Military jet's at commercial airports, what gives?

I would like to add my experience of seeing military aircraft at international airports. Just last Sunday while I was sitting in line for take off from Savannah International in Georgia, what I first thought was an F-15 due to it's large nose cone size (later I decided was a Superhornet from its diagonal instead of verticle tail's), was in line ahead of us and took off in front of my commercial 737. I saw it sitting at the head of the runway for what seemed like 30-45 seconds and I studied it as it sat not 50 yards away.

Although the airport is home to a battalion of Georgia Air guards, they operate a fleet of Hercules C-130's not F-18's. What's weird is the Hunter Army AirField (HAAF) is not but a few miles away and to the north is Marine Core Air Station (MCAS) Beaufort about 30 miles away.
They operate F-18 superhornets out of MCASB but this was not the same coloration as I have visited the station before and theirs are grey.

I don't know if the Air Force operates F-18's, maybe it's just the Navy. It was sandy coloured as if it would fit in at the desert. If anyone has any giveaway's as to whether a plane is Naval or Air Force please help me jog my memory. I got a very good look at it, and studied it with intrigue as it lit up and took off almost vertically into the sky at a million miles per hour, beautiful.

It may be part of the Air Force Reserves, who sometimes have hangers on commercial bases. Usually they are setup away from the main terminals. However it could also be a part of the whole Military Presence that is increasing because of the "terrorist threat". As far as the coloring I doubt it is part of the Navy, it sounds definately to be one of the USAF's plane's.

Originally posted by daeldren
It may be part of the Air Force Reserves, who sometimes have hangers on commercial bases. Usually they are setup away from the main terminals. However it could also be a part of the whole Military Presence that is increasing because of the "terrorist threat". As far as the coloring I doubt it is part of the Navy, it sounds definately to be one of the USAF's plane's.

usaf dont have f-18's. marines do though

US Navy and Marines have F-18's - not the USAF...


Marine F-18



US Navy F-18



Just in case you wanted pictures...

[Edited on 16-1-2004 by intelgurl]

Thanks Intelgurl. It looked just like the one in the second picture. Except dirtier of course. The blueish grey on the underside was a little more sandy grey but other than that it looked almost identical to the one in the second picture, yup.

I wonder what the actual Navy was doing in those parts. Interesting.

Originally posted by insite
I wonder what the actual Navy was doing in those parts. Interesting.

If I had to guess, (and I am guessing) I would say the F-18 is there sort of as a "show of force" or a reminder of vigilance in the face of potential terrorism.
There really is no other reason that such an aircraft would be mixed up with a bunch of MD80's, 757, 767's, with a Marine Air Base near by... unless the pilot just likes "slumming"...


[Edited on 16-1-2004 by intelgurl]

One of the largest groupings of military aircrafts that I have seen at commercial airports is at the Memphis International Airport; there are a large number of Air Force C-130s, F-16C/Ds, and F-15Cs. Here is a link that shows all of the Air Force - reserve and active - bases in the country, and the world:

www.af.mil...

[Edited on 16-1-2004 by TheConservative]

Well if ur sure the F-18 u saw had a desert camo that means that the particular hornet would have belonged to the "Fighting Omars" of VFC-12 based at Oceana Virginia.
These guys are aggressors (the bad guys in air/air combat training), and they fly F-18 A/B, so if these are the guys u saw then its impossible for them to be Superhornets. In any case all camo F-18s are usually F-18 A or B.
U were lucky too, because pratically 10 out of the 12 aircraft in this squadron actually have the blue/blue gray camo of the Su-27.



of couse it also have been an aggressor from the west coast or one of the F-18As from Pax River Maryland where one or two of the aircraft have the same camo.

Though these aircraft have the West Coast insignia they do share the same camo as the Virginia and Maryland aircraft




And of course there could be a possibility where im mistaken in everything...so

[Edited on 17-1-2004 by GabRaz]

Yes it seriously had a sandy camo paint scheme, might not have been a superhornet, I just guessed that because that is the norm at the Marine Core Air Station Beaufort where I live.

But, seeing as though this jet has now proven to be Naval, I wondered what it was doing at Savannah International Airport. Unless, like intelgurl says, it was just meant to prove to the citizenry that something is being done to "combat terrorism" on domestic soil.

It would be interesting if it were a fighter from Maryland, adds even more intrigue to the whole story.

The military fighter jets are probably, and most likely there for escort reasons. In case something bad (ie terrorists) is reported by the pilot..or some other way...the military fighters will be scrambled from whatever airport is closest. That is the reason why military jets are stationed at airports now.

Last week on CNN there was a report of 2 F-18s escorting a 'suspicious' plane. Nothing happened, no terrorists, just a precaution.

-wD

mabye it just landed for some fuel u know long distance flight
or mabye the guy got lost

theres always been military aircraft at my airport witch is LAX.

Originally posted by masterofpuppets
theres always been military aircraft at my airport witch is LAX.

Where is Los Angeles AFB in comparison to LAX...far away or next to the airport?

Many times, they are just out "training" and keeping up on their flight hours. They have to have so many each month to stay certified to fly. I grew up in Montana, and there, needless to say, is not a Navy base for quite a stretch. I worked at the airport in Billings, and every 2 or 3 months, there would be a group of 5 F-16s that would fly in, stay and fly around for 2 days, and fly back to San Diago. One of the guys had a house just South West of Billings on the Yellowstone River. He would fly up and take some of the other pilots who needed hours fishing, and they could gain flight hours at the same time.

Originally posted by Milk
... not a Navy base for quite a stretch. I worked at the airport in Billings, and every 2 or 3 months, there would be a group of 5 F-16s that would fly in... One of the guys had a house just South West of Billings on the Yellowstone River. ...

I'm not sure I understood what you said...
Are you saying the F-16's you saw were US Navy?

The only US Navy F-16's I know of that would be close to you are about a dozen Block 15 A & B models in the Top Gun school at the Naval Air Station in Fallon, Nevada... and those are the aggressor squadron and are appropriately painted.... (Russian cammo paint scheme and numeric font style)

Also there are some at Miramar and Key West NAS and they too are agressor squadron F-16's - these agressor squadron jets very rarely if ever go outside their home airspace.

Could the F-16's have been from the 120th Fighter Wing (USAF) in Great Falls, Montana or did you mean to say F-18's.


[Edited on 19-1-2004 by intelgurl]

Aren't there some F-16s at NAS Pensacola? I know that Eglin is near, and that's an F-15C hub. I thought I heard this once.

I do know that in the case of IFE (In Flight Emergencies), that USAF aircraft have actually landed at commercial airports, for one reason or another. As a former Weapons system specialist, I used to have to go here and there (depending on what base I was stationed at at the time) to repeair whatever was wrong.

This is not a new occurance. Nearly (if not all) all functioning runways have Transient Alert facilites for this type of thing. No big deal.

Originally posted by masterofpuppets
theres always been military aircraft at my airport witch is LAX.

Uh there is? Where? I am at LAX every day with access and camera views of all the AOA. You might see the occasional C-5 or C-17, but fighters, rarely if any time do you see fighters. Other military aircraft might be parked, if they are in LAX for a reason.

Originally posted by TheConservative
Aren't there some F-16s at NAS Pensacola? I know that Eglin is near, and that's an F-15C hub. I thought I heard this once.

Could be, but most if not all of the F-16's in the US Navy's inventory are assigned to agressor training squadrons.
Not sure if there is a school at Pensacola or not -

Combat aircraft at airports are very common. They are used as USAF Reserve and Air National Guard bases. In war, especiall overseas, international airports will be the nerve centers for military air and maybe even ground operations due to their larger size. They can accomodate anything. For example, they used King Kahlid International Airport during Gulf War I.