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So the past few days I was in the Phoenix area... kinda near Luke AFB... anyways it was great to see and hear fast movers again... especially at low to medium altitude. I caught these two F-35s flying by at about 2000’ AGL.
Next visit out that way I’m bringing my real camera with the long lens...
F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!
U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!
N is for NO SURVIVORS...
- Plankton
LSM
Border patrol? Sorry Stick I couldn't resist!!!!
rangerj Border patrol? Sorry Stick I couldn't resist!!!!
LOL! “This Area Patrolled by Aircraft”
Brings back good memories of working at Luke on a couple occasions - lots of good jet action!
If you haven't been there, the Pima Air Museum is a short 100 miles south, adjacent to Davis Monthan AFB. Two acres of display aircraft and plenty of F-16's and A-10's flying training sorties.
There's a sight that always gives me chills in person.
Mike, I have not been to the Pima museum yet. But if all goes as planned, I retire next year, will be moving out that way, and will be visiting everything that I can find of that sort out that way.
Greg, Im with you on seeing fighters doing training sorties. Chills or thrills, they get the blood pumping.
There is something unique in the sound of military aircraft engines.
I remember when my small town was small enough for annual airshows, and part of that experience was hearing the a/c roll in to be set up on the tarmac.
Which is one of those things like the smeel of burnt JP and hot asphalt an a hint of Skydrol.
Smoke! We need smoke!
One of the thrills of my career was watching pairs of Oregon Air Guard F4s take off from the military side of PDX while I was punchlisting a parking garage there.
Donner und Blitzen!
Modeling is an excuse to buy books.
I would move to Tucson if I were you. A lot less humidity and a whole lot less urban blight than up in the Phoenix area.
I did a project there that kept me going back for a couple of years. I really loved Tucson.
We want to stay close enough on the west of Phoenix for a shorter drive for visits with the kids here in so.cal. Tucson adds a couple more hours to that drive. We actually are looking southwest of Phoenix that is fairly removed from the city itself. But still in the flight areas of Luke for daily air shows...
If you want west then look at Goodyear. It's getting bigger now, so anything it may be missing now will be there eventually. You also might want to consider Casa Grande. Property values were definitely cheaper. It's east of Phoenix, but still fairly close to SoCal. We lived in Tucson for 18 years and made regular trips to Rancho Cucamonga all the time. 5 to 6 hours, if we avoided Rush Hour. You can knock an hour or more off the time you would have to drive. I will say this, Pima Air Museum is well worth visiting. Lots of former 'Boneyard' birds there. Oh yeah, just remember to only buy gas in AZ. CA prices are ridiculous.
There is a fair amount of Wright architecture out in west Phoenix worth looking at. A number of missions, too.
And the GC is really wonderful. The south rim is a lot of fun with the Harvey houses, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Colter-Builder-Canyon-Association/dp/0938216457
Rotorhead, we are looking in the south end of Goodyear near the Estrella mountains. Some very nice stuff that we really liked there. And yes, I saw the gas price differences.
GM, I am really looking forward to exploring AZ. Gonna have plenty to see and do once the move happens. Next year, my job will start paying me not to show up.
They have them at MCAS Miramar and they fly directly over my office. Saw a flight of four today. Also lots of V22 action. One of my DBAs husband is an Osprey pilot.
Coolest thing I ever saw was planes flying nap of the earth up the Kern river while trout fishing. Pass over extremely low and silent then whoooooosh. Fighters and cargo planes!
I've lived near airbases my entire life and would miss the activity if I moved away.
Thanks,
John
John, living near Miramar, I’ll be you have a decent air show every working day. Occasionally the Ospreys come up this way, but I think I can count on one hand the times that I have seen those so far. Such a unique bird to see. Near my current home we get lots of Blackhawks out of Los Alamitos, and occasional Super Hornets and C-17s going into the Boeing facility at Long Beach. On the news this past week, 160th SOAR has been in town playing with LAPD late at night. I just keep thinking of the original Die Hard seeing the choppers among the high rises of downtown....
stikpusher On the news this past week, 160th SOAR has been in town playing with LAPD late at night. I just keep thinking of the original Die Hard seeing the choppers among the high rises of downtown....
GMorrison stikpusher On the news this past week, 160th SOAR has been in town playing with LAPD late at night. I just keep thinking of the original Die Hard seeing the choppers among the high rises of downtown.... "Blue Thunder"!
"Blue Thunder"!
I had forgotten that one...
JAFO!
When I was young I worked at Davis Monthan on the AMARG (AMARC) building hangars, flight simulators, remodels etc. Nothing like eating my lunch in the boneyard!
I now live in Phoenix and get to see the cool stuff at Luke but there is nothing like watching the A-10's come inf for a landing. I would swear they move slower than your car does.. Lots of cool planes in AZ for sure.
Phoenix is for making money and Tucson is for retirement.
Stik is retiring.
That sounds like a great job. All the times I went to Tucson, I was too busy to go to Pima. Too bad for me...
We get the occasional C-17 in or out of MRY, but the air is quiet here. That's ok by me, I can use the calm. Also have a new dog that jumps in the air at the slightest noise.
Lol! Well, I’m retiring to the Phoenix area, not Phoenix proper...
Lunch in the Davis Monaghan boneyards sounds awesome. And yes, the A-10 is a pleasure to view in the air, no matter what they’re doing... even if one is scaring the bejeezus out of you with its gun firing...
I have to say, after seeing them very upclose and personal (on the ramp) these things are fugly. Lol. Bulky. And not ugly like the warthogs. Just plain ugly. But watching them fly...they are LOUD!
Stik, my final construction project before I retired was in Kingman, Arizona (2014).
https://www.google.com/search?q=kingman%20arizona%20retirement%20communities&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m#fid=0x80cddc0e73b4377d:0xea1cdd31564a384f&fpstate=luuv&imagekey=!1e2!2snSWJfNu_K8DxvXAoAsmruw&istate=lrl:iv&rlimm=16869601508193876047&viewerState=im
During construction I would spend weekends in Flagstaff, Prescott, and the communities west of downtown Phoenix to get away from the dust in Kingman. In the months it took to complete this project I was hospitalized twice with a pulmonary infection.
The doctors at Kingman General Hospital told me that dust in Arizona, especially in the Phoenix area can cause serious health issues. If you or someone in your family have breathing problems I would be very selective about were you live in Arizona.
As you probably already know Arizona is a great place if you love the dry, low humidity of the desert southwest as I do. The dry heat actually feels good to me, but the dust... Especially just before monsoon season is something else.
Harold
Prescott is the best place I've been in AZ, outside of Flagstaff but not in the winter.
To see build logs for my models: http://goldeneramodel.com/mymodels/mymodels.html
jeaton01 Prescott is the best place I've been in AZ, outside of Flagstaff but not in the winter.
So yesterday for me was F-35 day... while in AZ, I was walking down the sidewalk when I heard jets overheard. I looked up and saw a pair of F-35s zooming south at around 2500 feet. I pulled out my phone and was able to snap this photo.
if only I had a real camera to zoom in with.... as I watched they appeared to practice an intercept on an airliner that was on approach to Phoenix Sky Harbor, then broke off and zoomed away out of view.
A few hours later as we were driving back to California on I-10 and an hour or so west of Phoenix when I saw an aircraft low and fast crossing south across the hiway at perhaps 200’ AGL. A second trailed perhaps 10-15 seconds behind him in the same flight profile, and by then we had closed enough to where I could make out the twin canter tails of an F-35... perhaps 15 seconds behind them as we closed to near where they crossed the hiway came a third. But them he climbed to maybe 500 feet, turned east, and zoomed back down to 200 feet and parallel the eastbound lanes of I-10. I pulled out my phone again as he lit burner and pulled away south from the road... mind you we could hear the burner over the wind and road noise of traveling at 80+ mph and the car stereo...
Yeah, their gettin’ paid to do that...
There's a wealth of history in many ways connected to Arizona.
In my own cone of interest there were several threads that came together.
The ATSF (Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad), home of the Super Chiefs.
The Fred Harvey Wagon Wheel hotels.
And the numerous National Parks and Monuments etc.
In particular the tourist experience and one of my architect heroes Mary Coulter. She designed Harvey Houses at the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff an elsewhere on the ATSF route.
https://explorethecanyon.com/mary-coulter-the-architect-who-defined-grand-canyon-tourism/
Love the picture of #35. I also am a fan of the ATSF, and I'm old enough to have seen the last few years of Streamliner service.
I lived in Tucson for many years, and I owned a chunk of land in Coyote Springs (close to Flagstaff), so the Grand Canyon was one of my family's favorite destinations. The best trip we ever made there was one weekend when it started snowing, just before we got through the gate. We were only there about an hour before they closed the park down, but that was enough time to get a great view of the walls on the other side of the canyon. The snow had settled on the ledges, and it was stunning! There were dozens of ledges, all in nice, straight lines, and it made the canyon look like an enormous layer cake. Probably the best scene you could ever see of the canyon, and it really was worth the miserable trip we had to make through the heavy snow afterwards.
As long as I'm talking trains, I might as well mention another favorite, Great Northern. If you're ever in Montana, you should definitely check out Glacier Park, and then make a trip to Whitefish. There's a Great Northern museum there. It's not super big, but it's worth the trip just to see the "Bruck". It's a combination bus/truck, all done up in GN livery, and I really, really wish somebody would make a model of it.
Good thing is, if you ever ride the Amtrac on the old Empire Builder Route, you can stop and see all these things.
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