Mon Jan 08, 2018 12:29 pm
Hello all. I was listening to LiveATC's Oakland Center/Fresno channel a few days ago and heard the radio callsign GUNSTAR 11. A little bit of research showed this to be an F-18E with the US Navy's VFA-136 fighter squadron called the Knighthawks home-based at Lemoore NAS. The pilot was having a hard time understanding ATC due to some sort of radio issue (not an emergency though) and was trying to get vectors to Fresno Yosemite airport, which just happened to be "turned around" at the time (aircraft taking off and landing to the southeast due to winds, I'm guessing,) rather than landing at Lemoore NAS.
For those of you who watch the ANG's F15's based at Fresno, is it a somewhat common occurrence to see F18's at Fresno? What about other stuff such as the C5, C17, F22, F35, and KC135's- do any of them make occasional stops there? (I'm not talking about airshow traffic- just transient stops.)
Last question- do the ANG F15's have any sort of "schedule" (for lack of a better description) as to when they fly? Like morning takeoffs between, say 0800 to 0930, with an RTB about 90 minutes to 2 hours later, or 1300 to 1400 hrs takeoff with an RTB around 1600? Just curious how often they fly.
Thank you in advance for any answers.
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