People on the Kansas University campus and in downtown Lawrence noticed a military jet fly low over Jayhawk Boulevard and Allen Fieldhouse Friday afternoon.
A loud jet engine could also be heard. Several people described it as an F-16 jet that buzzed campus.
“What the heck was that??? Big plane just went fast and low over downtown Lawrence,” Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew tweeted at 3:42 p.m.
Military officials did not confirm the reason for the flight or where the jet was based.
“It was not aircraft from the Kansas National Guard,” said Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Adjutant General’s Office. “We aren’t sure where the aircraft are from.”
But she said Kansas officials Friday evening were still checking with other states, including the Texas National Guard.
Douglas County emergency dispatchers said they received several calls asking what the jets were.
“It was not a pre-arranged fly-over, and it had nothing to do with any KU event,” said Jill Jess, a KU spokeswoman.
FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Cory referred questions to the military because the agency does not comment on military aircraft, she said.
A spokesman at Whiteman Air Force Base southeast of Kansas City, Mo., said Friday the closest F-16 jets to here are based in Tulsa, Okla., with the 138th Fighter Wing of the Oklahoma Air National Guard. He said some F-16 planes had landed at Whiteman earlier this week and left the base Friday but further information was not available.
Lt. Col. Max Moss, an Oklahoma National Guard spokesman, said the jets in Lawrence were not from Tulsa. He said the base had pilots on a navigation mission but they were headed to Florida.
Comments
rosben 1 year, 2 months ago
Yes -- that was crazy.
Keith 1 year, 2 months ago
Looked too big to be a F16, maybe a B1?
DillonBarnes 1 year, 2 months ago
It's not paranoia, it's curiosity. We don't get a lot of fly-overs like that, so of course people are going to want to know why it's happening.
itsalwayssunnyinlarry 1 year, 2 months ago
There were two. Saw them both
George_Braziller 1 year, 2 months ago
I couldn't see either one but I definitely heard both of them. They must have been directly above my house.
jhawkinsf 1 year, 2 months ago
For a moment there I thought I was back in S.F. and the Blue Angels were doing their routine fly over during fleet week.
audvisartist 1 year, 2 months ago
Maverick and Goose just wanted to do a flyby over Allen Fieldhouse.
DillonBarnes 1 year, 2 months ago
As low as those where, they should have been easily identified. No one quick enough to look up?
DillonBarnes 1 year, 2 months ago
That came off condescending. I meant to say, "No one look up quick enough?"
itsalwayssunnyinlarry 1 year, 2 months ago
they were black, but i'm not knowledgeable about army aircraft.
Maxwell Butterfield 1 year, 2 months ago
The acoustics in the tunnel that is downtown made it's place in the sky unclear right until it zipped over. I couldn't even begin to identify the model other than it was black, angular, and appeared to be flying sideways, if that means anything.
Piggles 1 year, 2 months ago
I was out with my dogs and I heard it. Was so loud I thought it was a big plane and right over my head, but couldn't see where it was. Then I heard the second one and happened to look towards the north (ku campus area) and saw the military plane.
jj14 1 year, 2 months ago
Same jet flew by, turned around South of town then flew back.
wcp 1 year, 2 months ago
they shook the heck out of our building on mass st.
I was kinda curious.
Jeremi Lewis 1 year, 2 months ago
working near 9th and iowa. heard it first, was going fast, did some maneuver, then headed back west. thought i heard another one but didn't see anything. Maybe someone has a hangar in Tecumseh.
DillonBarnes 1 year, 2 months ago
Someone with nothing better to do would troll the LJ comments.
pace 1 year, 2 months ago
lol, no important people would not look up at a loud noise. That would be insane , insane you say. cow pie.
touringdriver 1 year, 2 months ago
I was able to look up in time to see a semi trailer folding up and turning into a wing. p.s. it was fighter jets not a bomber. they flew right over my house while i was grilling out. nice and loud too. cool!
norma_lee 1 year, 2 months ago
It freaked me out because it was so loud. I went out side to check it out and saw the second fly over. The plane was doing a barrel roll, it was pretty sweet. Too bad the kids were sleeping, they would of loved to see it!
RoeDapple 1 year, 2 months ago
I been holed up in the bunker all afternoon. Has the "All clear" been sounded yet?
Boomtroculous 1 year, 2 months ago
I saw the back of the first plane as it flew south...it was white and barrel-shaped. IS it legal to fly that low?
pace 1 year, 2 months ago
Never click on a FHNC link.
pace 1 year, 2 months ago
I bow or should I say 1+
HomeSlice 1 year, 2 months ago
Very cool link - I rarely bookmark sites, but this made the list for future perusal. Don't know if you were posting for just the picture, but the general subject is quite interesting.
kansasplains1 1 year, 2 months ago
jhawkinssf-
Are you aware that last Fall the Blue Angles didn't fly over the Golden Gate Bridge? We were there early, but the fog came in just before they were to start their show, so they couldn't do it. The whole air show couldn't perform.
It was great to hear someone else think of the Blue Angels in San Francisco!
RETICENT_IRREVERENT 1 year, 2 months ago
This is exactly what happened in the beginning of Red Dawn.
aarontoddp 1 year, 2 months ago
The shooting suspect from Afghanistan was brought to Leavenworth today, my brother saw a C 130 with two F-16's flying escort. Would have been cool to see..He said the F-16's hit their afterburners as they crossed town and turned north...
audvisartist 1 year, 2 months ago
Best explanation. +1
vertigo 1 year, 2 months ago
There is no possible reason whatsoever that F16s would need to escort a murder suspect. As a matter of fact they would keep his transport low key so as to avoid drawing attention to it.
Mot likely they were on a training or cross country sortie.
newtongirl 1 year, 2 months ago
Everyone in the world knew he was coming into Leavenworth today - it's been in national news for a couple of days now, so low key was lost a while ago. It makes sense that a jet would be in the air when a high-profile "terrorist's target" is incoming. I doubt the jet was an escort per se, but more of an insurance policy or it may have even been checking something specific out.
That also explains why nobody can give a straight answer. Routine exercises are way less of a secret than you'd think.
After 6 years at a flight base, that's my guess as well.
vertigo 1 year, 2 months ago
Uh... I've been in the Air Force for 18+ years. I think I have a bit of knowledge on the subject.
1- Even though it was known he was going to Leavenworth his itinerary and mode of transport was not publicized for OPSEC reasons.
2- F16s do not escort prisoners. I've worked many a PUC (prisoners under custody) mission in Iraq and elsewhere in the middle east, most of them with 50+ prisoners/high value terrorists onboard. Never were the missions escorted by fighters.
3- There was 1 aircraft, it was flying alone and not in tandem with any other aircraft.
4- Ignore what you see in the movies.
MurphyCat 1 year, 2 months ago
Read this on Yahoo News: Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, (L) 1st platoon sergeant (shooting suspect) was flown from Kuwait and arrived Friday evening at a military detention center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., the military's only maximum-security prison.
An Air Force cargo jet arrived at Kansas City International Airport, about an hour from the military prison, shortly after 9 p.m. Friday. Security was tight, with the terminal completely blocked off, and a convoy of unmarked vehicles pulled off the tarmac and out of the airport.
LivedinLawrence4Life 1 year, 2 months ago
It was Doug Comptons new jet that he bought with the money he saved from the recent tax abatements from the city of Lawrence. He forgot to feed the zebra before heading to the game in Omaha so he zipped back to town to feed it.
Ron Holzwarth 1 year, 2 months ago
There has been a couple times when I've seen a military jet fly quite low, that is, no higher than many model rockets can fly, and every time I have wondered this:
What would happen if someone's model rocket was sucked into a military jet's engine?
Joshua Montgomery 1 year, 2 months ago
Nothing. These engines are designed to survive bird strikes. A cardboard model rocket would just get shredded, burned and passed through.
That said...I wouldn't go shooting model rockets at F-16s. You might piss the pilot off.
Those M61 A-1 Vulcan cannons fire 6,000 M50 rounds per minute........could easily you into a cloud of blood vapor. They'd have to identify you using DNA techniques.
sheidrickman 1 year, 2 months ago
Were they perhaps delivering the soldier that killed the 16 in Afghanistan to Ft. Leavenworth?
sheidrickman 1 year, 2 months ago
I take that back, that seems a poor choice of delivery vehicle.
tuschkahouma 1 year, 2 months ago
I was on my route behind a building on 23rd when I looked up and clearly saw an F 16 tomcat flying to the southeast over Dillons. I looked up and it looked to be going at least 250 to 350 mph because I looked up again and it was gone. This plane is capable of upwards of a thousand miles an hour and it looked to be going sort of leisurely. I routinely see refueling tankers from the 190th flying into Forbes Field. I also see the Chinook double rotor helicopters from time to time.
DillonBarnes 1 year, 2 months ago
F-16 tomcat? There is the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F-14 Tomcat.
Seems to be a general conciseness that it was an F-16.
Escorting that Afghanistan soldier with a couple F-16s over Kansas seems a little excessive though.
kstatefan40 1 year, 2 months ago
Considering the F-14 is retired, I would say the F-16 is probably the most likely variation. If it had twin tails, it would have been either an F-15 (which looks an awful lot like the 14 except it has fixed wings), F-18, F-22, or F-35. The F-16 is much more likely around here, as I think the nearest F-18/F-22/F-35 can be found in Dallas.
gphawk89 1 year, 2 months ago
The 18 can actually be found in St. Louis (where they build them). The 15, too. But they're not based there so they don't stick around very long.
grimpeur 1 year, 2 months ago
Sorry for the noise everyone. I was just waxing my lease agent's tail after he picked up the loaner. Mine was in the shop having the blinker fluid topped up and the fetzer valve replaced.
Happy to report it's running fine, thanks.
spinmama 1 year, 2 months ago
It was one fighter jet, and it looked to fly a figure 8, banking sideways on the turns. I'm no expert, but I saw two vertical tail fins. I was on the east side of campus, and it was so low on the first pass that I saw a head in the cockpit!
JackMcKee 1 year, 2 months ago
If it had two tail fins it wasn't an F-16. That would make it an F-18 or an F-15.
JackMcKee 1 year, 2 months ago
F-18 is closest to an F-16. That would be my guess.
DillonBarnes 1 year, 2 months ago
Hm, interesting since the F/A-18 is usually associated with the Navy, seems away from home. That being said, I do remember getting to look in the cockpit of one when I happened to be at Forbes when one landed one night.
Bob_Keeshan 1 year, 2 months ago
I would bet it was the F 18.
I doubt it was the F 16 because it did not appear to be a single engine. Also, it had a much wider wingset than the F 16, much closer to the F 14.
JackMcKee 1 year, 2 months ago
F-14 was retired in 2006 and in slow flight you would never confuse an F-14 with any other jet in US service.
redcoalcarpet 1 year, 2 months ago
It was probably an Air Guardsman that is a KU alum who was in the area flying down Mass street and the campus for old time sake...
JackMcKee 1 year, 2 months ago
It's really very easy for people to misidentify military jets. If you don't know what to look for they pretty much all look alike at 400 MPH from only one POV.
optimist 1 year, 2 months ago
It is quite possible that it was a T-38. This is a trainer aircraft that some could conceivably mistake for an F-16. I often see a T-38 training around Topeka. If they were conducting nap of the earth exercise the aircraft would likely have travelled east along I-70 from Topeka and then turned south on its return to Topeka.
JackMcKee 1 year, 2 months ago
only a single tail fin
Armored_One 1 year, 2 months ago
I grew up on air bases, one of which was a training base for Tweets, as they were commonly called. No tweet has that strong of an engine in them.
From what I heard, I'd guess is was a 16 or 18, since 15 will blow windows out at the range the flyboy seemed to be at. Sounded more like a P&W engine than a Northrop, but I could be wrong.
Dad was a JEM for over 20 years, so I listened to a LOT of engines growing up...
gphawk89 1 year, 2 months ago
The 38 is a Talon. The 37 is a Tweet. But you're right, a Tweet isn't much of a "military" jet and doesn't make a whole lot of noise relative to a full-blown fighter.
touringdriver 1 year, 2 months ago
it was an F-18.
optimist 1 year, 2 months ago
Far more likely to have been an Air Force aircraft. The F-18 is a Navy asset. While it's not impossible it is highly unlikely that it was an F-18 unless it was here for a specific reason (air show nearby). I also find it unlikely to have been an F-15. F-15's are typically used as bombers with long range air-to-air capability. If it was flying as low as witnesses say I can't imagine what the pilot would be training for. I'm finding it fun trying to figure out what everyone saw.
Crazy_Larry 1 year, 2 months ago
F-15 Eagle. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/F-15%2C_71st_Fighter_Squadron%2C_in_flight.JPG
Crazy_Larry 1 year, 2 months ago
here's a pic of an F-15. This is what I saw flying yesterday afternoon over crazy Larry. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/white-house-saudi-arabia-sign-30b-f-15-deal/
DanR 1 year, 2 months ago
Yeah, I think you nailed it. We got a pretty good look at it at the dog park out by Clinton Lake. It flew east, very low (maybe 500 feet) over the dam, looped around Lawrence then came back even lower at maybe 250-300 feet, sideways. Just one aircraft, and it looked like a pilot screwing around waving the wings. But what struck me odd is that it seemed pretty well loaded up with sidewinders or maybe some fuel tanks. When it cruised back west over Clinton dam going west it really hauled a$$ out of here. My first thought that it was an F14 with the wings swept back, but that seems pretty unlikely. F-15 makes sense, although where it came from really doesn't. Was NOT an F16 or F18.
So, did anyone else notice the two single engine planes (WWII-era?) flying over south Lawrence today in formation at about 1:00? Couldn't tell what they were as they were almost directly overhead.
Crazy_Larry 1 year, 2 months ago
Here's something awesome, an F-18 showing off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1ywUm...
kusp8 1 year, 2 months ago
I had flashbacks to my Topeka days and planes flying overhead all the time going to Forbes.
DillonBarnes 1 year, 2 months ago
And herein lies the problem with eyewitness testimony.
rtwngr 1 year, 2 months ago
It was me. I did a fly over. It was an F-16 that I keep in my hanger out back. Did you see me wave?
SinoHawk 1 year, 2 months ago
It was Air Force One. We just didn't recognize it because it was in disguise...
/
Seriously, though, this is a good example of why witness testimony is difficult to get 100% correct
Ron Holzwarth 1 year, 2 months ago
These seven problems are the premise of the book: 'The Seven Sins of Memory', by Daniel Schacter, PhD
1) Transience--the decreasing accessibility of memory over time. While a degree of this is normal with aging, decay of or damage to the hippocampus and temporal lobe can cause extreme forms of it. Schacter cited as a somewhat facetious example former President Bill Clinton's "convenient lapses of memory" during the Monica Lewinsky investigation. Clinton claimed in the hearings that he sometimes couldn't remember what had happened the previous week.
2) Absent-mindedness--lapses of attention and forgetting to do things. This sin operates both when a memory is formed (the encoding stage) and when a memory is accessed (the retrieval stage). Examples, said Schacter, are forgetting where you put your keys or glasses. He noted a particularly famous instance in which cellist Yo-Yo Ma forgot to retrieve his $2.5 million cello from the trunk of a New York City cab.
3) Blocking--temporary inaccessibility of stored information, such as tip-of-the-tongue syndrome. Schacter recounted the embarrassment of John Prescott, British deputy prime minister, when a reporter asked him how the government was paying for the expensive Millennium Dome. Prescott struggled to find the word "lottery," trying "raffles" instead.
4) Suggestibility--incorporation of misinformation into memory due to leading questions, deception and other causes. Psychologists Elizabeth Loftus, PhD, and Stephen Ceci, PhD, are among those well-known in this research.
5) Bias--retrospective distortions produced by current knowledge and beliefs. Psychologist Michael Ross, PhD, and others have shown that present knowledge, beliefs and feelings skew our memory for past events, said Schacter. For example, research indicates that people currently displeased with a romantic relationship tend to have a disproportionately negative take on past states of the relationship.
6) Persistence--unwanted recollections that people can't forget, such as the unrelenting, intrusive memories of post-traumatic stress disorder. An example, said Schacter, is the case of Donnie Moore of the California Angels, who threw the pitch that lost his team the 1986 American League Championship against the Boston Red Sox. Moore fixated on the bad play, said Schacter, "became a tragic prisoner of memory," and eventually committed suicide.
7) Misattribution--attribution of memories to incorrect sources or believing that you have seen or heard something you haven't. Prominent researchers in this area include Henry L. Roediger III, PhD, and Kathleen McDermott, PhD. An illustration of it, said Schacter, is the rental shop mechanic who thought that an accomplice, known as "John Doe No. 2," had worked with Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing; he thought he'd seen the two of them together in his shop. In fact, the mechanic had encountered John Doe No. 2 alone on a different day.
Lynn731 1 year, 2 months ago
You are the newspaper, you are supposed to investigate and tell us what jet plane it was, and why it was flying low over Lawrence. All you do is pose the question most people had, so find the answer and print it!
rockchalker52 1 year, 2 months ago
chop chop!
sjgreen 1 year, 2 months ago
+1 -- I read the story yesterday and came back today expecting to find the real explanation, but... nothing new except more guesses from the commentators.
wissmo 1 year, 2 months ago
We maybe seeing more of this with the private sales of former Soviet aircraft. They can be marked up to look like one of ours. Actually some are still in production due to the demand.
Some of the trainers are already in the hands of private pilots. I say maybe because the cost of the "relatively" inexpensive aircraft just to fly without afterburners is mind blowingly expensive.
You can buy a flyable 40 passenger Yak jetliner for less than 100K, They are rightly nicknamed in Russia as the Kerosene burner due to the massive fuel demand, but hey how cool to fly into town on a Yak.
http://www.airplanemart.com/aircraft-for-sale/Airliner--Commuter/1976-Yakovlev-Yak-40-Pax/2684/
RoeDapple 1 year, 2 months ago
Piper Cub.
Kathy Getto 1 year, 2 months ago
Tail-dragger - only way to go.
sbradt 1 year, 2 months ago
I'm not one of those people who gets freaked out by a low flyover. I caught a glimpse of it and I'm always just a little awed by the sheer power of those things as they go by. Maybe it's a "guy thing". BUT, to look at the paper this morning and discover that apparently we don't have any rights to know what it was or where it came from or even some vague idea what it was doing really bothers me. Actually it really pisses me off. What kind of arrogance leads the military to refuse to answer even the most basic questions about a low level flyover of a city by one of their (our) aircraft? Operational security? really? Didn't we pay for this?
guess_again 1 year, 2 months ago
I found it. Mystery solved:
http://tinyurl.com/6dpnvm
rockchalker52 1 year, 2 months ago
I would rather see that than the F-whatever.
wissmo 1 year, 2 months ago
sbradt
Years ago for some odd reason if one was traveling the back roads of Western Kansas you could expect to see a B-52 giant bombers flying at very low altitude. ?? never did figure out why they did this.
I was deep in Western Kansas mind thought driving alone when one appeared on my drivers side. Looked like it was going to land on me, what a sight.
guess_again 1 year, 2 months ago
For many years B-52's have had low level practice bomb training runs in SW Kansas and SE Colorado. Aviation charts clearly indicate these areas. And if you think you were startled, imagine being in a tiny Cessna or Piper and encountering one of these machines.
DThomas 1 year, 2 months ago
Was working when it flew over. It flew over west campus did a figure 8 towards the south then came back over west campus. It was a F-16 Falcon, single engine, single tail fin.
wprop 1 year, 2 months ago
wake up..."they" don't know where the plane came from ....if that's true...wow....how do we know that pilot is not going to "SNAP"...the man should never fly again....get him some help....boys will be boys does not cut it.....
guess_again 1 year, 2 months ago
It was Art, Wayne. Art.
RoeDapple 1 year, 2 months ago
Just a young pilot flying a little off course so he could do a fly-by to impress his girl friend. No big deal.
Joshua Montgomery 1 year, 2 months ago
Since an F-16 can burn anywhere from 650 to 900 gallons of fuel every hour, if this is the case, his (or her) little side trip may have cost the taxpayers a pretty penny.
Jet-A is $5.69/gallon, so if he (or she) went 30 min out of the way to do the Lawrence flyby, we (the taxpayers) spent $3,700 to $5,000.
I don't mind spending some dough to defend our nation, but I hate it when the pilots simply burn my tax dollars to show off.
classclown 1 year, 2 months ago
Obama photo op?
I do have to say, for a town that likes to think of itself as being cultured and the center of the universe, you sure are acting like a bunch of hicks as Rara said.
Look! There's one of them there air-o-planes!
Seriously, if seeing a jet fighter gets you this worked up, it just goes to show you don't get around much. You may be in Lawrence, but you've proved yourselves to be Kansans to the core .Stand proud Kansans. The rest of the world is laughing at you.
DillonBarnes 1 year, 2 months ago
Well gosh, you big city folk and your big city jets. I hear in that New York City that they use those hovering fighter jets as taxi cabs. I sure can understand how a military jet making a low low pass over a populated area is no big deal to you.
parrothead8 1 year, 2 months ago
I'd rather be a hick than a snob.
yourworstnightmare 1 year, 2 months ago
It was an f 15 or f 18. Double tail. Likely the pilot was a ku grad taking a joyride over his alma mater while here on other business.
attorney1776 1 year, 2 months ago
No offense to anyone, but this is why eye witness testimony is always suspect. Most people on here saw something different. Remember this next time the newspaper reports on a trial and the claims of witnesses. People always see different things no matter how sincere they are.
Secondly, the military is always going to fain ignorance initially, but rest assured they are scrambling to find out what plane and pilot did this flyover. When they find out, this newspaper can report it. The air force or national guard is investigating.
There is a 1000 foot minimum flight rule for military aircraft in addition to strict rules forbidding flights over population centers. Both of these regulations seem to have been violated.
I spoke with an active duty Air Force Colonel in Special Forces command who told me when they find out the pilot of this flight, his career is over, if in fact, he violated the above rules.
You can be assured that someone one in authority is looking into it.
And it is true, some of these new pilots get this idea they can do hidden flybys for 30 seconds and impress their girlfriends or fraternity brothers, but in the end, their military careers are finished when they are found out.
What if this pilot had sudden equipment problems or clipped a tree or building and crashed in the city? What about if he encountered a small aircraft that was appropriately flying over Lawrence?
This is a pilot who may have displayed a total lack of concern or responsibility for Lawrence's citizens. Hopefully, soon we will all know.
JackMcKee 1 year, 2 months ago
The minimum altitude to comply with FAA regs is 1000 feet over populated areas. There's no evidence that this pilot violated that floor. Have to love internet blowhards.
attorney1776 1 year, 2 months ago
Always good to make your point and join in on the conversation with name calling and insults. Gives you added respect and credibility.
They were between 400 and 500 feet. I witnessed the event from the 9th floor.
You can bet some careers are over.
Speaking of blowhards...........
JackMcKee 1 year, 2 months ago
I guess you'll be called as a witness for the prosecution?
Boomtroculous 1 year, 2 months ago
Actually attorney1776 said " Both of these regulations seem to have been violated." Key word "seem", and it did seem (in italics for slight emphasis) to violate some aviation rule in regards to heights and towns and jets. Attorney1776's statement did not express that the aircraft did in fact break an aviation rule. JackMcKee, you are right that there is no evidence, at this point, that a floor (technical term ;P) was violated. :D
Heart, Judge Judy
Boomtroculous 1 year, 2 months ago
I sincerely hope someone is looking into why this happened. It's not cool when a military aircraft flies too low directly over a town for unknown reasons...this isn't a war zone!
Solomon 1 year, 2 months ago
"fain?" Really? Isn't an attorney supposed to be a master of the English language? At least enough to know the difference between "fain" and "feign?"
And isn't it interesting that attorney1776, after admonishing us that eye-witness reports are suspect unequivocally states that they were between 400 and 500 feet ("They were between 400 and 500 feet. I witnessed the event from the 9th floor.").
Boomtroculous 1 year, 2 months ago
Our ewe sirius?!
JackMcKee 1 year, 2 months ago
I think he meant the jet was so low it made him faint.
blindrabbit 1 year, 2 months ago
All wrong, much easier explanation: It was Nelson Krueger giving himself a congratulatory spin over Lawrence so he could add some photographs to his monumental self-promotional collection throughout the Lawrence Airport.
superwizbang 1 year, 2 months ago
My theory: Pilot who attended school or ROTC at KU and was performing a normal (training?) mission in the area got confirmation to veer over the Lawrence area on their (return) trip home. It would not be uncommon or unheard of for the C-130 which delivered the SSG to Leavenworth to have been accompanied by an escort if the escorting pilots needed to get flight hours. From my time in the Army, I can also say that it is not uncommon for Army transports to be served by Marine units such as an F-18.
-Anywho
RoeDapple 1 year, 2 months ago
I watched "Top Gun" 'bout a dozens of times and . . .and . . Oh, never mind.
snap_pop_no_crackle 1 year, 2 months ago
Could it have been a BV-141? http://www.vrcurassow.com/2dvrc/sscuracao/BlohmundVoss.html
Kathy Getto 1 year, 2 months ago
Chandelle anyone?
fourkitties 1 year, 2 months ago
I heard them, and then looked out my front window and saw them both they turned around above 23rd st maybe right above quicktrip? because I could see them turning right out my front window. I thought... "huh... I sure hope something doesn't malfunction and a neighborhood gets smashed." Then my second thought was "I didn't think they were supposed to fly that low in residental areas nevermind training in residental areas" then my final thought was....."oh tihs.....what if someone that wants to kill americans got into the military and is just randomly doing suicide attacks on neighborhoods and its happening all over" Then, they were gone. Poof.
Liberty275 1 year, 2 months ago
Good lord. Only in Lawrence will you find people blaming an obvious violation of our airspace by extraterrestrials on the military.
Yeoman2 1 year, 2 months ago
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
RoeDapple 1 year, 2 months ago
"towel-head jerk"?
kernal 1 year, 2 months ago
I heard it (or them) at 23rd & Iowa. Only saw one and it looked silver, not black, but that could have been the sun shining on it. The pilot was showing off a bit, but I didn't see a figure eight. The plane was definitely too high to see a pilot.
It wasn't nearly as awesome as the Stealth Bomber that hovered next to KU's West Campus a day or two after 9/11.
classclown 1 year, 2 months ago
"It wasn't nearly as awesome as the Stealth Bomber that hovered next to KU's West Campus a day or two after 9/11. "
====================================================
If it did indeed hover, that would have been awesome. So how long did that bomber just hover there for?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
Yeoman, be careful or someone will try to make a joke out of the fact that you actually have a life.
kernal 1 year, 2 months ago
Yes, clown, Stealth aircraft can hover. It was probably two to four minutes -just long enough for everyone (who wasn't scared and hiding under the bed) to go outside and get a good look and whoop and holler! Figure he either had a friend at KU or was a previous KU student.
snap_pop_no_crackle 1 year, 2 months ago
Stealth aircraft can hover." http://orlyowl.tripod.com/
kernal 1 year, 2 months ago
Hahaha!
KU7679 1 year, 2 months ago
Canadian F-18 Hornets have been training at Smoky HIll Bombing range near Salina. I say we blame it on Canada, eh?
snap_pop_no_crackle 1 year, 2 months ago
Buncha hosers!
vertigo 1 year, 2 months ago
Yeah. OK, well, uh, we found, uh, this mouse in a bottle of YOUR BEER, eh. Like, we was at a party and, uh, a friend of ours - a COP - had some, and HE PUKED. And he said, uh, come here and get free beer or, uh, he'll press charges.
classclown 1 year, 2 months ago
kernal (anonymous) replies…
Yes, clown, Stealth aircraft can hover. It was probably two to four minutes -just long enough for everyone (who wasn't scared and hiding under the bed) to go outside and get a good look and whoop and holler! Figure he either had a friend at KU or was a previous KU student. March 17, 2012 at 8:41 p.m
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Your claim was that it was a bomber and it happened in 2001. Please enlighten us all by letting us know which stealth bomber had the capability of hovering in 2001.
Drug induced visions don't count.
Bursting 1 year, 2 months ago
yay
stockham 1 year, 2 months ago
So was it twin tails and twin engine? From what my cousin saw from 1000 ft away on campus, it had straight up and down vertical stabilizers. Which would rule out the F-18. I'm thinking F-15.
Has there been an official statement yet?
Valkyrie 1 year, 2 months ago
Funny thing about that fly over, the military knows where every single one of its aircraft are at any given time. Its a thing call a transponder. NORAD as well as several other agencies track a specific code assigned to each plane. From the moment he leaves the ground till he touches down, they know his/hers location. So whoever did the fly by was know by the military before they even left Lawrence airspace. If that wasn't authorized, someone is in real deep Kimchi!!!
adogator 1 year, 2 months ago
Here is my theory: We didn't hear about Staff Sgt. Bales being transferred to Ft. Leavenworth until this weekend. I think it had something to do with his transfer there and that is why we heard nothing about the fly-overs beforehand.
vertigo 1 year, 2 months ago
Covered ad nauseum above. Had nothing to do with Bales.
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