger Stadium for Opening Day ๐๏ธ โฝ๏ธ ๐บ๐ธ ๐ฆ ๐ฆ ๐ธ
#Dodgers
#flyover
-
A U-2 is flying over LA and unlike previous times it's flown over and I couldn't spot it, it's contrailing beautifully. You can see the contrail by naked eye. Processing some photos now!
WOW, incredibly rare NASA WB-57F (N927NA) at 7000 feet over Glendale descending into NAS Point Mugu, presumably to observe an upcoming missile test. An A+ unicorn spot๐ฆ๐ญ๐ธ. Thanks to
@ShorealoneFilms
and
@Watching_Planes
) for the heads up.
(Photographed from a Canberra)
Awesome spot: a KC-10 Extender (86-0027/GUCCI35) with 2x F-22 Raptors and 2x F-16 Vipers headed south to the coastal ranges this morning. I had a perfect view through a gap in the clouds of this awesome formation over Pasadena - ๐ญ๐ธ๐ถโ๐ซ๏ธ(hat tip to
@AircraftSpots
)
Wow, an F/A-18 Super Hornet and an F-16 flew over me southbound a few minutes ago. The Super Hornet appears to be dumping fuel, haven't seen that before! ๐ธ
WOW!!! Beechcraft Starship (N514RS), one of maybe 5 or 6 airworthy in the entire world, just flew over. A truly rare glimpse of the future that never came. One of my favorite planes since I was a kid, this is the first one I've seen in the air. ๐คฉ
I hiked above Scholl Canyon and took awesome photos of the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning flyover of the Dodgers home opener. More ๐ธ in ๐งตbelow-
#dodgers
#flyover
#DodgerStadium
Incredible - an up close look at an Mi-17 operated by the highly secretive ATO/FCD black ops aviation unit at Ft Eustis after making a precautionary landing. Spare parts are dropped off by one of the mystery gray Bell 407s I spotted in L.A. in January!
Wow, an Indian Navy ๐ฎ๐ณ MH-60R Seahawk (IN752) over Glendale! IN752 was the second MH-60R delivered to the Indian Navy and is used to train crews at NAS North Island. I see a lot of MH-60s but this is my first foreign example. ๐ญ๐ธ
Unusual: Why did Kobe's doomed helicopter circle over Glendale at 300 AGL? Delaying while trying to call Burbank tower? They're staying just outside of the inner ring of Burbank's Class C airspace. Scud running? Sightseeing makes the least sense.
Incredible - the Northrop Grumman Firebird (N326JG) optionally-manned surveillance aircraft prototype just passed over Glendale at 10500 feet! This goes in the "I can't believe that just flew over" file with the Starship and U-2. ๐ญ๐ธ
I filmed one of the mystery unmarked Bell 407s practicing landings at the City Hall East building tonight. Seemed to be doing rooftop pattern work. Approach, land, depart 20 seconds later, repeat.
Holy wow - what a spectacular Falcon 9 Starlink launch! ๐ Saw it very clearly from Glendale - MECO, stage separation, fairing separation, everything. Hundreds of miles away but got an amazing view!!! My photos๐ธ๐ญ -
I think there's a fair chance
@clinty_y
spotted a B-21 or RQ-180 (or ?) rather than a B-2. Appears to be light colored and the contrail appears to be 2 engines rather than the B-2's 4 engines... ๐๐
Got up close and personal with an extremely rare National Nuclear Security Administration Bell 412 (N411DE) as it returned from a low level flight over downtown Los Angeles to measure background radiation prior to the Super Bowl -
Sick vapes at the Pacific Airshow today. Most of the performers couldn't fly due to fog, but it cleared enough in the afternoon for the Raptor, Thunderbirds and Super Hornet to wring some moisture from the ocean air -
3 MV-22 Ospreys and 2 VH-3D Sea Kings flew over Glendale today as part of prep work for this week's POTUS visit to Monterey Park. Happily I was able to get decent photos from home! ๐บ๐ธ๐ธ
Glendale's tense emergency Glendale City Council meeting yesterday had a moment that was straight from Parks And Recreation or Veep, as a random lady was inadvertently patched into the meeting and wouldn't get off the phone:
A majestic, close up look at Boeing B-29 Superfortress "FIFI" (N529B), one of two flying B-29s IN THE WORLD, passing over Glendale this afternoon at 5000 feet!
You have to laugh at the alarmism. Look up Minot AFB on a sectional. It's not area 51 in the middle of a vast restricted airspace complex; it's a class D airport with airspace that extends to 4200 feet. You can legally fly over it at 4300 feet in a Cessna!
A framed letter from McDonaldโs complaining about a $15,000 quote alongside a copy of the judgment check for a million dollars is in Marty Krofftโs office.
Oh shiiiiiii McDonald's licensed Sid and Marty Kroft to originally design McDonaldLand, and then got rid of them and hired another firm, which just lifted everything they could. Kroft sued for a million and won, explaining why a lot of this lore disappeared.
Went up near JPL to photograph this pair of B-1B โBoneโ strategic bombers descending out of the clouds for a low pass over the Rose Bowl in afterburner ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ - more pics in thread below -
ARRIS callsign is associated with 418th Flight Test Squadron. Yesterday they flew a similar route and were off of Baja all day, with a KC-135 sent down as well. Nothing scary or unusual about test and training activity out of Edwards, but an E-4 is a very rare sight over L.A.
Big news: I've just uploaded over 3,000 of my high-resolution aviation photos to my long-dormant flickr account! Properly tagging everything will be a months-long project, but there are now plenty of albums and an enormous photostream to peruse:
Very cool, 2 MH-60s and 2 MH-47s from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment just passed over me in Glendale headed west. The trailing MH-47 had position lights on, the rest were blacked out.
F-35A Lightningโก๏ธstealth fighters from the 412th Test Wing pass over Glendale after an opening day flyover of Dodger Stadium๐๏ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ธ
Very cool spot over Glendale at around 1pm: a rare NKC-135R (GHOST01/61-0320) returning north to Edwards AFB with an F-16 from exercises or testing off the coast -
USAF B-52H (LOBO71/61-0021) strategic bomber over Southern California, headed back to Barksdale AFB. Earlier in the day LOBO71 flew in from Barksdale to the test ranges off of Pt. Mugu. First time I've managed to spot a B-52 from my house.
I mean just wow. I saw this in my lens but looking at the back of the camera in low light, I thought these were all going to be a blur. When I knocked back the brightness in the RAWs you can make out the whole sequence. Just awesome. ๐คฉ
A photographer named Michael DeBock got incredible photos of the balloon shootdown yesterday, much better quality than I've seen on twitter. They're on his flickr here, the whole set is excellent:
The two Flight Systems F-100 Super Sabres at Mojave are being auctioned off. They're currently a bargain at four cents and $1.50! Seriously, if I had a bigger backyard...
Wow, juicy spot, USAF KC-46A tanker (ARRIS01/18-46046) headed back north to Edwards with 2x F-22s and 2x F-16s! The outermost F-16 has something on nearly every pylon - ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ธ
Haven't spotted any foreign spy balloons yet, but I do photograph any glints or objects in the sky just in case. The most common objects that I see, by far, are loose mylar party balloons, they are EVERYWHERE, fly up to 15k feet, and cause a large % of power outages.
Got an amazing view of an exceptionally rare, heavily instrumented NASA Earth Science DC-8 (N817NA) passing over Glendale at 3000 feet this morning! ๐ธ
@theironlydreams
Excellent capture, I've looked for other footage or pics of it over Glendale and your video is all I've found. I started a thread here while figuring out what the Glendale hold was about:
Unusual: Why did Kobe's doomed helicopter circle over Glendale at 300 AGL? Delaying while trying to call Burbank tower? They're staying just outside of the inner ring of Burbank's Class C airspace. Scud running? Sightseeing makes the least sense.
Olympics aviation mystery solved! Did Tom Cruise skydive ๐ช to the Hollywood Sign? Well, sort of - he jumped from a 1957 C-130A (N466TM) over Canyon Country on 3/16 and landed about 20 miles away from the sign!
@Task_Force23
caught a rehearsal jump over Fox Field! ๐งตwith details-
Someone called 911 to report a "plane crash" near Long Beach. I watched ADS-B replay for candidates for a plane going down...and spotted this rare Grumman Albatross (N7025N) seaplane practicing water landings right by the initial report. Now confirmed as false alarm!
Ok, diving into Netflix's new Glendale-set (but New Mexico filmed) series
@daybreak
. Will screencap and comment on any real Glendale stuff in this thread! To start: some nice establishing shots of the real Glendale, including a suspiciously empty Americana at Brand.
I had a lens issue and didn't get great photos of every aircraft in the formation, but an Edwards KC-135 (GHOST58/57-1437) just flew back north with 4 fighters, including at least 2 F-22s -
Solved! Found it in the ATC audio. N72EX asked for a SVFR transition westbound along the 101, and KBUR had him hold outside the Class C because an aircraft was flying a missed approach.
@NTSB
This video is very well done, and shows a Google Earth POV of what the pilot would have been seeing (minus clouds). Things go critically bad as they enter rising terrain in poor visibility.
Took 3 days but I've now spotted all 4 of the rare ๐บ๐ธ/๐ฆ๐บ AEW/recon aircraft that have been training together this week: RAAF AP-3C Orion (STKR10/A9-660) & E-7 Wedgetail (SRFR02/A30-002), USAF RC-135W Rivet Joint (HOOVR34/62-4134) & E-3G Sentry AWACS (SNTRY32/82-0006) ๐ฆ ๐ฆ