A U-2 flew over my house today

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
06/13/2020 at 16:12 • Filed to: Planelopnik

Not my photo

And I missed it.

We were sitting inside and heard a very distinctly different jet noise, low and loud. By the time we got outside, it was gone. Somebody else snapped this photo. A person on my neighborhood email group thought it might have been here for a funeral. Interestingly, it didn’t show up on the ADS-B. I know it’s a spy plane, but you’d think it would be squawking if it were flying in commercial airspace.

Dammit. I’ve never seen one in the air before.

DISCUSSION (38)

VincentMalamute-Kim > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 16:16

And exactly what have you been up to that we need to know about?

(I can’t imagine sending a U-2 flyover for a funeral. Unless it was for a spy? )

ttyymmnn > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/13/2020 at 16:18

I can’t either, but I can’t think of any other reason it would be here. Unless it stopped at KAUS for some reason.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 16:21

Bono must have been really high.

This is a great video, I’m sure everyone has seen it but it shows you what a flight in these is like.

ttyymmnn > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
06/13/2020 at 16:25

You can see the curvature of the Earth from there. The U-2 tops out at about 70,000 feet. Alan Eustace jumped out of a balloon at almost twice that altitude.

This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja: > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 16:28

With the way things have been going I'm not surprised they're up there keeping an eye on things.

jminer > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 16:28

That’s definitely strange to see over a residential neighborhood - stinks that you missed it.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 16:32

You can see the curve pretty well below that, I have been on military flights above what commercial planes fly at and it was pretty cool up there. I would love to go on a U2 flight. For about $15k you can go to Russia and do it in a Mig, that could be fun...

ttyymmnn > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
06/13/2020 at 16:35

I can’t imagine they’d task a U-2 with surveillance over Austin, when helicopters or regular aircraft could do the same job for significantly less money.

VincentMalamute-Kim > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
06/13/2020 at 16:36

I thought you were making a joke for a second. Then I realized... damn... you’re serious.

ttyymmnn > jminer
06/13/2020 at 16:36

I missed the Thunderbirds because I was in the wrong place, I missed the Commemorative Air Force flyover because I was in the wrong place. I’m getting completely skunked on interesting aircraft sightings these days.

Thomas Donohue > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 16:39

Bono and the boys out for a spin.

Kinja'd!!!

This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja: > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 16:39

But if you don’t spend all that they give you they won’t give you more next year. Also, small arms fire.

I'm joking.... I think. I don't even know anymore. Reality can be stranger than fiction.

ttyymmnn > Thomas Donohue
06/13/2020 at 16:41

I have never seen that 75. That’s awesome

user314 > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
06/13/2020 at 16:43

If they were really using a U-2 to monitor protesters, it'd be from a much higher altitude.

jminer > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 16:50

In the long run you’re way ahead of all of us, the dry spell will end eventually.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 16:51

I saw my first Osprey in the wild last summer.

ttyymmnn > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/13/2020 at 17:03

I have yet to see one. Wrong part of the country, I guess

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 17:16

For some reason they have been flying a Boeing 707 aerial refueling jet around my neck of the woods the last few days. I’ve seen it twice but no pics. It’s freaking huge and it can only land at our commercial airport as there are no air force bases here. Maybe a reserve unit or something.

ttyymmnn > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
06/13/2020 at 17:19

Where do you live?

Next time you see it, look for it here: https://tar1090.adsbexchange.com

Click the U at the top to show only military aircraft (that are squawking).

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 17:19

There were two. Quite unexpected.

ttyymmnn > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/13/2020 at 17:23

And quite loud, probably.

ttyymmnn > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
06/13/2020 at 18:07

Interestingly (at least to me), the KC-135 tanker is not a 707. They are both descended from the 367-80 (Dash 80), which Boeing developed as a proof of concept to fulfill an AF request for a jet-powered tanker. The KC-135 is narrower and shorter than the 707, and while the 707 was retired years ago, the KC-135 soldiers on, now with newer high-bypass turbofans.

Are you sure it’s a KC-135? It could also be an RC-135 (Rivet Joint) electronic surveillance aircraft. I’ve been looking at the ADS-B, and have seen them over the US pretty regularly. There was one the other night flying a racetrack sort of pattern over northeast TX late at night. It took off from Majors Airport in Greenville, TX where the company is based that handles the conversions and service.

wafflesnfalafel > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/13/2020 at 18:21

T hose are crazy - we had a pair out for fleet week several years ago. They look fake to me, CGI’d in the sky.

ttyymmnn > user314
06/13/2020 at 18:29

I’m really intrigued why it was here. You can’t just fly a U-2 from airport to airport.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 19:23

I live near Kalispell Montana.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 19:27

It’s definitely a KC135, I just assumed they were the same 707/135. I could clearly see the refueling spar with winglets off the back of the plane.

f86sabre > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 20:15

That’s not something that you see every day!

ttyymmnn > f86sabre
06/13/2020 at 20:17

I know, and I’m kicking myself for not seeing it. We were sitting in the house, and I heard what I knew to be an unfamiliar jet sound. My son ran out and saw it, but it was gone by the time I got outside. Honestly, that’s practically a once in a lifetime sighting. Sigh.

f86sabre > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 20:25

I saw o e at Oshkosh years ago and o think that was the only time I’ve seen one that was in service.

phenotyp > ttyymmnn
06/13/2020 at 23:48

We had a couple T-38s, but a U-2!?

ttyymmnn > phenotyp
06/13/2020 at 23:57

I’m so bummed that I missed it.

user314 > ttyymmnn
06/14/2020 at 10:30

I was at work when two of the HMX-1 Ospreys flew over back in ‘14. They a re loud and very distinctive, even compared to the 911th ’s C-130s and other turboprops from PIT.

Yaksh > ttyymmnn
06/14/2020 at 13:20

Could I ask where you saw this? Not asking for your address, but just general vicinity. I'm interested because I also heard a weird/different aircraft yesterday, and it sounded lower than usual. I'm in Northern NJ, an hour away from KEWR, but I'm certain that the noise I heard was not an airliner.

ttyymmnn > Yaksh
06/14/2020 at 13:32

This was in Austin, TX. So nowhere near. It was strange enough just to hear an aircraft at all. We are north of the airport, and usually hear a steady stream of jets on final to KAUS. We’ve hardly heard a thing in the last three months, for obvious reasons, so when you hear any jet, let alone a strange one, it’s an event.

Sam Alan > ttyymmnn
06/14/2020 at 20:53

I can shed some light in the U2 fly-over. My wife's uncle was a U2 pilot in the 1960's. He recently passed and to honor him the Air Force did a fly-over for his grave-side service .

Sam Alan > ttyymmnn
06/14/2020 at 20:59

Here's a link to his obituary. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/austin-tx/eddie-dunagan-9199575

ttyymmnn > Sam Alan
06/14/2020 at 21:02

Thanks so much for the info. I wish I could have seen it. And Godspeed to your wife’s uncle.

ttyymmnn > Sam Alan
06/14/2020 at 21:04

Quite a life and legacy. Thanks again.