Chicagoist
July 21st, 2009, 11:00 AM
http://chicagoist.com/attachments/Marcus Gilmer/2009_07_21_F16.jpg
Yes, we know they flew F14 Tomcats (heh) in Top Gun, but humor us...
You may or may not have heard them zoom over the city early this morning (we didn't; thank you, Xanax!) but they were up there. "They" being F16 fighter jets. But what were they doing up there? Testing out the city's new flight path restrictions, of course. Per Chicago Breaking News (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/07/early-morning-military-exercise-in-area-skies.html):
First Lt. Jared Scott from the Continental Unites States NORAD Region said the purpose of the early morning exercise was to hone pilots' abilities to intercept aircraft flying in restricted airspace."Basically we acted as if a general aviation aircraft wandered into restricted airspace. The pilot's job is to get the plane out of there. Usually this happens when a pilot is not aware, or they're not communicating to a tower. We'll scramble to find out what is going on," Scott said.
The hour-long exercise, named Falcon Virgo 09-Windy City-One (http://www.norad.mil/News/2009/072009.html), is a regular one, according to Lt. Scott, who noted there will be a similar one tonight over Washington, D.C. According to CBN, at least two of the planes were spotted over Lake Michigan and another shooting towards downtown from the North.
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Yes, we know they flew F14 Tomcats (heh) in Top Gun, but humor us...
You may or may not have heard them zoom over the city early this morning (we didn't; thank you, Xanax!) but they were up there. "They" being F16 fighter jets. But what were they doing up there? Testing out the city's new flight path restrictions, of course. Per Chicago Breaking News (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/07/early-morning-military-exercise-in-area-skies.html):
First Lt. Jared Scott from the Continental Unites States NORAD Region said the purpose of the early morning exercise was to hone pilots' abilities to intercept aircraft flying in restricted airspace."Basically we acted as if a general aviation aircraft wandered into restricted airspace. The pilot's job is to get the plane out of there. Usually this happens when a pilot is not aware, or they're not communicating to a tower. We'll scramble to find out what is going on," Scott said.
The hour-long exercise, named Falcon Virgo 09-Windy City-One (http://www.norad.mil/News/2009/072009.html), is a regular one, according to Lt. Scott, who noted there will be a similar one tonight over Washington, D.C. According to CBN, at least two of the planes were spotted over Lake Michigan and another shooting towards downtown from the North.
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