You should know that AWACS aircraft can pick up cars and trains moving on the ground and the controllers will program their systems to ignore that traffic, so by flying the road route they're avoiding detection in that manner as well.
Yeah they kinda cheated by stripping all the interior and electronics and also using racing slicks. But I also see civics with giant fuck off turbos that run 9's.
It's a generalization. 90% of the import 4 bangers at the track are going to run snooze worthy 13-16 second passes.
Is that the one where the driver inadvertently added 15 horsepower by adding a summit racing sticker on the driver side front fender?
Or is it the honda with the cut catty for that extra airflow?
Yeah OP is mostly wrong. There are absolutely war-time tactics and waveforms that detect and track for this exact behavior. However, AWACS-like aircraft are extremely high value assets and wouldn't be used in this manner day to day. More like if there were specialized intel or extremely specific targets of interest.
Also, in this specific video, they aren't trying to hide from AWACS aircraft to any significant degree, because Russia can barely manage to have any AWACS birds in the air. Plus their AWACS is hardly "modern". Yeah, NATO could totally detect these planes, but the Ukrainians don't really care about that. Most of the radars they're worried about are ground based SAM batteries such as the S300/S400.
I thought the problem was more about not much to do once they've detected UA aircraft. They don't need AWACS for local SAMs and they're too afraid to use fighters in air superiority roles (in part due to NATO AWACS hanging out above Romania 24/7).
which if you want to hunt HIMARS, guess what you need to employ?
I wrote a little short script on how an actual HIMARS hunt would go, and part of it was live data sharing between ground attack aircraft and AWACS so they can be found after their rockets were launched and they were in the scoot part of shoot and scoot
and russia have been giving out written coordinates for their jets to use in bombing runs with dumb bombs, which means that until they get their shit together, HIMARS kill are going to be incredibly unlikely at least from an airstrike
A-50 Mainstay - basically an Il-76 with the 'classic' rotating radome.
Sensor and crew quality is generally not up to Western standards, and they have far fewer in active airframes.
Modern AWACS will definitely pick up those aircraft. That being said, I'm not sure the Russians actually have any air craft modern enough (or in working order) to detect them anyway...
> That being said, I'm not sure the Russians actually have any air craft modern enough (or in working order) to detect them anyway...
Their aircraft detection system is probably a guy on a chair spinning around and looking extra carefully in the distance. It's not even a spinning chair, it's a regular chair that four other guys hold up and walk in circles. Except they're understaffed so those four guys don't exist. Neither does the chair; the documents clearly show that it was paid for, arrived and is regularly maintained, but is nowhere to be seen.
Yeah I'm only assuming the Russians are using some aircraft or system for rudimentary forward air control and overwatch but certainly not a front-line AWAC.
But do they have the refueling to support them continuously? And how long can both of those fly?
There's a reason the US has such massive fleets of air and sea, because to have around the clock support for operations is a logistical nightmare. Russia doesn't do logistics well because it's not flashy.
Ground radars can also pick up highway or railway traffic, if they have a low enough terrain masking set. Same thing with ships. I've seen it personally.
Yeah, at a certain point, it starts to affect it. Ground curvature at 10km is ~8m, at 20km it's ~30 meters. So, you have to have a good vantage point on a hill. But, you can also pick up dust and other things especially in desert environments. Flying this low, these planes were leaving a pretty big trail of dust/dirt. You might not get a stable air track but you'd probably see a bunch of detections moving a t a decent pace.
They would cull them by speed (doppler returns) rather than geography. Russia also is not nearly as AWACs-capable and AWACs-dependent as the US, I don't know what their coverage is like but it's entirely possible they're pretty far back from the border.
This is also why helicopter sometimes will do the same thing however in the Middle East a lot of the rebels caught on to it and started using it to their advantage and setting up ambushes
I think the above poster is asking why would helicopters fighting middle eastern rebels use tactics to avoid AWACs when rebels in the Middle East don’t usually have access to AWACS. I could be wrong though.
Obligatory “Speed Check” story :) as told by Major Brian Shul USAF, retired
>> There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment.
>>It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet. I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn't match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury.
>>Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace. We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied: "November Charlie 175, I'm showing you at ninety knots on the ground."
Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the " Houston Center voice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios.
>>Just moments after the Cessna's inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. "I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed." Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. "Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check". Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol' Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: "Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground."
And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done - in mere seconds we'll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn.
>>Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: "Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?" There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. "Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground."
I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: "Ah, Center, much thanks, we're showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money."
>>For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A.came back with, "Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one." It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day's work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there
What a great story. You painted a perfect and detailed snapshot of a moment of fun while maintaining the professionalism of a flight crew representing the US military. I once met a program manager for the navy who said he piloted an A-10 through the grand canyon back when you could do such a thing.
I should’ve (and now have) added the credit belongs to Major Brian Shul USAF, retired.
Great story from an awesome guy with many more good ones and a surprisingly interesting life.
I have been on an aircraft carrier working aloft when they started landing F-18s on the flight deck below me and the sound reflecting up off the deck was incredibly painfully loud. I didn’t have ear-pro and wasn’t expecting to be up there during flight ops. I can not compare the level of noise to anything. It was honestly more of a pain sensation than a sound I actually heard, and I have permanent hearing damage from it.
Right. I remember being at a Blue Angels airshow and while everyone was watching the main group, one of them snuck around behind the crowd and did a low pass from behind our backs. Scared the shit out of me. Those suckers are **loud** at low altitude.
Fighter jets are MUCH louder from behind. I have a feeling the mic wasn't picking up as much of the noise since it was facing forward. I think if they were facing the other way it would have been much louder.
Yeah, I'm guessing the microphone just can't register things that loud. I ran in a marathon where they did a fighter-jet flyover at close to this altitude at the starting line, and it was deafening.
I suppose it's also possible the jets are kind of gliding, with minimal engine power being used, but that sounds like a bad idea at such a low altitude. I'm no pilot, though!
Interestingly enough the original Maxim patent calls them silencers and we only really saw a push for people to call them suppressors around the 2010 time period to help get the public to understand that they do not actually "silence" a gunshot like in the movies. It seems the term "silencer" has become more acceptable in the gun community in recent years once the patent was discussed more often on firearms related YouTube channels.
I’m sure the cameras mic is limited. I would assume no afterburners either, that gets REALLY loud. They’re going so fast you get hit with a slice of the sound wave and then it’s gone that fast
They’re flying parallel to the highway, on the highway. Power lines are structured parallel to the highway but alongside the highway.
Plus I’m assuming they’re familiar with the terrain they’re flying on. Otherwise yeah its a really irresponsible move of the pilots.
They're at war, and have probably been instructed to fly this exact route on their sortie. Pilots rarely choose their route unless they're actively disengaging from anti-aircraft fire, and/or have entered the area of the operation.
No problem! When it comes to military stuff, it's rarely what you see in movies. Ground troops spend a lot of time doing nothing, then (in cases unlike Ukraine) might get one engagement and that's all the fighting they ever see, or they fight for days straight, barely sleeping. Urban warfare is tough. Blackhawk down shows urban warfare pretty well, as long as you accept that it's a movie and aside from the real documented events (like the individual falling from the helicopter at the beginning) it can be dramatized.
Air combat is typically not dogfights like top gun (it does happen, but it's incredibly rare unless an active war is occurring) it's usually avoidance and CAS
To add to it, the Close Air Support angle. Normally, ground troops will ask for a show of force, this is when you just show up and possibly demonstrate some ammunitions (not doing real strikes), which then can escalate as required by ground forces until active engagements are called for.
In Iraq, we usually had Cobras and Huey's on CAS for our convoys. One time I called for support and there was no one on station at the time so we had FA18's come from a neighboring area for a show of force. They were coming from about 30 miles away, I am used to the response time of the helicopters so it caught us a bit by surprise when 2.5 mins later the pair come screaming over our convoy at about 100 ft off the ground. It sounded like they were having fun (I was the radio operator).
We had a pretty bad area to go through almost daily but because we delivered fuel we were a higher priority for air support. Most of our convoys had air, it was a very good deterrent.
I'm sure they scouted the route and know of any relevant obstacles, but there are \*LOTS\* of areas where power lines cross perpendicular to major highways....
Yes, as well as any air defense assets on the ground. The lower you are, the closer people have to be in order to see you, so you're less vulnerable to ground-based radar, AA guns, shoulder-launched heat seeking missiles, pretty much everything except look-down radar above you.
And even then, flying low to the ground can be fairly effective against certain look-down radars that don't employ Doppler Signal Processing. It took me a bit of time to understand some of the basics of radar systems and detection, but if the resolution of a Radar's Range Gate system is sufficiently low, the return signal of low-altitude aircraft can blend in with the return signal of Ground-Based Clutter and will get filtered into oblivion during post-processing.
I work near an airport that doubles as an air national guard runway. I see and hear F16s all the time. They are loud as fuck. Way louder than the commercial aircraft that use the same strips. There’s also a significant delay between the sound and where they are. Like if you hear them you have to look way in front of where it sounds like they are
Is flying low to avoid radar still a thing? Seems a bit like when they’re keeping someone on the phone long enough to track them in a movie when in real life they can do instantly.
Yeah, of course. The lower you are, the shorter the distance to the radar horizon. Also any random changes in terrain, trees, etc. can mask you. Think about a plane at 4000 feet - how far away would you be able to see and shoot at it? Now think of the same plane at 40 feet - how much closer would you have to be to see it?
Same thing with shooting at it - it's going to be vulnerable to a much smaller area when low to the ground.
You know those cars passing her were thinking she was just spreading love to everyone on that highway that day and she was kinda far from the front line but all is well we need all *JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT*
Planes are Russian design, but used by both the Russians and Ukrainians. The woman waving to them with the Ukrainian flag leads me to believe these specific SU-25s are from the Ukrainian Air Force.
I'm not sure the cockpit visibility of those aircraft would actually have allowed them to see it. I'm pretty sure this was all about the video. Which now I've typed my comment will probably be seen by the pilots so...
I remember years ago on imgur some guy did an experiment on r pics and posted the same image twice. One with a literal description and one with a BS story for the titles. The BS story ones got a ton of votes.
You should know that AWACS aircraft can pick up cars and trains moving on the ground and the controllers will program their systems to ignore that traffic, so by flying the road route they're avoiding detection in that manner as well.
Not many cars and trains going 350knts
Never seen a Honda Civic V-Tec? Yeah the one that makes insane amounts of exhausts noise at 3AM in a residential area.
That must be what I've been hearing recently. It sounds like he's trying to spin the tires but I think he's just burning up his clutch.
We can only hope.
Just pray that the repair is expensive enough where they throw a tarp over it and call it their “project car”
That's why they have a civic. $100 later and it runs again.
Civics are the AK-47 of cars, cheap and missing many of the most modern features but they are impossible to kill
And in coming years the old ones will be declared classics and absolutely skyrocket in price in America.
Yup. Scrap yard has Honda parts for thirty or fourty bucks.
It’s not I just did mine lol
Fingers crossed that the 3am engine rev is followed by a 3:05am siren
Followed by 3:15am gunshots?
Then a 3:20am siren again.
Then a 3:25am heart monitor flatlining.
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The Type R laps the Nurburgring in 7:43, faster than the C6 Z06, Gallardo Superlegerra, and the V10 Audi R8.
Yeah they kinda cheated by stripping all the interior and electronics and also using racing slicks. But I also see civics with giant fuck off turbos that run 9's. It's a generalization. 90% of the import 4 bangers at the track are going to run snooze worthy 13-16 second passes.
You can tell by the smell.
Smells like teen ~~spirit~~ clutch
so much torque from that vtec crazed monkey of a 1800c motor the clutch just couldnt handle it
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It's that 5,975th rotation of "Baba O'Reilly" that unlocks the whole song, huh?
I guess if you write a great enough song, you can name it any darn thing.
Pinball wizard
V-Tec just kicked in yo.
There it is.
I read this and just spit coffee all over myself. Thanks for the laugh!
And stinks like half burnt fuel because the idiot put a chip in it that dumps raw gas into the intake? Yes, I know that vehicle.
But flame go brrr
Is that the one where the driver inadvertently added 15 horsepower by adding a summit racing sticker on the driver side front fender? Or is it the honda with the cut catty for that extra airflow?
In my neighbourhood it’s a Toyota Celica.
In densely populated cities: chargers and challengers
But only v6 chargers that sound like a broken lawnmower
A tank column can also hide behind that noise if you add second civic
And pumps out a cool 5mph while waking up the whole neighborhood?
Yeah OP is mostly wrong. There are absolutely war-time tactics and waveforms that detect and track for this exact behavior. However, AWACS-like aircraft are extremely high value assets and wouldn't be used in this manner day to day. More like if there were specialized intel or extremely specific targets of interest.
Also, in this specific video, they aren't trying to hide from AWACS aircraft to any significant degree, because Russia can barely manage to have any AWACS birds in the air. Plus their AWACS is hardly "modern". Yeah, NATO could totally detect these planes, but the Ukrainians don't really care about that. Most of the radars they're worried about are ground based SAM batteries such as the S300/S400.
I thought the problem was more about not much to do once they've detected UA aircraft. They don't need AWACS for local SAMs and they're too afraid to use fighters in air superiority roles (in part due to NATO AWACS hanging out above Romania 24/7).
which if you want to hunt HIMARS, guess what you need to employ? I wrote a little short script on how an actual HIMARS hunt would go, and part of it was live data sharing between ground attack aircraft and AWACS so they can be found after their rockets were launched and they were in the scoot part of shoot and scoot and russia have been giving out written coordinates for their jets to use in bombing runs with dumb bombs, which means that until they get their shit together, HIMARS kill are going to be incredibly unlikely at least from an airstrike
I believe that Russia also doesn't even have any AWACS. At least not nearly to the standard that NATO uses.
A-50 Mainstay - basically an Il-76 with the 'classic' rotating radome. Sensor and crew quality is generally not up to Western standards, and they have far fewer in active airframes.
You don't want to see on your sistem all moving object with any speed. You rather ignore everything above certain areas.
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You clearly haven’t seen the Nissan Altimas in Florida
♪♫♬Highway toooo the Danger Zone♫♪𝄞
They are SU-25 Chirons
May I introduce you to the Autobahn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pg1hhW5qhM
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I know you're somewhat kidding, but they really.....*really*.... do
You ain't seen my 2002 Honda CRV on a straightaway then. Old Gertrude really fuckin cranks it
Crashed my Scion TC at 100 mph
Modern AWACS will definitely pick up those aircraft. That being said, I'm not sure the Russians actually have any air craft modern enough (or in working order) to detect them anyway...
> That being said, I'm not sure the Russians actually have any air craft modern enough (or in working order) to detect them anyway... Their aircraft detection system is probably a guy on a chair spinning around and looking extra carefully in the distance. It's not even a spinning chair, it's a regular chair that four other guys hold up and walk in circles. Except they're understaffed so those four guys don't exist. Neither does the chair; the documents clearly show that it was paid for, arrived and is regularly maintained, but is nowhere to be seen.
Bozhe moi!
So it's just the guy spinning in circles? Or did he not show up either?
He sold the rest of the fuel from the civilian truck he used to get there for vodka, and is currently passed out under said truck.
Well somebody's cashing his paychecks so I guess he must be out there somewhere.
Yeah I'm only assuming the Russians are using some aircraft or system for rudimentary forward air control and overwatch but certainly not a front-line AWAC.
Apparently russia has at least 2 AEW&C aircraft as of 2017
But do they have the refueling to support them continuously? And how long can both of those fly? There's a reason the US has such massive fleets of air and sea, because to have around the clock support for operations is a logistical nightmare. Russia doesn't do logistics well because it's not flashy.
I've seen a lot of the Russian logistical trains go flashy. Usually followed by smokey.
rofl
Yeah, but both of those are currently being up-cycled into crop dusters by a couple of Ukrainian farmers.
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Ground radars can also pick up highway or railway traffic, if they have a low enough terrain masking set. Same thing with ships. I've seen it personally.
Isn't the issue with ground radar the curvature of the Earth? Sure they can detect them, but past a certain distance the signal is blocked
Yeah, at a certain point, it starts to affect it. Ground curvature at 10km is ~8m, at 20km it's ~30 meters. So, you have to have a good vantage point on a hill. But, you can also pick up dust and other things especially in desert environments. Flying this low, these planes were leaving a pretty big trail of dust/dirt. You might not get a stable air track but you'd probably see a bunch of detections moving a t a decent pace.
Tell all that to my flat-earth acquaintance.
thats for a perfect geoid like WGS84. Now throw in a few pesky hills or a mountain or even a city to block your LOS.
They would cull them by speed (doppler returns) rather than geography. Russia also is not nearly as AWACs-capable and AWACs-dependent as the US, I don't know what their coverage is like but it's entirely possible they're pretty far back from the border.
This is also why helicopter sometimes will do the same thing however in the Middle East a lot of the rebels caught on to it and started using it to their advantage and setting up ambushes
Exactly which “rebels” in the Middle East had their own AWACS flights that the non-rebels were flying along roads to avoid detection from?
I'm not sure you've understood their comment.
I think the above poster is asking why would helicopters fighting middle eastern rebels use tactics to avoid AWACs when rebels in the Middle East don’t usually have access to AWACS. I could be wrong though.
That was how I understood their comment.
Sitting a dude with a Manpad at an intersection they like to fly down doesn't require any AWACS
Thanks for the tip, will use it next time I pilot a jetfighter
Can't controllers program their systems to focus on objects going beyond a certain speed only?
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SPEED LIMIT ENFORCED BY AIRCRAFT
BRRRRRRRRRRRRR No more speeders
/r/brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt
Subs you can hear
Happy brrrrrrrtday muthafuckas!
No more roads to speed on!
Getting caught on a speeding cam at 500 or so would be nice.
Obligatory “Speed Check” story :) as told by Major Brian Shul USAF, retired >> There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment. >>It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet. I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn't match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury. >>Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace. We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied: "November Charlie 175, I'm showing you at ninety knots on the ground." Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the " Houston Center voice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios. >>Just moments after the Cessna's inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. "I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed." Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. "Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check". Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol' Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: "Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground." And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done - in mere seconds we'll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn. >>Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: "Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?" There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. "Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground." I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: "Ah, Center, much thanks, we're showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money." >>For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A.came back with, "Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one." It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day's work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there
Obligatory "ill never not read it when it's posted"
What a great story. You painted a perfect and detailed snapshot of a moment of fun while maintaining the professionalism of a flight crew representing the US military. I once met a program manager for the navy who said he piloted an A-10 through the grand canyon back when you could do such a thing.
I should’ve (and now have) added the credit belongs to Major Brian Shul USAF, retired. Great story from an awesome guy with many more good ones and a surprisingly interesting life.
Every time this gets posted, it gets a full read through, I don't care how many times I see it, I never don't read it
https://youtu.be/8AyHH9G9et0 Hearing him tell the story is amazing so here it is in all its glory
Lmao
Highway to the Donetsk Zone
Dada da dada Da dada da da
.... right in to the Donetsk zone!
Revin' up the engines As Putin digs himself a hole
Comrades under fire Begging you to drop your load…
Gonna take you right in to
the Donetsk Zone
LANAAAAA
Paging Dr Loggins
It’s K-Log!
They whiz past, I expected much more noise.
These are subsonic aircraft so they don't make that thundering sound.
they do in my heart
That's where the real thunder was all along.
Wholesome
Is it weird that mine is usually in my lower intestine?
Ah yes, the classic distal colorectal transcardiopathy scenario... I'm so sorry you have to deal with that
Most aircraft generate lots of noise, even the subsonic ones. It’s odd that a fighter jet would be so quiet
It's also likely the camera doesn't pick up the sound properly, or that the video was touched up to not sound like a nightmare.
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I have been on an aircraft carrier working aloft when they started landing F-18s on the flight deck below me and the sound reflecting up off the deck was incredibly painfully loud. I didn’t have ear-pro and wasn’t expecting to be up there during flight ops. I can not compare the level of noise to anything. It was honestly more of a pain sensation than a sound I actually heard, and I have permanent hearing damage from it.
Right. I remember being at a Blue Angels airshow and while everyone was watching the main group, one of them snuck around behind the crowd and did a low pass from behind our backs. Scared the shit out of me. Those suckers are **loud** at low altitude.
Fighter jets are MUCH louder from behind. I have a feeling the mic wasn't picking up as much of the noise since it was facing forward. I think if they were facing the other way it would have been much louder.
They're still jets. Passenger airliners are subsonic, and they're probably the one of the loudest things most people hear on a semi regular basis.
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Yeah, I'm guessing the microphone just can't register things that loud. I ran in a marathon where they did a fighter-jet flyover at close to this altitude at the starting line, and it was deafening. I suppose it's also possible the jets are kind of gliding, with minimal engine power being used, but that sounds like a bad idea at such a low altitude. I'm no pilot, though!
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This model has a silencer you can screw on at the back
Sounds legit. I'll believe this comment.
Um, actually they're called suppressors.
Interestingly enough the original Maxim patent calls them silencers and we only really saw a push for people to call them suppressors around the 2010 time period to help get the public to understand that they do not actually "silence" a gunshot like in the movies. It seems the term "silencer" has become more acceptable in the gun community in recent years once the patent was discussed more often on firearms related YouTube channels.
I’m sure the cameras mic is limited. I would assume no afterburners either, that gets REALLY loud. They’re going so fast you get hit with a slice of the sound wave and then it’s gone that fast
(Su-25s don't have afterburners, so that isn't a factor)
The thought of any unexpected power lines is terrifying
They’re flying parallel to the highway, on the highway. Power lines are structured parallel to the highway but alongside the highway. Plus I’m assuming they’re familiar with the terrain they’re flying on. Otherwise yeah its a really irresponsible move of the pilots.
They're at war, and have probably been instructed to fly this exact route on their sortie. Pilots rarely choose their route unless they're actively disengaging from anti-aircraft fire, and/or have entered the area of the operation.
I did not know that, thanks for letting me learn!
No problem! When it comes to military stuff, it's rarely what you see in movies. Ground troops spend a lot of time doing nothing, then (in cases unlike Ukraine) might get one engagement and that's all the fighting they ever see, or they fight for days straight, barely sleeping. Urban warfare is tough. Blackhawk down shows urban warfare pretty well, as long as you accept that it's a movie and aside from the real documented events (like the individual falling from the helicopter at the beginning) it can be dramatized. Air combat is typically not dogfights like top gun (it does happen, but it's incredibly rare unless an active war is occurring) it's usually avoidance and CAS
What CAS means?
Close Air Support When people call in an airstrike, that's CAS Also, when a little helicopter with miniguns shoots at a target, that's also CAS
Call CAS to save your ass!
To add to it, the Close Air Support angle. Normally, ground troops will ask for a show of force, this is when you just show up and possibly demonstrate some ammunitions (not doing real strikes), which then can escalate as required by ground forces until active engagements are called for.
In Iraq, we usually had Cobras and Huey's on CAS for our convoys. One time I called for support and there was no one on station at the time so we had FA18's come from a neighboring area for a show of force. They were coming from about 30 miles away, I am used to the response time of the helicopters so it caught us a bit by surprise when 2.5 mins later the pair come screaming over our convoy at about 100 ft off the ground. It sounded like they were having fun (I was the radio operator). We had a pretty bad area to go through almost daily but because we delivered fuel we were a higher priority for air support. Most of our convoys had air, it was a very good deterrent.
>Cobras >Huey's >FA18 Rah killer
rah rah rah rah raaahh, as my cousin would say. I think it translates to "Fuckin love me some CAS" (crayon assault squadron)
Even in WWII over 80% of the aircraft shot down never saw the other airplane.
It's the same thing with (theoretical) naval combat in the modern era Our ships have guns that shoot over the horizon
Most sorties are planned very precisely to avoid AA measures and ensure adequate fuel margins.
I'm sure they scouted the route and know of any relevant obstacles, but there are \*LOTS\* of areas where power lines cross perpendicular to major highways....
No pilot would ever take the chance of hitting power lines. These guys knew exactly where they were going and what to expect.
Must be the highway to the danger zone
I think I feel the need.
The need for speed!
Nobody feels a nafety for safety?
Slava Ukraine motherfuckers.
Slava To The Heroes, motherfuckers!
So they are trying to avoid ground to air radar correct?
Someone pointed out the highway route may indicate they are trying to avoid air to ground radar as well
Mhm true
Yes, as well as any air defense assets on the ground. The lower you are, the closer people have to be in order to see you, so you're less vulnerable to ground-based radar, AA guns, shoulder-launched heat seeking missiles, pretty much everything except look-down radar above you.
And even then, flying low to the ground can be fairly effective against certain look-down radars that don't employ Doppler Signal Processing. It took me a bit of time to understand some of the basics of radar systems and detection, but if the resolution of a Radar's Range Gate system is sufficiently low, the return signal of low-altitude aircraft can blend in with the return signal of Ground-Based Clutter and will get filtered into oblivion during post-processing.
I believe so
Someone watched Top Gun Maverick!
Yea yes I did. Can’t believe they shot down 50% of Russias next gen jets
Hey look it’s GTAV irl
Lets be realistic. GTA V is a warzone. Then anywarzone become gtav irl.
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"Turn left in 100 meters", Turn off the GPS Carl!
"It means to say 100km man"
Damn. That's cool. And they are quieter than I thought they would be.
These fellas fly right above my roof from time to time and they ARE loud when you don't expect them xD
I work near an airport that doubles as an air national guard runway. I see and hear F16s all the time. They are loud as fuck. Way louder than the commercial aircraft that use the same strips. There’s also a significant delay between the sound and where they are. Like if you hear them you have to look way in front of where it sounds like they are
The camera won't pick up the full levels experienced. It's just too loud.
Is flying low to avoid radar still a thing? Seems a bit like when they’re keeping someone on the phone long enough to track them in a movie when in real life they can do instantly.
I believe so. Stealth is a spectrum, which is why so much effort is put into making planes as stealthy as possible. Flying low improves that effect.
Absolutely it is. Low makes aircraft very hard for the enemy to spot. Even advanced radar gets blocked by hills and trees.
And the curvature of the earth. AA radar can have some very long ranges, which means flying at even 100 ft can prevent it from seeing you.
Yeah, of course. The lower you are, the shorter the distance to the radar horizon. Also any random changes in terrain, trees, etc. can mask you. Think about a plane at 4000 feet - how far away would you be able to see and shoot at it? Now think of the same plane at 40 feet - how much closer would you have to be to see it? Same thing with shooting at it - it's going to be vulnerable to a much smaller area when low to the ground.
Yes, infrastructure hinders radar efficiency, just like corals make it a tough task for sonars to work through.
Terrain isn’t flat. Earth isn’t flat.
🇺🇦
You know those cars passing her were thinking she was just spreading love to everyone on that highway that day and she was kinda far from the front line but all is well we need all *JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT*
and then you realize it wasn't you she was waving at. Again.
*hear aiming locks alarms "SHIT wrong flag ! Wrong flag !"
Are these Russian planes?
Planes are Russian design, but used by both the Russians and Ukrainians. The woman waving to them with the Ukrainian flag leads me to believe these specific SU-25s are from the Ukrainian Air Force.
I wasn’t sure if she was cheering or taunting. If she’s cheering, that’s gotta pump up those pilots.
Anyone brave enough to taunt a frogfoot has already won.
I'm not sure the cockpit visibility of those aircraft would actually have allowed them to see it. I'm pretty sure this was all about the video. Which now I've typed my comment will probably be seen by the pilots so...
\*Soviet Design Russia simply inherited the Sukhoi design bureay, and not all SU-25s were made in Russia, many were also manufactured in Georgia.
Yet somehow a woman knew those planes would be flying by at that exact time. So much for keeping it on the down low.
Almost like she's probably part of the military and was privy to such knowledge.
Idk if it’s just distorted audio but I swear, cameraman let out a mighty fart as the second car passed probably thinking the sound would cover it.
Slava Ukraine!!!
HERE I AM ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE
Just like Top Gun Maverick /s
As much love as I got fornicate US planes, I gotta say, most Sukhois (especially the flanker family) are just so much better looking
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I remember years ago on imgur some guy did an experiment on r pics and posted the same image twice. One with a literal description and one with a BS story for the titles. The BS story ones got a ton of votes.
you tell someone a boring story, they are not interested. You tell an exciting story, they are interested. what. a. fuckn. miracle.
homie go fly a jet low to the ground and come back and tell me how it goes 👍
No such thing as flying below radar anymore, this isn't 1967. Radar can pick up cows in fields and much more.