Monday, 17 May 2004
Interesting comms today: some concerning one of the nation's newest acft,
the F/A-22 now at Tyndall AFB, and some about the good old days when "The Real
Stuff" was going on at Cape Canaveral, and I was there.

AIR TRANSPORT 400: DC-8, Little Rock (USAF Contractor)
8:58am: Lands Patrick. Later departs to Antigua, then to Ascension - both USAF
Eastern Test Range downrange sites.
[133.75]

N4667B: CE-208B Cessna Caravan, US State Dept, Intl Narcotics Mission/Air Wing,
Patrick AFB.
9:17am: Departs Patrick.
2:50pm: Lands Patrick.
[133.75]

HAWK 85; F/A-18D, Beaufort MCAS VMFA(AW)-533
9:44am: Transitions area to Mayport NAF
[269.3, 273.55]

MAKOs 11, 12: F-16C, Homestead JARB 482FW 93FS
10:01am: Arrives to work at Avon Park Bombing Range.
[292.2, 138.125]

SHARK 21: F-16C, Homestead JARB 482FW 93FS
10:25am: Arrives to work at Avon Park Bombing Range.
10:45am: RTBs to HST.
[292.2, 307.1, 139.8]

AX 186: C-130T, Andrews AFB VR-53 "Capitol Express"
10:31am: Area transition. Might be C-40 acft replacing VR-53's C-130Ts, as
noted by Sandy in Colo recently.
[133.475, 132.15]

BRONCO 01: OV-10D, US State Dept US State Dept, Intl Narcotics Mission/Air
Wing, Patrick AFB.
10:45am: Departs Patrick (flight of 2).
4:12pm: Lands Patrick.
[133.75]

AKULA 31: F-16C, Homestead JARB 482FW 93FS
10:52am: Single ship, arrives at Avon Park Bombing Range.
[292.2, 307.1]

JOLLYs 11, 12: HH-60G Pave Hawk Helos, Patrick AFB 920RQW
11:51am: Departs Patrick; approaches at KMLB, Patrick.
[269.375]

PJ 610: P-3C, Whidbey Island NAS VP-69 "Totems" Sqdn
12:10pm: Lands Patrick.
[269.375]

HQ 475: SH-60B, Mayport NAF HSL-46 "Grandmasters" Sqdn
12:30pm: Area transition.
[132.65]

VDA 4813: AN-124, Volga Dnepr (Contractor)
2:30pm: Departs NASA-KSC Shuttle Landing Facility. This huge Ukrainian
transport had RONd previous night after bringing large aerospace cargo. Note
RON at SLF instead of CCAFS whose runway is closed for construction.
[128.55, 132.65, 124.8, 133.3]

VAMPIRE 72: F/A-22, Tyndall AFB 325FW 43FS
2:45pm: Touch and go at Patrick on apparent fam flight through area; remains at
low altitude (and therefor VHF freqs). This is my first snag of comms from an
F/A-22. Was a bit too low and fast for me to get into my camera window.
Tyndall is USAF's only F/A-22 schoolhouse; so I expect to see more of them.
Made a wonderful shallow swooping pass over my house off of Patrick's Rnwy 20
before heading south along the coast. I LIKE this plane. Looks like it loves to
roll.
[133.75, 1312.65, 132.25]

SHARKs 21, 22, 23: F-16C, Homestead JARB 482FW 93FS
3:00pm: Strafing at Avon Park Bombing Range.
[292.2, 285.725, 139.8]

MAKO 11 Flight: F-16C, Homestead JARB 482FW 93FS
3:00pm: Hitting tgts at Avon Park.
3:04pm: MAKO 11 has to RTB HST with problem.
3:40pm: Balance of flight RTBs.
[292.2, 285.725, 307.1, 269.3, 239.25, 370.9, 322.5]

SHARK 89: C-130.
3:39pm: Area transition, to waypoint Nassau.
[119.825]

LIMA LIMA 38: P-3C Jacksonville NAS VP-30 "Pro's Nest" Sqdn.
3:45pm: Area transition.
[133.475]

ZANTOP 757: Zantop Intl (Charter), Ypsilanti MI
5:27pm: Area transition.
Those of us who were here in the 1960s Hey-days of the space program, remember
the ever-present Zantop acft at Patrick AFB, supporting operations. ZANTOP 757
engaged in some great reminiscences about those days; this pilot flew flights
into Patrick in the old days, and the 133.475 ATC was controlling flights back
then. Nice to hear them chat and to feel the nostalgia of my days during the
Gemini missions and the Saturn-Apollo moon-landing flights. I used to monitor
the action right from the beach in those days.

BOLT 13: KC-135R, MacDill 6AMW.
10:03pm: En route to Homestead.
[133.475, 119.825, 132.25]

AL STERN Satellite Beach FL (28-11N 80-36W) monitoring
 Patrick AFB (KCOF)  NASA-KSC Shuttle Landing Fac (KX68)
 Avon Park Bombing Range (KAGR)  Cape Canaveral AFS (KXMR)
 JSTARS E-8 Acft Integration Facility, Melbourne IAP (KMLB)
 Worldwide Military HF Communications
 Life Member: Missile, Space and Range Pioneers.
 http://hometown.aol.com/allanstern/m...age/index.html (My Freqs)
 http://hometown.aol.com/scanaddict/index.html (My Equipment)