Clear the Air

And a surprise ending

It was looking for a while like I might actually publish a planned post today, but then along came a major distraction.

The day has been kind of strange anyway. I woke up early, the skies were cloudy, and the current weather conditions, according to our fine government, were “clear”. We were making a short trip, a mile or two down the street into the neighboring incorporated area where the current conditions were being reported instead as “cloudy” and sure enough, it was, although the sun was peeking through a hole in the clouds. That was this morning.

This evening, the skies were again cloudy, and the current reported conditions were still “clear”. Only this time things got stranger still. We started hearing what sounded like thunder. No lightning, just thunder rolls, kind of a cross between thunder and jet noise, really.

I of course pulled out FlightRadar24 on my iPad, and there were almost no planes in the sky anywhere in the region (greater Sacramento area), and none close enough to sound like that. It was as if the others knew something and were staying away. OK, there was an Air Canada Express way up going way fast, but only briefly.

Meanwhile, outside, it looked like it was about to rain, with conditions still reported as “clear”. I opened the door and heard some very strange “thunder” and wondered what would a somewhat low-flying jet with active high-capacity spray nozzles sound like up close. And by then there was not a sign of a plane in the sky anywhere in the region according to FlightRadar24.

At this point I broke down and turned on WiFi on my iPad, so I could take it outside—I normally run it wired (yes, that’s quite possible). Very soon the first raindrops started to fall (from the “clear” sky above that was cloudy) and I spotted what appeared to be spray trails in the southeast, maybe over the American River, the first I had seen in weeks. They were overlapping circular arcs, the first time I have seen that that pattern, and they were more distinct than usual, almost like they were glowing. There seemed to be more than one jet involved. Maybe they were forming their logo?

Rather than take pictures, I took the iPad back inside where it was dry. That’s one of my major visual assistive devices, and I wasn’t paying for another one on account of some pilots clowning around. (Bear in mind that my father was a USAF pilot, and a fighter pilot in WWII. No nonsense there. I had high respect for those I knew back in those days. Today I’m not so sure about some of them.) I did come back later and take this, of a single arc. Kind of looks like smoke…

The jets then appeared to disappear, along with the weird thunder. It felt like it had been some kind of raid, as in an “air raid”. (Later, the sounds returned.) There is just one teensy weensy little problem with that feeling. The sounds were of military fighter jets, potentially approaching mach 1, near our house. Not much room for tanks and sprayers on those, although maybe just a little room to leave a smoke trail. If this had been a real war, the sounds we heard would have been a genuine “run, death is near” warning.

But this was July 13th, and July 13-14 is the California Capital Evening Airshow, and it was evening. As I write, they’re still at it, flying in and out and back and forth ‘till they’re due back in the show area, hanging out over our house somewhere, a staging area for the air show every year. Now and then I hear a sound like an afterburner kicking in, possibly as they head back to the show. (As an Air Force brat I grew up around this stuff, which might be why I don’t go to air shows now, or even know when they are scheduled.) No sonic booms so far, at least not in this neighborhood.

The circular arc patterns were sprayed in the vicenity of Mather Airport in the southeast of the county, where these shows are based and presented. Italy’s Frecce Tricolori and The Blue Angels. They’re all over the place, but mostly above the clouds above us, it sounds like.

The very thought of aircraft/weapons like these creeps me out, now. It didn’t back when I lived on or near Air Force bases. Back then it didn’t seem to register what these things were designed to do. Now it does.

Something interesting did come out of this show. First of all, all other air traffic around here appears to have been delayed or diverted, possibly because of the risk of getting in the way of miliatary stunt pilots. Second, none of the jets appears on FlightRadar24, so there is a provision for radar masking in services like that one. Just how and why I don’t exactly know yet, although I can imagine reasons. Does anybody else here know?

It looks like the sun’s down now, and private and commercial flights are returning to the skys. I see one or two at Mather that are (finally) showing up on FlightRadar24—looks like antique aircraft. Here’s a screen shot:

OK, all clear.