What's flying over your house?

Chuckman said:
Honestly I have never seen a F-22 actually flying, and the F-35 only a handful of times. They look so familiar to me I would be hard-pressed to tell them apart.
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Good question.

First picture, F-22. Second, F-35. As seen from the bottom.

The more you look at them, the more differences you'll see. But at first glance, the easiest ways are to look at the engine exhaust (F-22 has two, F-35 has one), the wing tips (F-22 wing tips and tail tips are not "squared off", F-35 are), and the engine inlets (F-22 engine inlets are undercut where you can very easily see inside the inlets, F-35 are pointed forward at the outer edges).

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LTC Don said:
Probably 916th ARW out of Seymour. They were the first to receive the new 46s; I think they have 12 now. The ramp area got a well deserved refit.
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The first 2 kc46s into SJAFB were ones Japan had ordered and then refused and we took delivery. That was several years ago. Since then, they have picked up several of the US contract 46s. Being between Goldsboro and the 2 ranges Downeast and on the ILS approach to Kinston, they fly over regularly. Two common callsigns for SJAFB refueling birds are BACKY## and LUCKY##... Anyone smoked cigs and recognize the names? With the KC135s and KC46s I've noted their callsigns give a good idea of their home base. Another example is out of Rickenbacker AFB in Ohio where there is a large fleet of ANG KC135s that come down to our ranges to refuel planes. A lot of their callsigns are EDDIE##. Eddie is for Eddie Rickenbacker WW1 ace and MOH recipient.
 
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tod0987 said:
The first 2 kc46s into SJAFB were ones Japan had ordered and then refused and we took delivery. That was several years ago. Since then, they have picked up several of the US contract 46s. Being between Goldsboro and the 2 ranges Downeast and on the ILS approach to Kinston, they fly over regularly. Two common callsigns for SJAFB refueling birds are BACKY## and LUCKY##... Anyone smoked cigs and recognize the names? With the KC135s and KC46s I've noted their callsigns give a good idea of their home base. Another example is out of Rickenbacker AFB in Ohio where there is a large fleet of ANG KC135s that come down to our ranges to refuel planes. A lot of their callsigns are EDDIE##. Eddie is for Eddie Rickenbacker WW1 ace and MOH recipient.
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Very cool stuff. Rickenbacker founded Eastern Airlines, establishing significant domestic air service, and that ran all the way to 1991, with Frank Borman as a major player also.
 
I got buzzed by a Harrier today. Funny thing is I mistook it for an F-4 Phantom...which was perplexing as I didn't think any were flying in an active configuration (they're typically target drones or maybe an aggressor squadron now). It wasn't until I could go tot he booth and review the play further that I deciphered today's mystery.

He came in from way up high out of the east, made a lap around Mint Hill (likely/hopefully pissing off every Karen in town), shot out to Concord to do a touch and go, one more lap, hit Concord again, then shot like a rocket from ground level to 21k feet in the span of a few minutes. Flight Radar was having trouble keeping up! Landed at Cherry Point.

Note the "invalid transponder" on the data read out. Odd.

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9outof10mms said:
I got buzzed by a Harrier today. Funny thing is I mistook it for an F-4 Phantom...which was perplexing as I didn't think any were flying in an active configuration (they're typically target drones or maybe an aggressor squadron now). It wasn't until I could go tot he booth and review the play further that I deciphered today's mystery.

He came in from way up high out of the east, made a lap around Mint Hill (likely/hopefully pissing off every Karen in town), shot out to Concord to do a touch and go, one more lap, hit Concord again, then shot like a rocket from ground level to 21k feet in the span of a few minutes. Flight Radar was having trouble keeping up! Landed at Cherry Point.

Note the "invalid transponder" on the data read out. Odd.

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Only two Harrier squadrons left, both at Cherry Point. One is being transitioned to the F-35 next year, the other one in 2025.
 
Had a drone fly over the house the other day. Luckily for it, it was just out of reach
 
as LTC Don said: Loud.
when i was in Bob Clark's Drug Store in Havelock,
they would rattle the front windows like an earthquake.
 
You can usually get to the registration of the aircraft with ICAO number, though it's often just NetJet

Here's what my RTL-SDR here's at the moment. I'll have to look up FORGE78 -- Ah, military Gulfstream flying towards DC from Fayetteville

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Private air show this morning. Well, not private but whatever. I was thinking the F/A-18’s looked sleek and realized they were flying F-35’s too.

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No idea. Big azz 4 engine jet. All gray in color. Very low. About the size of a C-130.

Nothing on Flight Aware or Flight Radar apps
 
The little PiAware is hearing a lot of traffic over the house today. Lots of Christmas travel....

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JohnFreeman said:
The little PiAware is hearing a lot of traffic over the house today. Lots of Christmas travel....

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Interesting. I thought this may be some derivation of this:

Apps For Aviators

We are pilots dedicated to providing aviation apps that are simple to use, making flying more safe, fun and affordable.
www.apps4av.com

I installed AVARE (Android) some time back and even set up a Raspberry Pi to use it with a tablet. Works OK, but a bit cumbersome to lug around, and I know, (real) pilots use ForeFlight.

Avare has matured substantially over the years though, and it's (somewhat) cheaper than ForeFlight.
 
PiAware (at least in my instance) is harvesting the ADSB traffic being heard by a small cheap RTL-Software Defined Radio receiver dongle hooked to one of my Raspberry Pi's . The RTL dongle is connected to a small vertical antenna (7" or so?) that's listening to the aircraft sending the positional data as they fly by the house. The Pi pushes that data to the Flightaware.com website, where thousands of others are pushing data too.

It's a pretty cool little system.
 
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USAF C-37A #AE0406 just went by. Some bigshot going to parts unknown
 
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