[Scan-DC] AWACS in Blacksburg?

[Bruce Harper]

At 4:03 PM -0400 8/19/08, Charley Armstrong wrote:
>Sounds like a Navy E-2C Hawkeye.
>
>And probably from the VAW-121 Bluetails squadron.
>
>Check out this link:
>
>http://www.flickr.com/photos/avsfan/2681923072/in/set-72157600037095863/

Yep, that's what it looked like. The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets returned to campus this week and has been indoctrinating the new cadets, so perhaps the visit had something to do with that.

Because of the Corps, we get a number of interesting aircraft passing over campus. The assumption is that most of them are alumni engaging in a minor course deviation to visit the alma mater as they travel from point A to point B. There are scheduled visits, though, such as bomber fly-overs for at least one Virginia Tech football game and other flights that include cadets in a training session. Being in the mountains, this is also a popular destination for nap-of-the-earth training for the various fighter units along the coast and we see the flights of two as they head west toward Pulaski County and beyond (the local Boy Scout council has a 17,000-acre reservation in southern Pulaski County that is popular for low-level flights, which is pretty impressive when camping or hiking on the property).

Usually the transients do a legal low-level pass over campus and continue on, with someone occasionally circling once or twice, but rarely do they announce themselves on the radio. But yesterday's flight involved 8-10 circuits and continuous chatter about where he was in the pattern. Maybe he was doing some flight training and needed to make sure it was all done by the book -- or it was in reaction to Monday's incident. A Cessna took off from the Roanoke airport without clearing with the tower, wouldn't communicate after airborne, and caused a major flap. The pilot, a retired air traffic controller, apparently was feeling suicidal and suggested he might crash into or near Smith Mountain Lake. After being tracked around the region and followed by the State Police helicopter, he was talked into returning to the Roanoke airport and landed without incident. So far, he isn't being charged with anything. See http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/173728

Bruce in Blacksburg

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Bruce B. Harper          KB4GIW       bharper at vt.edu           
2508 Manchester Street                (540)552-0683 - home
Blacksburg, Virginia  24060           (540)231-4360 - work