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Aviation => Aviation Accidents/Incidents => Topic started by: larrymathe on September 27, 2015, 03:27:07 PM

Title: Anyone else see this
Post by: larrymathe on September 27, 2015, 03:27:07 PM
I was in Westchester County NY this morning-appx 17 miles north of LGA and 20 miles northwest of JFK-At appx 10:45am I observed a A320/738/757 size aircraft at appx 28,000+ feet heading due west-could have been coming out of JFK--who knows, the aircraft was closely followed-3-500 feet- by a much smaller object. The smaller object did not have the profile of a military aircraft.

Myself and 3 others watched the 2 seemingly flying together for about 60 seconds. After that the smaller object seemed to slow and change to a south/south west heading and out of sight.

Anyone????????

Title: Re: Anyone else see this
Post by: JetScan1 on September 28, 2015, 10:16:15 AM
Flightradar24 has a playback option. You can see an American A321 (AAL255) climbing out of JFK that passes overhead HPN at around 15000 feet at around 10:45am, then there is a Falcon 900 climbing out of ISP just behind the A321. Maybe that was it ?


Title: Re: Anyone else see this
Post by: Rick108 on September 28, 2015, 10:25:59 AM
Maybe this is related to the next thread under this topic - look here: http://www.liveatc.net/forums/aviation-incidents/military-kc10-tanker-orbiting-jfk (http://www.liveatc.net/forums/aviation-incidents/military-kc10-tanker-orbiting-jfk)/
Title: Re: Anyone else see this
Post by: larrymathe on September 28, 2015, 10:31:28 AM
It was pretty far south of HPN- both aircraft appeared to be at about the 25,000+ FL, and the smaller aircraft was definitely not commercial-At this point I am leaning towards the previous post about a KC-10 circling the JFK area.
 A highly plausible explanation would be a mock refueling exercise. This would explain the proximity of the much smaller trailing aircraft, the duration of the maneuver and how the follower, after about 60-90 seconds slowly dropped back and moved away to the left.

I guess the question that begs asking is why would they be performing this type of exercise over heavily populated areas
Title: Re: Anyone else see this
Post by: wxmike on September 28, 2015, 01:16:11 PM
I saw this. Looked like it was escorted by an F-14
Title: Re: Anyone else see this
Post by: neurotech on September 28, 2015, 11:20:05 PM
I saw this. Looked like it was escorted by an F-14
Doubt it. There are no F-14 flying in the US anymore. The last flight was in 2006.

It could have been a F-15C Eagle. The F-15 regularly fly patrols to support VIP TFRs.
Title: Re: Anyone else see this
Post by: RonR on September 29, 2015, 09:28:55 AM
It could have been a F-15C Eagle. The F-15 regularly fly patrols to support VIP TFRs.

The UN General Assembly is in session in NYC this week so the presence of the KC-10 tanker makes sense.  A KC-10 looks a lot like a passenger jet, especially when it's at FL240.  Most likely, that's exactly what you saw.