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Comment by omilu | Hacker News Reader

wow awesome report. I'm not a pilot but i still found the account thrilling.

Walking up on the high moors in the Dales in Yorkshire you see the shadows first, moving up the valley floor. If you are quick, and look below your ridge, you can spot the two grey isosceles triangles as they disappear out of the head of the valley.

A few seconds later, you hear the sound

Treetop training looks fun (they are always in pairs and I'm sure they are playing tag) but I imagine can be a bit tense...

I remember watching a Hercules flying along Glencoe from one of the mountain tops - it seemed rather weird looking down on such a large aircraft nimbly maneuvering along the narrow glen.

Mind you - nothing beats the time as a kid when I got to watch a Vulcan doing low level aerobatics above the village I grew up in - an amazing sight and quite a remarkable sound!

It's weird looking down on any aircraft while standing on solid ground. Have experienced this on a couple hikes and it's slightly disorienting.

I fully agree about the Vulcan. I still remember the time as a kid on holiday in Anglesea - we were driving past the end of the runway at RAF Valley when a Vulcan took off right over us. It must be nearly 40 years ago now. The sound of those four Rolls Royce Olympus engines at full whack just over your head isn't something you ever forget.

Lived in New Hampshire when Pease AFB was still in service - F-111s and KC-135Q tankers for support. The condo complex is still there - within 100 feet of centerline for runway 15 for takeoffs / landings. The sound of a fully loaded 135Q water-augmenting their exhaust on takeoff is rather like someone is reaching up into the sky and tearing ALL the cloth it's made of. Memorable :)

Then there was the sight of the C-5A supply flights coming in, directly over the roof... easy to make out the tread on the nosewheel, and every detail of the fuselage. Wingtips out at about a 120-130 degree angle, looking up... will never forget that sight.

I was in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets when I was younger and took the Survival Instructor Course. We were only on base one night out of the week (Saturday night for Sunday morning review, then back inna woods) I remember one of the weeks the CF-18s were paying us a visit and doing flights at all hours. It was pretty awful at the time because that was your one guaranteed good night of sleep a week but I do remember being enchanted by the whine of the engines spooling.

Shame I was colour blind and didn't get told till I was 15 (at which point my career choices were Astronaut, Fighter Pilot, SAR helicopter pilot).

That's depressing, that is. I was in the Forces when the 18s came online; Voodoos, 104s and 5s were current when I joined, and there were still a few Clunks in special trim doing real work. I suddenly feel old. And the Sea Kings I worked on are still in service. We got them when I was 3.

That's interesting! I worked at the CSA for awhile as one of my co-op internships and my supervisor would tell stories (mostly horror) about the big purchase of CF-18s and vetting all the code in the flight computer and such.

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