Anyone else hearing the big plane overhead?

[beachmouse]

Not many people realize just how many tech people work for the AF in the area, but if you start counting them up, Okaloosa has the highest per capita number of PhD scientists and engineers in the state.

It's funny meeting some of the techies because a lot of them can only really say that they're a PhD chemist working for the Air Force, and any more of a description of what they really do for a living is classified. And their PhD dissertation? That's classified as well.

 

[Will B]

I had never seen one of these particular helicopters, or any with this type of camouflage flying around our beaches, prior to yesterday. Nothing special looking about it, but just a new one to me in our area.

This is the latest version of the venerable UH-1...otherwise known as the Huey. They used to be up and down the beach all the time but is slowly being phased out and replaced by the Blackhawk. While they don't see much "real" action any more, they still get used for a lot of things.

A couple years back my wife and I were riding our Goldwing on the north side of the bay along the water. There was a C-17 flying big lazy loops from east to west along the bay from about the 331 bridge to Sandestin. Parajumpers were jumping from the aircraft into the bay where they were being picked up by boats. My guess is that all the aircraft activity that is going on is probably training related or tied to some war games of some sort.

On another note...and suprisingly not mentioned previously...Eglin AFB is the ordinance testing facility for every branch of the armed services. That means that every new bomb or missle gets tested there. I can remember being at Santa Rosa Beach Club's driving range looking up and seeing a formation of three chase planes in a loose formation around a cruise missle headed inland towards a test range above Freeport that had been fired from out in the gulf somewhere. Very cool...

There's a lot of "spooky" stuff that goes on down there that we'll probably never know about!

 

[Smiling JOe]

From Waltonsun.com

Continued aircraft noise at night, Eglin says

August 02, 2007 EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE — Residents in the Santa Rosa Beach area may experience aircraft noise at night as base personnel test aircraft that support the Global War on Terror, according to a report distributed late Wednesday by base officials.

Night testing is needed to simulate in-theater conditions, the report said.
The tests are being conducted for the joint services (Army, Navy and Marines) and joint commands, including Air Force Special Operations command and Air Mobility Command.

The testing includes a C-5 and helicopters to support the mission. Ample airspace is needed to turn the aircraft due to their size, and multiple passes are required to validate the test results. Flying at night at 1,000 feet is mandatory to accomplish the test mission, the report said.

Helicopter testing began in mid-July and will continue this week. The C-5 testing, as well as C-130 tests, are scheduled until Aug. 24.

For more information, contact Eglin public affairs, 882-3931.

***************
singingchicken, thanks for the reply regarding the helicopter. I'm not so up to speed on aircraft. I've seen other helicopters flying along the beach which I am pretty certain were Huey's ([ame="http://youtube.com/watch?v=d9E-_Zs966w"]YouTube - Hueys at the Beach[/ame], and turn up the subwoofer on your sound system). I can usually hear these Huey's when they are more than three miles down the beach, long before I ever see them. The helicopter pictured above was almost silent, until it got maybe a mile away, and even when it passed by, it still wasn't that loud.

Do some of these Huey's have something like a quiet mode? It sounded nothing like the others, which I think have a very distinct sound.

Totally off subject, I watched the AVP link in your signature line. I've never seen that many grown men swaying with such happy faces. It reminds me of singing in chorus group, back in high school. Which one is you?

 

[Will B]

From Waltonsun.com

Continued aircraft noise at night, Eglin says

August 02, 2007
The testing includes a C-5 and helicopters to support the mission. Ample airspace is needed to turn the aircraft due to their size, and multiple passes are required to validate the test results. Flying at night at 1,000 feet is mandatory to accomplish the test mission, the report said.

Helicopter testing began in mid-July and will continue this week. The C-5 testing, as well as C-130 tests, are scheduled until Aug. 24.

For more information, contact Eglin public affairs, 882-3931.

***************
...I can usually hear these Huey's when they are more than three miles down the beach, long before I ever see them. The helicopter pictured above was almost silent, until it got maybe a mile away, and even when it passed by, it still wasn't that loud.

Do some of these Huey's have something like a quiet mode? It sounded nothing like the others, which I think have a very distinct sound.

Totally off subject, I watched the AVP link in your signature line. I've never seen that many grown men swaying with such happy faces. It reminds me of singing in chorus group, back in high school. Which one is you?

Good catch on the C5 info from Eglin. They do, indeed, have a very unique engine sound compared to any other jet aircraft I've ever heard. It's kind of like a whistling buzz more than anything. I live about 5 miles from Lockheed here in Atlanta and see them fairly regularly. As far as the helos go, the older Hueys have a two bladed rotor. My guess is that you saw a newer one that had a 4 bladed rotor. They are significantly quieter.

My chorus, Atlanta Vocal Project, is part of the Barbershop Harmony Society. The video you watched was from this year's international competition that took place in Denver the week of July 4th. This year we finished 9th in the world. Not bad for our 2nd ever contest. Last year in our first we finished 10th. At least we're moving in the right direction!
I'm the guy on the left end of the front row with the dark hair and Van Dyke beard. Not much face time, though. If you enjoyed that one, this link is to our set last year...[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg4wcPV8-hI[/nomedia]
I'm 2nd from the left and have far more face time, although; I don't know if that's a good thing!

On another note, I will be down this coming Friday through Monday. Do people from the board get together on a regular basis anywhere? It would be great to put some faces and real names with those of you out there in cyber space!

 

[Will B]

of course, I just looked at the picture of the helicopter you asked about and noticed that there were only two blades...Duh! Sorry...should have caught that. They may be a redesigned airfoil, but to answer your question, no, there is not a silent mode...

 

[JHBROCK]

I am Jeanine Brock. For those of you that thought that I was unpatriotic , not so, we thought the plane was crashing. I am use to low-flying planes but this was different. We thought it was a commercial airplane getting ready to crash, then we thought that maybe an airplane was in a holding pattern. Quite a few people that read the article in the NW Fl Daily News thought that we people in the Santa Rosa Beach area are just rich and should just keep our mouths shut. I am not rich. I grew up near in FWB and lived in the flight path of Hulburt. I was a concerned citizen and a mom of three very scared children. Next time I think I saw a plane crash, I will refrain from saying anything. I hope it is not one of those people that thought that i did not support out troops or that I was such rich girl living in Santa Rosa Beach.

 

[scooterbug44]

I'm so used to hearing planes, helicopters, explosions etc that I don't really notice it. (Grandma's house is on the flight path for Ohare so we're so used to jets landing that our conversations stop and start based on the noise.)

In Jeanine's defense, whenever I hear low fliers my first thought is that something is crashing. I was caught unawares by a huge plane doing a flyover at an FSU game and I seriously thought a plane was going to crash in the parking lot.

 

[dogflyguy]

Hey im not sure but , the airforce was supposed to be bringing from the north a C-130 BIG!!!! cargo plane to do some practice spraying . (flying low 150 to 300 ft) they spray for Fema after storms or large outbreaks of west nile. yes it's much bigger than our plane and that would explain the low level flight and nite flying. just my opinion

dfg

 

[ShallowsNole]

I'm so used to hearing planes, helicopters, explosions etc that I don't really notice it. (Grandma's house is on the flight path for Ohare so we're so used to jets landing that our conversations stop and start based on the noise.)

In Jeanine's defense, whenever I hear low fliers my first thought is that something is crashing. I was caught unawares by a huge plane doing a flyover at an FSU game and I seriously thought a plane was going to crash in the parking lot.

I remember that one. At the time, we were in row 80 on the east side. We heard something, looked over (didn't have to look up, just over ) and I swear that it looked like it flew in just above the gap between the north end scoreboard and the student section. I felt my hair move. :shock:

But yeah, even when you are used to plane noises...there is low, and then there is low. And though it's been a few years and navigation technology is better, planes from Eglin have crashed and/or gotten confused about their bomb targets before.

 

[JT]

Speaking of all the racket with the planes, I live in Atlanta near Dobbins AFB. One day last year our walls started rattling and the earth started shaking. My dogs went nuts and the cat disappeared for days.

The air show was in town. The Blue angles were giving a free show right above my house. They didnt obey the minimum altitude and so it looked to me like my treetops were coming off. I was ready for impact. I called the AFB and no one would talk to me of course, so I tried a different route. I called the base priest. Found out he was a fairly high ranking officer and explained my situation. He gave me the direct line to flt control. I called them. They were not very happy I was calling. :shock: Im not to sure my call had anything to do with it or the Blue angels were just done disturbing my area, but they moved on about 5 miles away. We could still see and hear them but they must have been tormenting some other at that point.

We did get a great show out of it. I hope it was the last one!!!!