Are military planes and helicopters flying lower these days over the area where you live?
Asked by
kevbo (
25672
)
October 25th, 2010
from iPhone
This has been going on for a while in Albuquerque, and there is new scuttlebutt in the papers about low altitude training missions being proposed for the mountains (and communities) of northern New Mexico that would involve flying 200 feet overhead. The debate over these training missions is being framed with the threat of base (realignment and) closures (BRAC). So basically, the threat of closing military bases—which would sink the economy of two New Mexico towns—if the public somehow blocks the military from conducting low altitude exercises over populated (mountain) areas.
I’m mainly interested in knowing if this issue is cropping up elsewhere, but if you have an opinion on the matter feel free to share.
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12 Answers
Yes and no. I have noticed an increase in low flying helicopters lately, but ‘tis the season for them to be searching for marijuana crops.
We also live extremely close to a military air base, so otherwise it is pretty common to see here.
I live very close to an aircraft factory (it makes a lot of military helicopters) so we’ve always had that, but lately it seems a bit less probably because of noise complaints.
No, I can’t say they are. But the morning Com Trails are off the hook crazy busy. They are literally “gridding” the entire sky. Anyone who actually looks and pays attention can see this is no accident. They are mapped out and intersected very precisely.
I live a few miles from a pretty big base and we constantly have military aircraft overhead. They have always been too low for my taste but I am not sure if they are getting lower.
Not noticeably, but I live in the Washington, DC area where low-flying planes are more controlled.
I live a couple of miles from a military base and have always lived nearby military bases. I am very used to low flying aircraft that rumbles the whole house. It’s a comforting noise to me.
I live close to a commercial airport so we don’t get any military aircraft around here at all. The sky’s crowded enough as it is.
They aren’t in our area. The naval flight training base moved to Pensacola, and they turned their airport over to the city for commercial use.
Maybe the Area 51 aliens got loose, and the military is searching for them.
We have F-16 fighter jets from Luke Air Force Base that fly over our house all week long because our subdivision is inside the training and approach & departure patterns of Luke.
I’m reasonably sure they have predetermined altitudes they have to maintain when over certain populated areas and when executing certain types of maneuvers. In the time I’ve lived where I’m at now, about 6 years, I’ve never seen the jets deviate from their current flying patterns. The only time it gets a little annoying or sometimes startles me is when the pilots activate their afterburners when flying close to or directly over our neighborhood.
Luke has been threatened by the BRAC several times and has escaped so far. Residents have banded together to purchase additional property around the base and the state government has intervened to help keep the base viable and I really hope it doesn’t close down.
Most of our bases are already closed, so we don’t get many planes anymore. A relative of mine in San Diego says they are noisier then they used to be, so maybe.
I don’t know if they are flying lower but it is more often and 24 hours/day.
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