Llarry wrote

For many years -- 1950s-on -- there was a large interceptor force of the North American Air Defense Command with U.S. and Canadian fighters: F-86s, F-89s, F-94s, F-101s, F-102s, F-106s, F-4s, F-15s and F-16s off the top of my head. No Soviet bombers allowed! The remaining air defense aircraft today are just a few squadrons of aging F-15s in the Air National Guard.

Anyway, in the good (?) old days there was the McDonnell F-101 Voodoo. The Voodoo was one of the early supersonic fighters and had some handling quirks that could catch the unwary pilot but was widely used by NORAD U.S. and RCAF squadrons.

Here's an F-101B Voodoo from back in the day.

Llarry wrote

The YL-15 Scout two-seat observation plane.

FAA probing close call between Southwest flight, air traffic control tower

Kris Van Cleave
Updated Thu, April 4, 2024 at 3:56 AM EDT

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking into a Southwest flight that veered off course while on approach to land at New York's LaGuardia Airport and may have buzzed the air traffic control tower with as little as 67 feet of clearance, CBS News has learned.

The incident occurred around 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 23, when pilots of Southwest Flight 147 aborted their first approach because of bad weather. While on final approach of their second landing attempt, an air traffic controller is heard urgently telling the pilots of the Boeing 737 to "go around" and climb to 2,000 feet.

"Go around! Go around!" Fly runway heading, climb and maintain 2,000. Climb and maintain 2,000. 2,000," the air traffic controller said, according to a feed from liveatc.net.

The plane had apparently drifted to the east and was no longer lined up with the runway. Preliminary flight tracking data from Flightradar24 put the airliner at an altitude of 300 feet when it began to climb. The FAA said it's investigating to see if the off-course airliner flew over the 233-foot tall air traffic control tower.

Flightradar24's flight tracker map put the plane over the terminal building, not the runway. It appears the plane flew over the parking garage immediately adjacent to the air traffic control tower, based on Flightradar24's approximate track.

The same controller told the pilots a few minutes later their plane, "was not aligned with the runway at all. It was like east of final. He was not gonna land on the runway."

The airline said there were 147 passengers and six crew members on board the flight from Nashville.

Southwest told CBS News the airline is "reviewing the event as part of our Safety systems." The carrier said the plane encountered turbulence and low visibility while approaching LGA.

Southwest Flight 147 elected to briefly divert to Baltimore/Washington International Airport, where it landed safely. It then eventually landed safely in New York.

The inclement weather resulted in other go-arounds at LaGuardia, including JetBlue Flight 698, which was trying to land at about the same time. Those pilots reported encountering wind shear.

vreihen16 wrote

Somebody apparently forgot to tell Ghostrider that the pattern was full.....

https://news.yahoo.com/faa-probing-close-call-between-025314858.html

flybigjet wrote

Tangentially to the F-101, here's a bit of trivia that a lot of people don't know about.

Google SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment)-- and it cost more than the Manhattan Project.

This was a system in the '50's - 80's that provided semi-real-time radar coverage over the entire US and parts of Canada that essentially watched for the Soviet's coming over the horizon using nuclear-armed bombers. It was extremely high-tech for the day and provided the ability to give Ground to Air guidance to interceptors (including the F-101).

The buildings were MASSIVE-- they called them blockhouses and they were hardened against NuDet. I don't know if they would have survived a nuclear strike in the '60's, but I wouldn't bet against them.

The one at McChord AFB (near Tacoma) is still there. The concrete was so thick that they couldn't afford to destroy it..... so they turned part of it into the base library. The concrete where they (eventually) cut windows in is *really* thick (measured in feet, not inches). Since my father was the Base Commander there at one time, I got to wander around inside a bit when they were doing the conversion-- that building is HUGE, and is a part of history that's mostly forgotten.

R.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Automatic_Ground_Environment

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAGE_radar_stations

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Semi-Automatic_Ground_Environment

Llarry wrote

Thirty-plus years ago, the U.S. Air Force decided that Tactical Fighter Squadrons and Fighter Interceptor Squadrons would now just be called Fighter Squadrons.

Last month, though, the 18th Aggressor Squadron in Alaska, which flies F-16s, was redesignated as the 18th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. They will probably lose their spiffy paint jobs.

I'm thinking this may presage the redesignation of a number (fewer than ten) of fighter squadrons that specialize in air defense as Fighter Interceptor Squadrons. Offhand, that would include current F-15C units in Oregon, California, Massachusetts and Florida, some of which will get F-15EXs.

What's old is new again.

EDIT: I've added a photo of one of the squadron's aircraft in the new plain livery.

M-technik-3 wrote

Still have not made up their mind on what airframe they are getting at 104th FW here in my town. Miss the A-10's you never even noticed them and the 15's while loud are not as loud as the 35 so they can keep that thing away. Hoping it's the 15EX.

JJ 911SC wrote

Time "fly" when you are having fun...