Most likely a powerline or pipeline patrol.



--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm
See http://www.fija.org/ more about your rights and duties.


wrote in message
oups.com...
| All,
| This seems a little strange to me. I live in the OKC
area,
| specifically Midwest City. The other morning while walking
my dog in
| the park, I heard an approaching small plane (you know I
ALWAYS look
| up!). I thought this was strange as the airspace in that
area belongs
| to Tinker AFB and that to be able to hear it that well it
would have to
| be at 1000 AGL or less. I look up as it came overhead,
appeared to be a
| high wing four place, sounded "stronger" than your average
172.
| Well this plane was less than 1000 AGL, more like
500-700, headed
| roughly ESE about 1.5-2 miles directly north of TAFB.
Because of the
| low altitude it quickly disappeared behind the tree line,
BUT, it
| reappeared maybe only 10-20 seconds later now heading WNW.
This guy had
| to turn around quick, waaaaay beyond standard rate.
| Ok, low altitude, with a quick turn, right north of an
Air Force
| base? With no place to land within that short short
gliding distance he
| had, all over an extremely congested area (MWC, Del City
residential
| areas)?
| Now I have seen and been allowed to overfly Tinker at a
reasonable
| altitude just to pass through, but this guy was up to
something else.
| I'm thinking he had to be some sort of government (city,
state, fed)
| plane doing some sort of checking or something. Way too
many risks
| associated with what they were doing to be unimportant.
| It might have been considered a base to 17, however, they
would have
| never made it without power.
| I though it was an anomaly until this morning, while at
the doctors
| office parking lot, north of the park about 1/2 mile, I
saw a similar
| situation, actually exactly the same thing but from half a
mile away
| instead of directly underneath. Plane flew low to the
east, until a
| little past what is Midwest Blvd, did an extremely quick
180 and headed
| out.
| Couldn't see if they climbed out as offices and trees
obscured my
| vision. This was about the same time as the other event,
and it may
| have also been early in the week.
| There is a VOR on the north side of Tinker, but that is a
lot (1-1.5
| miles) farther than where the plane turned around.
| Anyone in MWC see this occur? Any others see similar
situations where
| they live? I'm sure that something official is occurring,
just
| wondering what it could be.
| There are no other nearby airports the he could be
maneuvering for,
| and those types of maneuvers would not be tolerated in any
pattern.
| Strange stuff, no matter what it is I wouldn't want to be
the pilot if
| ye ole fan stopped turning. He was what I would say might
be a low
| cruise speed (maybe 100 knots), so he could trade some AS
for altitude,
| but not much.
| Jesse M.
|
| PP-ASEL
| A&P
|