I spent the day in Alamogordo, NM today. Resting up for 4 challenging stages upcoming and
also spending time outside of Holloman, AFB (about 7 miles west of
Alamogordo). Below are pictures and
video from the visit. While I was once
in the USAF and had done some work at Holloman, given that I’m now a nobody as
far as the USAF is concerned (!), I couldn’t go onto the base but I was able to
hang out just outside of the base fence near the end of the runway. I was close enough to the planes landing,
that I could smell the JP-8 jet fuel as the jets flew over – brings back fond
memories…
What I saw: a) F-22 Raptors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-22 ),
b) MQ-1 Predator drones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQ-1_Predator
) and c) German Tornados, which train here at Holoman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panavia_Tornado
).
In the videos below, click to open and try to expand to a
large size – the video should come through fairly well (although each of the
files are compressed to upload to the site).
Also, to update yesterday - I noticed this morning I had a slow deflating flat tire from the ride on Sunday, so - Flat Tire #3 (again from a small metal wire - likely from a truck re-tread blowout - I'm beginning to dread those).
Sierra Blanca Peak in the Lincoln National Forest (I'll be riding up that way tomorrow).
Sign along US Hwy 70 as you enter the White Sands Missile Range.
Lincoln National Forest
F-22 Raptors landing.
German Air Force Tornados
Landscape outside of Holloman AFB, along US Hwy 70.
Two F-22's doing a flyover (note how quiet they are compared to the Tornado's below).
F-22 landing.
Two F-22s landing.
MQ-1 Predator landing (these are so quiet I didn't hear it until it was nearly on top of me).
Flyover of a Tornado, right over an MQ-1 landing - cool.
Videos of Tornados (I was right under them on their approach to the runway!).
Two Tornados doing a flyover of the runway and then landing.
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