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Civil Air Patrol F-22 intercept


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I fly with the Hilo, Hawaii Civil Air Patrol unit. Recently I got to participate in a couple of Air Defense exercises with F-22As from the Hawaii Air National Guard from Hickam AFB intercepting us out over the ocean south of Oahu. On my first flight last week, I was Mission Observer in our Cessna 182. I got these photos:

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Yesterday we flew another mission, and I was pilot while my friend Paul Hirst was Mission Observer. Paul has a much, much better camera. Here are three of his photos:

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Congratulations on having the envy of probably 80% of ARC...and getting in a place some would give a months pay to be. Some guys have all the luck, some guys get all the pain, some guys get to do cool things and the rest of us just just watch in pain..... :D , The next time you get to do this would you mind inviting me :whistle: , I will sit there with my hands on my legs and do nothing else, well beside have a SEG on my face...While on Holloman an errant pilot from Mexico, made a mistake and crossed into a very restricted airspace and got intercepted by two F-4's, which gave him such a scare he augured in totalling the Cessna 172 he was in, although he survived the crash I'm not sure he made it past the interrogations he suffered in the aftermath from both the US and Mexico, not counting the locals who got into the act.

Added: I forgot to say thanx for the outstanding pix.... :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Edited by #1 Greywolf
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Nice pictures, thanks for posting them. Did that F-22 driver actually slow down enough to fly formation with you, or just make a slow pass?

Slow passes past us, then turn in front of us to indicate we should turn away. The exercise script had us ignoring him, continuing straight ahead as he made multiple passes. Paul took an excellent video of one pass but it's a large file. I'll have to figure out how to post it.

Edited by Scott R Wilson
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Congratulations on having the envy of probably 80% of ARC...and getting in a place some would give a months pay to be. Some guys have all the luck, some guys get all the pain, some guys get to do cool things and the rest of us just just watch in pain..... :D/> , The next time you get to do this would you mind inviting me :whistle:/> , I will sit there with my hands on my legs and do nothing else, well beside have a SEG on my face...While on Holloman an errant pilot from Mexico, made a mistake and crossed into a very restricted airspace and got intercepted by two F-4's, which gave him such a scare he augured in totalling the Cessna 172 he was in, although he survived the crash I'm not sure he made it past the interrogations he suffered in the aftermath from both the US and Mexico, not counting the locals who got into the act.

Added: I forgot to say thanx for the outstanding pix.... :thumbsup:/> :thumbsup:/> :thumbsup:/>

I'm more envious of the Raptor pilots. It must be incredible to fly such an airplane!

I think a lot of CAP units get to do these intercept exercises. I know the Appleton, Wisconsin CAP squadron did them with the Madison F-16s. You don't have to be a pilot to participate, non-pilots can fly as mission scanners or observers. It's a lot of fun, check out your closest CAP unit if you are interested. Free airplane rides and the chance to do good works in responding to disasters, what's not to like?

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Awesome pics. Thanks for posting. I loved my time in Civil Air Patrol. That AOA is like the Chinese intercepts of P-3s. I had an SH-60 try to stay in formation with my first submarine when we were running on the surface so he could take pictures. I was amazed by the AOA that he had to pull in a helo to travel slowly with us. I basically had it firewalled at a "screaming" 20 kts because I realized he was actually struggling with the slow speed and gusty wind.

Cheers,

Dave

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Great photos.

Anyone know what that item is on the underside of the aircraft, mid fuselage?

My guess is it's like those bolt-on thingies (technical term) the F-117 had to make it visible to radar, but I could be very wrong. I remember years ago somebody asking this same question in a thread somewhere (could have been here), but I don't remember whether the question was answered or not.

Fantastic photos!

Edited by TomcatFanatic123
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Ok now I'm livid.....the audacity to show not the good time ya had, but the GREAT time ya had....have you no shame :crying2: :D .

BTW thanx for a really great video, not something planned just every day folks having a good time...I noticed the nose high attitude of the Raptor so it could hang beside you guys, any slower and he probably would have stalled...OH NO not the dreaded stall!!! :lol:

Edited by #1 Greywolf
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Ok now I'm livid.....the audacity to show not the good time ya had, but the GREAT time ya had....have you no shame :crying2:/> :D/> .

Nope, no shame at all. One thing I just remembered to mention, several times as the F-22 was coming up from behind we had a strange buzzing noise in our intercom. We figured it was his radar causing harmonics. It was almost like our own RHAW system.

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LOL at the AOA on the Raptor.

Need to take a screen grab of the Raptor thru the prop from the video, photoshop some HUD symbology & gun cross on it, and show how your mighty Cessna was able to get on the 6 of the -22 and claim a 'kill'.... :thumbsup:

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My guess is it's like those bolt-on thingies (technical term) the F-117 had to make it visible to radar, but I could be very wrong. I remember years ago somebody asking this same question in a thread somewhere (could have been here), but I don't remember whether the question was answered or not.

Fantastic photos!

I believe they are luneburg lens radar reflectors

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