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Remembering back a few years
September 11, 2002. First anniversary. I'm in the DC area for a meeting, at the Key Bridge Marriott. It faces the Potomac, right where the river bends from generally north to generally northwest. Maybe a couple of miles north of National Airport and the Pentagon. Flight paths leaving National go right up the Potomac.
I'm walking across the hotel parking lot when I hear jet engines coming up the river. OK, a takeoff from National. Then I realize they're louder and coming on faster than any civilian jet should. September 11, uh, oh. Then four F-16s come roaring up the Potomac at low altitude, turn with the river's bend, and climb away into the distance. Another hijack?
I look at the hotel and lots of windows have faces in them, staring out.
It turned out the Pentagon had a memorial service capped by a flyover, which hadn't been heavily publicized...
Comments
Those suckers are LOUD, too. Amazing how loud military aircraft like that are in real life.
We refer to that as "the sound of freedom."
Posted by: Bill at September 11, 2009 12:03 PM
My Brother use to work at El Toro Naval Air Station in CA. The f-16s use to scramble and fly low level to the coast and the beyond. Loud was not the word for it. Years later I was at an airshow in NJ when they had a lone f-16 approach at 400 feet and when he was close to the field kick in the afterburners. Everyone knew he was there and the ground shook :)
You do not forget that!
Posted by: Rich at September 11, 2009 07:02 PM
Horsepower makes me happy and deaf. The sound of freedom for sure.
Posted by: Scott M at September 12, 2009 08:52 AM