Experiences With Jets

[DAW89446]

Thought I’d start this thread so we can share our experiences with military jets or other military or civilian aircraft.

1. 1988. I was living in Trona. My son and I were heading north through Panamint Valley, about midway between the turnoff to Ballarat and the junction of the Trona-Wildrose / Panamint Valley roads. We were heading to Mammoth Mountain to mountain bike. I had just purchased a 1988 Ford Taurus. We were motoring along about 70mph, AC on cold, tape deck playing music. With no warning except for a banshee scream a microsecond before it hit, a jet went over the top of me at about 50-75 feet. Simultaneous with his coming into view in the top of the windshield, my car got all squirrelly from the jet wash suctioning my car to the top of its suspension, briefly throwing the camber and caster out of whack.

2. 1988. My son and I were returning to Trona from a day of skiing at June Lake. It was about midnight. I was running down Trona-Wildrose Road. Suddenly, I became aware of some dark object coming at us at the edge of my high beams. It was on the road heading straight for us. I became aware that it was an airplane, the wing above the cabin. I hit the brakes, the plane’s landing gear barely cleared the roof, the exhaust of the straining engine deafening. Suddenly I start seeing brake lights and dust in the desert. I came upon yet another nighttime Trona drug drop. There were more to come, but none as frightening as this one.

3. 1999. Walking around original Stovepipe Well, I became aware of a jet flying above me. Looking up, I got to see the B1 Bomber (correction - it was a B2 bomber, the batwing plane) and a chase plane heading north. A short while later, they headed south.

[netllama]

October 2008. Late afternoon, setting up camp in Eureka Valley, and I heard this deep rumble off to the west. I had no clue what it was initially. Then I saw the jet blasting directly towards me. I grabbed for my camera (which at the time was complete junk by today's standards), and attempted to get a few good shots. The best that I got was https://netllama.linux-sxs.org/pix/trips...v/152.html .

He circled the valley, then headed south. I assumed that was it, but 20 minutes later, he blasted back north across the dunes, and then disappeared.

I've had a few other much less exciting encounters since then.

[MojaveGeek]

I was climbing up Towne Peak or thereabouts with my daughter, who must have been around 10 at the time. She was maybe 30 yards behind me. At one point I turned and I saw a plane coming up the slope towards us, very fast, but of course you can't hear them when they are coming in fast near the ground. I don't know what it was, but it was big at that point, no little dot in the sky, you could see lines of rivets. I tried to call to her to watch out but she could not hear me, or see me waving, until it was upon her. She fell down, probably more from shock than pressure wave, and started bawling. I did not appreciate that fly by.

Sleeping on the concrete slab at the old mine part way up Happy Canyon (the one with the no tresspassing "Nodice" painted on the wall. Middle of the night, two or three jets were playing above the canyon, which held in the noise as it bounced from wall to wall. Went on for 15 minutes. The silence of the desert, the gentle flow of the little stream... not.

[DeathValleyDazed]

Thought I’d start this thread so we can share our experiences with military jets or other military or civilian aircraft.

Great idea David. My heading home from my last trip to DEVA December 2021 I stopped in Beatty for the express purpose of tracking down Dave, a retired Nevada Highway Patrol trooper whom I had met previously. He shares wild jet stories from his years out in the area and I wanted to get them video recorded and posted on YouTube, but he was out of town on that day. I'll try again my next trip through. 

Three years ago I hiked north from Panamint Springs Resort to the mouth of Rainbow Canyon in the off chance I'd score some jet flights exiting or entering the canyon and lucked out getting both. In spite of poor camera skills and a low end Canon Powershot camera I managed to get some fun (at least for me) footage. I had not seen corkscrew and straight up maneuvers before. 


I had forgotten about filming from Lookout Mountain west of Rainbow Canyon as the jets flew by me screaming eastward into The Danger Zone of the canyon. It was midday summer 120 degrees so not the best lighting with the sun washing out the color quite a bit. The ideal is earlier in the morning in the Fall, Winter or Spring when the sun is lower on the south horizon thus lighting up the jets as they sparkle in the light. 



Also, once on top of little Lake Mountain where you park to hike out the Panamint Dunes and to the Big Four Mine I was thrilled to get buzzed by some large gray military aircraft heading south from north after screaming over South Pass captured in this video, more towards the end of this compilation which also includes video of the jets zooming down Rainbow Canyon from its north rim line. So that means I've captured video of the jets from North, East, South, and West. 

[GowerGulch42]

This last summer while working in the Strawberry Mountains here in Oregon I got to see a C-17 getting a mid-air refuel from a KC-135. That was pretty cool. In DV once up by the Big Four Mine there was a C-130 or something similar doing really dramatic steeply banked turns at low speed, kind of weird.

I can echo DAW's comments about getting buzzed by low altitude jets, though mine was an F-18 on 395 north of Lone Pine!

[DVexile]

Far too many to count really.  Notable ones might be low pass from a B2 north of Trona - thought it was a soaring raven at first until it just kept getting bigger!  Looking down on a B1 from the top of Eureka Dunes.  Pair of F18s that made multiple mock bombing runs on our vehicles at the Wildrose Rd and Trona Rd junction much to the delight of my four year old nephew at the time.  Finished up their work with lead doing a nice inverted pass looking right down at us followed by wingman giving as a good bye wing waggle as they headed south out of the valley.  Have had a few low passes right over South Pass over the years, beautiful one was quite low and just before clearing the pass rolled inverted and then pulled down the opposite side of the pass.  Have watched a few night dogfights over Panamint through binoculars.  Afterburners really show up in the dark!  Endlessly buzzed at the springs of course. 

A trip earlier this year I kept my phone ready to have a better chance to catch some.  This one I was late seeing but pilot selected afterburner for a few seconds right above me:



Then a little later, I thought too late as it was twilight, one roared over and I had the presence of mind to ignore it and point back at the Eureka Dunes in case it was a pair.  Just managed to catch the second F15 as it emerged from behind the dunes.  Based on video timing and distance from dunes to where I was average speed a bit over 600 mph:



They can be fun for sure!  The noise can get a bit tiresome on a busy weekday though when really I’m hoping to enjoy the quiet desert.

[MojaveGeek]

I am often amazed by the power of the fighter craft when viewed flying across the Saline Valley toward the Inyos (from places like Hunter Mountain, or south pass, down a bit, or the canyon bottom near the road to the Lippincott Mine). You see them flying low and think they *must* start to climb... but they just keep going. And when you think "Oh no it's going to crash" they whip up, afterburners blazing, and seem to go straight up. It is pretty amazing.

Yes, definitely been the subject of target play while driving. They can indeed be fun to watch.

[ski3pin]

I also have a collection of the usual fighter jets (mostly F-18s) in the Death Valley region. Most are taken from Eureka Dunes. The most thrilling was several years ago. Julie and I were moving south on the spine. Two F-18s split apart, one on the west and one on the east. We were busy watching these two zoom past and well below us - we were looking down at them. We completely missed the third jet coming right up the spine just above us. The roar was incredible and we were both knocked off our feet and down into the sand.

The most amazing jet sighting was up near home here in the 1980's. The Royal Gorge of the North Fork of the American River is a not well known, but tremendous canyon. Snow Mountain at 8014 feet sits on the north edge of the canyon. The river is 4400 feet below. Julie and I spent many many trips backpacking in the canyon and this is where I first learned to flyfish. A much younger friend was extremely interested in abandoned mines. He enlisted our help in reaching a mine that was in a side canyon on the south side of the gorge. I located the old trail down. It was a hard, rough, descent, but the kid was thrilled with how intact everything was at the mine. It was like walking into a museum. The view down the "V" of the side canyon into the Royal Gorge was stunning; what wild rugged country. We were a thousand vertical above the American River. Relaxing at lunch, our feet dangling off the edge of the mine tailings, we were astounded by a growing roar of jet engines, not above us, but below. The ground began to shake. We stared down the "V" and watched a B-52 bomber fly down the Royal Gorge at least 500 feet below our elevation. I would have loved to have been in the Royal Gorge that day to have gotten a better view.

[Kauri]

The most amazing jet sighting was up near home here in the 1980's. The Royal Gorge of the North Fork of the American River is a not well known, but tremendous canyon. Snow Mountain at 8014 feet sits on the north edge of the canyon. The river is 4400 feet below. Julie and I spent many many trips backpacking in the canyon and this is where I first learned to flyfish. A much younger friend was extremely interested in abandoned mines. He enlisted our help in reaching a mine that was in a side canyon on the south side of the gorge. I located the old trail down. It was a hard, rough, descent, but the kid was thrilled with how intact everything was at the mine. It was like walking into a museum. The view down the "V" of the side canyon into the Royal Gorge was stunning; what wild rugged country. We were a thousand vertical above the American River. Relaxing at lunch, our feet dangling off the edge of the mine tailings, we were astounded by a growing roar of jet engines, not above us, but below. The ground began to shake. We stared down the "V" and watched a B-52 bomber fly down the Royal Gorge at least 500 feet below our elevation. I would have loved to have been in the Royal Gorge that day to have gotten a better view.

I think I actually may have heard of that mine in the Royal Gorge area. I have family who own a cabin in that area, and they've talked about nearby hikes locals have told them about. Is it near the petroglyphs?

[ski3pin]

The most amazing jet sighting was up near home here in the 1980's. The Royal Gorge of the North Fork of the American River is a not well known, but tremendous canyon. Snow Mountain at 8014 feet sits on the north edge of the canyon. The river is 4400 feet below. Julie and I spent many many trips backpacking in the canyon and this is where I first learned to flyfish. A much younger friend was extremely interested in abandoned mines. He enlisted our help in reaching a mine that was in a side canyon on the south side of the gorge. I located the old trail down. It was a hard, rough, descent, but the kid was thrilled with how intact everything was at the mine. It was like walking into a museum. The view down the "V" of the side canyon into the Royal Gorge was stunning; what wild rugged country. We were a thousand vertical above the American River. Relaxing at lunch, our feet dangling off the edge of the mine tailings, we were astounded by a growing roar of jet engines, not above us, but below. The ground began to shake. We stared down the "V" and watched a B-52 bomber fly down the Royal Gorge at least 500 feet below our elevation. I would have loved to have been in the Royal Gorge that day to have gotten a better view.

I think I actually may have heard of that mine in the Royal Gorge area. I have family who own a cabin in that area, and they've talked about nearby hikes locals have told them about. Is it near the petroglyphs?

No, this mine is not near the petroglyphs and, now you have me curious..................................