Message posted by Joerg (Webmaster) (Member since 10/17/2000) on November 19, 2021 at 12:15:32 PST:
Nice fly-by! It does look like an F-16 heading roughly east following Valley Road (aka Backgate Road) towards Timpahute Mountain. This is a common egress route during air exercises. The aircraft was in MOA airspace, not inside the "box", the restricted airspace around Area 51. But you can also see Groom F-16's there on pilot proficiency flights (callsign Sabre 1, 2 etc). The Groom F-16's are mostly used as chase (Sabre 4x) or mission (Sabre 5x or 6x) aircraft but they could certainly be used to discourage an airborne intruder from proceeding. Regular base security uses the HH-60U "Blackhawk" helicopters for area sweeps. Callsign mostly "Sabre 31".
In Reply to: F-16 (?) buzzed us while at the water tank on Stewart Well Road posted by C Smith on November 19, 2021 at 11:39:48 PST:
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