[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by onehole150

Surprise - AZ. about 25 miles from Luke Air Force base.



2-3 days a week around 3:30 I hear as many as 8 F35 jets in pairs coming in for a landing at Luke. Sometimes F-16's in a group of 4 come in as well.

I quit working in my shop each day at 3 and shortly after I'm in my pool (6 mo. swim season) to wind down for the day. One of my customers is a pilot at Luke who's an instructor at Luke. Not long ago he said I should watch for him. The jets usually come in pairs. Student in the front and the trainer close behind. It was about a month or so later; I was in the pool and I could hear them coming from the SW (they have a training facility, bombing/shooting) in SW AZ. I looked up as they came over the house and sure enough, the 4th F-16 did a few quick wing dips as they flew over the house. A week later he called and asked if I saw anything different. It was him. He's no longer a trainer. He was accepted as a alternate with their thunderbird group and they usually fly F-16's.



I can tell you first hand the F-16 is much quieter than the F35. Most of the time they are all considerate of the area; however the few times we have cloud cover and they come in fast; it's loud. I was told most of the time they use ground land marks to come in for their approach to the base. I live about .75 of a mile from the Texas Rangers spring training complex and they use that as a reference. When they pass over the complex they make a wide right hand bank towards the south for their approach to the base.



I moved from Penna. 25+ years ago. I love the AZ heat (mostly) but I do miss shade. In addition I don't mind the Jet noise. It lasts for seconds and it's only a few days a week.

Nice story. I did spend a couple of seconds wondering why you being in AZ is such a surprise.