Day before yesterday (September 11th), I’m driving my kid home from school and what do I spy flying low in the south San Jose sky? A military plane and a helicopter escort. For the first 30 seconds it seems no more than just a bit curious, but then I notice that the two aircraft are circling around in the air, the helicopter tailing the larger plane like a remora on a shark. As we get closer and closer to home, I become increasingly anxious about this. People are stopped on the road, getting out their cars and looking up at the sky. As I drive down the street towards my house, small groups of people are standing out on the sidewalks obvisouly feeling the same anxiety I am about this unusual pair of objects circling overhead.
I am now thinking the worst; biological or chemical weapons being sprayed on the residents below (where my house is), or perhaps a crazed extremist has highjacked a military aircraft and is deciding where to commit his violent form of suicide. I begin formulating plans to evacuate my family from the area.
As soon as I get home, I call 311 (the non-emergency version of 911 in my area) and after about 5 minutes on hold, I find out that someone scheduled a fly-by for a 9/11 memorial service and that the plane above was a re-fueling aircraft.
Well, thanks. It’s bad enough we’re bombarded by memorials and interviews recounting the horrible events that occured the year before, but now we get to be scared shitless because some idiot decides to schedule a fly-by.
Only ONE moron? Your town is doing very well indeed Sir!
I’ve personally bumped into three of them in the last couple of hours in my city. Let alone the junior one’s I live with…
Friend of mine has a picture of the 'hawk (Not sure if it is Black or Sea) and the Herky flying over his house, the drough chutes extended and the hawk manuvering in to drink. Very cool.
Well, although to a certain extent I understand your paranoia, I’m having a little trouble coming up with any scenario in which a helicopter chases a plane that spells trouble. If the plane were stolen, then it would leave the helicopter in the dust. And if the helicopter were stolen, it wouldn’t be trailing the plane. And if they both were stolen, then they wouldn’t be flitting around the sky drawing attention to themselves.
So really, what’s the big deal here? You got nervous, called 911 and they reassured you. A whole lot of other people got out binoculars and said “Cool, the helicopter’s refueling!”.
This is the purpose of 311. If you have concerns that are not emergencies… I can understand this level of concern given the atmosphere that currently exists. People are on edge. This is understandable. This does sound like something cool to watch however. I have never seen an airplane refuel in the air. That would be something to see.
