Just thought Id share a little bit of excitement I had yesturday. Ive been working on a jobsite near Dobbins AFB. Everyday I get to see F-18s C-5s and C-130s doing touch and gos , which brings them pretty much right over my head. Well. , yesturday I got a real treat! 
Lockheed was doing some flight testing on the F-22! For about half the day I got to see this thing for the first time just flyin about and taking off many times over. Up close too! I kep talking about it to everybody, but all I got from them was , oh well, yeah , that was neat…[|)] So, I figured Id share my moment with the new fighter with guys, and gals! who would actually appreciate that [:)]
Pictures, where are the Pictures?? [:D]
lol, I sooo wish I had my camera or camcorder with me. Im gonna be working on that job for a while, I think maybe I should start taking it with me
Well, I’m not much on the F-22’s looks, but thats a good stroke of luck you had there. From what I understand, they still make some efforts to keep the bird away from the bulk of prying eyes.
Hey Upnorth;
if you really want to get some great pix of the 22 got to Lost Wages (Las Vegas) NV because Nellis AFB has them there for Fighter Weapons Training
I am SOOOOOOOOOO jealous[bow] Seriously though, that is great.
You picked the right people to share it with… I wish I was there![:D]
That is awsome! I got to see the F-22 doing flight testing at Edwards when I was out there a couple of years ago. I didn’t see it flying as close as you… but I did see it taxi by us about 200 feet away! We were on the flight line at the time, so no cameras allowed. [V] I would have given anything to get a picture of what I saw. I guess I will just have to wait until they start showing up at airshows.
Isn’t the F-22 finally in service? I thought i read an article a while back about how this plane was the longest in development for the USAF (almost 20 years now, i think). I’d love to see one up close! [:)] But i doubt that they’ll take and F-22 and fly it over my house in uptown manila… [:(]
Uh oh shrikes the dreaded red X is back… [:D]
Yes and no. The first production airplane (the 18th Raptor built) was delivered to the Air Force a few months ago. The first ones are assigned to an operational training unit. I think that means they’ll be learning to fly and fight them, but none will be used in combat for a long time yet.
the 18 was to be going to Tyndall AFB but the few prior to # 18 is at Nellis & Edwards, I think #'s 1 through 6 or 8 are at Edwards and from there to 18 are at Nellis for FT Training
I read in a magazine recently that Tyndal just took delivery of its first F-22s and the first fully operational unit of them will be set up at Langley AFB sometime in early 2007.
Ive got some pretty close photos. It was on display at an airshow a few years ago at Dobbins. It was roped off, but still cool to see. I’ll break out the old scanner this weekend and post some pics.
Hope that you all don’t hate me for this one but I got to see one up REAL close, as in sitting in the cockpit close. I was TDY out to Nellis last Feb and got to see their first test bird out there. Pretty cool stuff. The cockpit is much simpler than you would think but I cannot discuss the specifics. I actually got to walk up around the missile bays, sit in the cockpit, look down the intakes and exhaust. One of the coolest and most technologically advanced planes I have ever seen. Wish I could have taken pictures but they would have dragged me away in handcuffs!