Military Planes Overhead ~ Anyone Know What Is Going On?

[nicofrog]

A friend posted a youtube of a train headed south(Presumably toward the base at san diego) with tanks not a few tanks but litereally hundreds like two to three hundred.

My imediate assumption is a shipment to isreal or somewhere else in the middel east.

Obama seems convinced that our military might might work to keep the entire world our brand of democratic and religious .

I think its a wrong Idea,as is offshore drilling and nukes
but they all set up to make him look like the bread winner pres.

all exhaust is chemical(as is all normal air)so their's no denying "chemtrails",also a industialmilitarycorporate plot to keep hippies wandering around squinting at the sky, saying "Dude" ,while they pick your pockets!

You want chem trails try thermight in New York on a certian fatefull morning... or Dallus in the 60's
or hiroshima ..fukushima plenty enough to follow there.
N

Hello Community,

For four days now there is an abundance of military type airplane activity over head. I live in South Sebastopol, near Hessel Road. I have noticed an increase of airplane traffic over the past six months and even have seen large military planes flying in formations, as though they were preparing for an air show. Only thing is ... no air show. But this activity is greatly increased and frankly annoying, at the very least.

Also a lot of high up jet activity, both day and night.

Anybody else notice this? Anyone know what is going on?

[theindependenteye]

I saw the tanks video, and shivered. Tanks a lot. (Sorry.) I saw this happen once before, in Spain, in 1969 -- the first time we spent a summer bumming around in Europe. Our B&B in Madrid was right across the street from the Prado, and we looked forward to ambling across the street in the morning and spending a luscious day with some of the world's most magnificent art. Had breakfast, hit the sidewalk, and then stood there stupefied for about fifteen minutes as an endless line of Franco's tanks paraded down the street. Eventually, the display of military readiness came to the last tank, and we could cross the street. Appropriately, one of the first things we saw in the Prado was Breughel's "The Triumph of Death," and after that, Goya's "The Disasters of War."

[Sabrina]

Just FYI... I received this forwarded from a list I'm on, and it immediately made me think to ad it to this thread from several weeks back. Some may know local activist Mary Moore? She finds and sends out some very news worthy info. Here's what she sent:

To all: Here is another scary article on drones and we'd better start
watching this issue closely. This morning Peter B Collins (KGO) brought up
the subject and commented that even most "liberals" aren't paying much
attention to this (tune him in, he's very good on the issues--weekend
mornings 11AM to 2PM at 810 AM) Thanks to Wayne for sending. MM

February 9, 2012 by Common Dreams
30,000 Domestic Drones to Fill Our Skies, Civil Liberties at Risk
FAA Act would raise 'very serious privacy issues'- Common Dreams staff

A bill has passed in the House and Senate this week that would allow the
presence of drones in U.S. civilian airspace. The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act requires the FAA to alleviate many
current rules on domestic drone authorization. Drones would now be able to
fly in the same airspace as commercial airliners, private planes, and cargo
jets. Up to 30,000 drones could be allowed in U.S. airspace by the end of
the decade. The Senate passed the bill on Monday, 75-20 and allots $63.4
billion to the FAA. President Obama is expected to sign it into law.

ACLU, among other civil liberties groups, is expressing grave concern for
civilian privacy, as the legislation does not restrict drone surveillance
activities by police and federal government agencies. ACLU states:

As we explained in our recent report, drone technology is advancing by leaps
and bounds, and there is a lot of pent-up demand for them within the law
enforcement community. But, domestic deployment of unmanned aircraft for
surveillance purposes has largely been blocked so far by the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA), which is rightly concerned about the safety
effects of filling our skies with flying robots (which crash significantly
more often than manned aircraft). Unfortunately, nothing in the bill would
address the very serious privacy issues raised by drone aircraft. This bill
would push the nation willy-nilly toward an era of aerial surveillance
without any steps to protect the traditional privacy that Americans have
always enjoyed and expected. We don¹t want to wonder, every time we step out
our front door, whether some eye in the sky is watching our every move.

Here are details on what the bill would do in terms of drones:
Require the FAA to simplify and speed up the process by which it issues
permission to government agencies to operate drones. It must do this within
90 days. The FAA has already been working on a set of proposed regulations
to loosen the rules around drones, reportedly set for release in the spring
of 2012.

Require the FAA to allow ³a government public safety agency² to operate any
drone weighing 4.4 pounds or less as long as certain conditions are met
(within line of sight, during the day, below 400 feet in altitude, and only
in safe categories of airspace).

Require the FAA to establish a pilot project within six months to create six
test zones for integrating drones ³into the national airspace system.²

Require the FAA to create a comprehensive plan ³to safely accelerate the
integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace
system.² ³Civil² drones means those operated by the private sector;
currently it is all but impossible for any non-government entity, except for
hobbyists, to get permission to fly drones (for-profit use of drones is
banned). Industry groups and their congressional supporters see this as a
potential area for growth. Congress specifies that the plan must provide for
the integration of drones into the national airspace system ³as soon as
practicable, but not later than September 30, 2015.² The FAA has nine months
to create the plan. The FAA is also required to create a ³5-year roadmap for
the introduction² of civil drones into the national airspace. Unfortunately,
nothing in the bill would address the very serious privacy issues raised by
drone aircraft. This bill would push the nation willy-nilly toward an era of
aerial surveillance without any steps to protect the traditional privacy
that Americans have always enjoyed and expected.

Require the FAA to publish a final rule within 18 months after the
comprehensive plan is submitted, ³that will allow² civil operation of small
(under 55 pounds) drones in the national airspace, and a proposed rule for
carrying out the comprehensive plan.

TPM reports: The federal government is also facing a lawsuit from the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, a watchdog group that is asking for the FAA
to release records on the almost-300 agencies that have authorization to
operate drones domestically. Jennifer Lynch, an attorney with the EFF who
brought the case, told TPM that this bill makes their suit even more
important. ³I think the fact that Congress is pressuring the FAA to expand
its UAS program through the FAA Reauthorization Act only reinforces the need
for these records,² Lynch said. ³It¹s important that we learn more about how
the federal government and state and local law enforcement agencies are
already using UASs before we expand their use further. The privacy concerns
posed by the use of drones for domestic surveillance are too great to excuse
the FAA¹s lack of transparency on this issue.²

[John Eder]

I am a 12 year veteran of the USAF. I am also very familiar with most types of military aircraft. I have two observations.

Large, four-engined military aircraft routinely overfly Sonoma County. Oftentimes, these are HC-130 search and rescue aircraft flown by the U.S. Coast Guard out of USCG Air Station Sacramento. While they may from time to time be utilized in law enforcement/maritime reconnaissance roles (surveillance of suspicious marine vessels out at sea (drugs), or ships dumping fuel or trash, as an example), the primary purpose of these aircraft is saving lives. They have a range of almost 5,000 miles without refueling, so they are able to search vast tracts of ocean, both visually and electronically. They also assist mariners in distress by dropping pumps, life rafts, etc. They are easily identified- a white fuselage with a high-visibility orange stripe forward of the wing, orange patches on the bottom of the wings and horizontal stabilisers and an orange vertical stabiliser (tail). In October, 2009, one of the Sacramento-based aircraft crashed at sea near San Diego while searching for a missing boater. All seven crew members were killed. These men and women aren't spraying clouds, looking for pot fields, or transporting alien bodies. They are either on an active rescue mission, or they are training for the next one.

I have also observed USAF and Navy aircraft overflights. These are typically routine training flights. It is common for a Navy fighter pilot to fly out of a Central (NAS Lemoore) or Southern California (NAS North Island) base to Sonoma/Mendocino counties and return within 1-2 hours. These pilots need to maintain the highest levels of flying skills, and some of them are in the Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard putting in their required training (flying) hours. Two fighters from the Massachusetts Air National Guard were the first responding aircraft over New York on September 11, 2001. The requirement for increased vigilance in the post-9/11 world has only increased the training activities of our military branches on all levels.

Finally, I understand the concerns regarding the increased domestic use of drones. While on active duty, I was an air intelligence analyst, working with reconnaissance imagery collected by a wide variety of sensor platforms, including drones. The ability to avoid detection from the air was essentially lost by the 1980's, as extremely high resolution imaging systems incorporating "real time" digital video became widely deployed. Prior to those developments, we needed to wait until the aircraft, etc. returned, the film was developed and prints could be looked at. We had domestic imagery available which we used for special projects, all of which were secret, but not sinister (in my opinion). I will give you an example.

During the Cold War, we relied on missiles in underground silos to deter the Soviet Union from attacking us. Apparently, it worked. However, we questioned the reliability of those missiles and their support facilities as they aged. A proposal was made to launch several unarmed missiles from the midwest out into the Pacific Ocean to test them. The selection of which missiles to launch was based, in part, on those requiring the fewest evacuees. As the stages of the missiles were expended, they would fall to earth. The people in those calculated impact areas would need to be evacuated for their safety. This was over thirty years ago, and the test was never performed. However, the point here is that we were able to get highly accurate estimates by studying farms, ranches, towns and other indicators of population. Individual people were capable of being imaged. We could count the vents on your roof and determine how many bathrooms your house had, what kind of car you drove, what you were growing, etc. When you add infrared imaging, communications intercepts, informants and the wide array of other techniques available for collecting "collateral intelligence", the ability to keep a person under surveillance or determine an activity is fairly simple and universally available.

It is the concern about the intent of these abilities that I question. If you fear our government (and you may have legitimate reasons to do so), then you have a great deal to fear, as they have astounding capabilities- just ask Osama Bin Laden. If, on the other hand, you don't have an ongoing fear of our government, and are not engaged in activities that would cause you to draw their attention, then you are probably okay. Yes, their have been many documented abuses and errors in the past. But overall, it is my opinion that our government is not waging a widespread secret war against its citizens. If you rely on them for our collective defense, then some activities need to be tolerated, including intelligence operations. Technology, for better or worse, keeps moving forward, and drones are just an aspect of that (you can thank the USAF for footing the gazillion dollar R and D bill for the digital camera in your cell phone). They may find their way into a host of non-lethal benign applications, such as search and rescue, infrastructure inspection, traffic monitoring, wildland firefighting, and, yes, law enforcement/border surveillance/drug interdiction. Weren't we supposed to have automated flying cars that folded up into a briefcase by now?

[John Eder]

A couple of additional items:

The "chemtrails" plane that crashed at Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station was a civilian air refueling tanker owned/operated by Omega Refueling Services, Inc. that was under contract to the U.S. Navy to refuel fighter planes engaged in exercises off the coast of Southern California. Even though the US military has various types of air to air refueling aircraft, some "outsourcing" is also employed. See: https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...ervices-04802/ or just Google "Omega Refueling Services, Inc." Yes, there was an "aluminum lake" at the crash site. That is what an aluminum airplane carrying 150,000 pounds of jet fuel looks like after it crashes and melts. See: https://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/may...t-mugu-tanker/

I didn't realize that the Omega symbol was so evil. I guess that I'll have to take that watch back to Macy's.

Regarding the D-21 drone, all of the remaining examples are currently in museums, not circling over Sonoma County. Actually, there is one in Sonoma County- at the Pacific Coast Air Museum at the Sonoma County Airport. This 1960s vintage program was almost a complete failure, and very few actual missions were flown, all of them over "Communist China", as it was known back in the days before Apple and Walmart products were manufactured there. All D-21 operations were suspended in the early 1970s, with these drones being replaced by a new generation of even more capable reconnaissance satellites.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones, come in all sizes, from the size of a tiny radio-controlled airplane (that your neighbor uses to spy on you...) to the Global Hawk, with a range of 8,000 miles and the ability to image over 40,000 square miles a day. These drones were used for damage assessment after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last year. One was also used to monitor Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. They all have a purpose, from helping the police look for the "bad guys" hiding inside an industrial facility to flying over heavily-defended target areas, thus preventing the loss of one or more pilots (and the lives of the military rescue crews that would selflessly go in to recover them).

There is enough bad stuff in the world already without having to make up new stuff or misinterpret facts to erroneously arrive at scary conclusions.

[podfish]

... It is the concern about the intent of these abilities that I question. If you fear our government (and you may have legitimate reasons to do so), then you have a great deal to fear,
.... If, on the other hand, you ... are not engaged in activities that would cause you to draw their attention, then you are probably okay.
... it is my opinion that our government is not waging a widespread secret war against its citizens.

thanks for adding real knowledge to this, by the way. But personally, though I share your perspective, I'm glad that there are plenty of people who get all worked up over our oppressive government. I don't think the pattern of the boy who cried wolf applies here; rather, the more people who have hair-trigger resistance to the government exercise of power, the more likely that the abuses that do occur get attention.
I don't want to rely on the fact that my activities aren't of interest to the government. I don't want them to have much of a right to an opinion on my activities at all. And though I agree they're not waging "secret war", they do a lot to put themselves in the position to win such a war if it ever happens.

[Dixon]

They may find their way into a host of non-lethal benign applications, such as search and rescue, infrastructure inspection, traffic monitoring, wildland firefighting, and, yes, law enforcement/border surveillance/drug interdiction.

Excuse me, but protecting the borders drawn by white people to keep the brown progeny of the real owners of the so-called "New World" from moving around freely, and drug interdiction are not "non-lethal benign applications"--far from it. Laws are supposed to stop people from violating one another, not suppress certain subcultures (racial and otherwise) by outlawing aspects of their lifestyles. These "non-lethal benign applications" you refer to are anything but; they're oppressive and often lethal. This in itself is sufficient reason to cause reasonable people to distrust "their" government and be concerned about drones and other means of surveillance, regardless of the good uses they are also put to.

Weren't we supposed to have automated flying cars that folded up into a briefcase by now?

Yes, and a cool-looking monorail in every town. I want my money back.

[John Eder]

Sorry to "drone on".....

Some of the aircraft that are being spotted may be CAL FIRE retardant-dropping air tankers or their spotter planes. Both are retired military aircraft (S-2 Tracker tankers and OV-10 Bronco spotter planes). They oftentimes work in a group comprised of two tankers and one or more spotter planes. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCiU...eature=related and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGQ3zR9XAq0

Like the HC-130, these are high-visibility aircraft, painted white with two bright red stripes on the fuselage. Both types are based at the Sonoma County Airport Air Attack Base, and they are very active during our summer fire season. Training flights may also be conducted prior to the start of actual operations. They are loud and they fly low.

There are also a substantial number of restored vintage propeller-driven military aircraft based in Sonoma County, including fighters, trainers and bombers. There may even be a privately-owned retired jet fighter or two as well.

To the untrained eye, any or all of these aircraft could appear to be actual in-service military aircraft.

Okay, I'm done. I promise.

[Claire]

Speaking of drones.... This from the ACLU:

02/24/2012
Targeted Killing Drone Strikes: Secret or Not? The Government Wants It Both Ways

Posted by Nathan Freed Wessler, National Security Project

Today was the first court hearing in our Freedom of Information Act lawsuit demanding information about the government’s targeted killing program, including the legal rationale and evidentiary basis for the targeted killings of three U.S. citizens in Yemen last year. The government has told the ACLU—and the court—that its targeted killing program is so secret that it can’t even acknowledge that it exists. Today we explained to the judge that the government’s position is untenable because officials have repeatedly discussed the program in both attributed and anonymous statements to the press.

In response to the ACLU’s FOIA request, the government refused to confirm or deny whether it has any records about the CIA’s targeted killing program or about a Justice Department memo that provided legal justification for targeting and killing Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen born in New Mexico. Yet the government has the chutzpah to sing the praises of the targeted killing program when it thinks doing so will advance its agenda, while insisting that it can’t talk about the program in front of a federal judge. To be clear, our complaint is not that the government is disclosing information to the press. Indeed, we wish it would disclose more. Our complaint is simply that the government should not be permitted to declare in court that discussing a program would jeopardize national security when it has disclosed the same program to the public.

The latest official comment about the targeted killing program came Wednesday in a speech by Defense Department general counsel Jeh Johnson at Yale Law School. Johnson’s remarks raised a number of questions about the expansive scope of the counterterrorism authorities claimed by the government. He asserted that the government can pursue suspected terrorists “without a geographic limitation,” that “U.S. citizens do not enjoy immunity” from targeted killing, and even that U.S. courts should have no role in assessing whether the targeted killings of U.S. citizens are legal.

The government thus continues to claim the authority to target and kill suspected terrorists, including U.S. citizens, far from any battlefield, without judicial oversight, and without disclosing the legal standards it uses or basic facts about who can be targeted and why. The ACLU will continue to press the government for greater transparency, and to urge courts to ensure that it is acting within the law.

[ashley2230]

Hello Community,

For four days now there is an abundance of military type airplane activity over head. I live in South Sebastopol, near Hessel Road. I have noticed an increase of airplane traffic over the past six months and even have seen large military planes flying in formations, as though they were preparing for an air show. Only thing is ... no air show. But this activity is greatly increased and frankly annoying, at the very least.

Also a lot of high up jet activity, both day and night.

Anybody else notice this? Anyone know what is going on?

Hi,

I live just off Hwy 12, just a couple miles east of Sebastopol. Every night my boyfriend and I sit in our backyard to relax before bed. But for the past month or so we have noticed weird plane/helicopter/drone activity occurring directly above us, usually around 11pm. Now, I do know that the Schultz airport in SR gets a lot of planes in and out every day as we see planes flying over us all day long. However, the "drones" that we have noticed at night are waaaay different from any normal flight activity we are used to.

First of all they fly very very low, and at an extremely slow pace. These "drones" aren't just flying over us, they are slow and they creep along in different patterns, not always going in a straight direction. Plus they fly way lower than any jet or aircraft could go if it were carrying people. It's hard to say about how high up they are since they only fly over at night, but I would estimate about 100-200 yards from the ground.

Second, they have strange lights on them. The one we saw just the other night had a bright headlight on the front that scanned left to right, you could actually see how it was looking from left to right. And a week ago we saw a different "drone" which had a smaller red light on it, but no white lights.

Third, the direction or flight route that these "UFOs" are taking is way different from the usual pattern I see other planes flying during the day, to and from the SR Schultz airport I assume. Sometimes it seems like they are coming from the direction of the airport, but they fly a totally new route. Anyway, they always seem to fly directly overhead us just off of Hwy 12 and Fulton Road.

Lastly, they seem to be able to speed up and slow down at their own convenience. I'm pretty sure that a plane trying to get to its landing destination would maintain a pretty consistent speed, but these drones are sometimes hovering over one spot for a few seconds and speeding up again after they slow down.

I don't know what these are, but I know that they freak me out. The idea that we are careening towards a military state is scary and very disturbing. I was relieved to see that other people from my neighborhood are noticing these too because I thought I was crazy for awhile when I would see this weird shit happening. If any of this sounds familiar please let me know! Or just go outside tonight around 10:45 and wait for something strange to appear...

[Larry Robinson]

I have seen similar apparitions and they have turned out to be piloted ultra light aircraft flying from either Petaluma or Windsor. A friend in Sebastopol has his own small field near Sparks Road just south of Sebastopol and flies out of there frequently. They are just ordinary folks having fun. I don't think they mean you any harm.

Hi,

I live just off Hwy 12, just a couple miles east of Sebastopol. Every night my boyfriend and I sit in our backyard to relax before bed. But for the past month or so we have noticed weird plane/helicopter/drone activity occurring directly above us, usually around 11pm. Now, I do know that the Schultz airport in SR gets a lot of planes in and out every day as we see planes flying over us all day long. However, the "drones" that we have noticed at night are waaaay different from any normal flight activity we are used to.

First of all they fly very very low, and at an extremely slow pace. These "drones" aren't just flying over us, they are slow and they creep along in different patterns, not always going in a straight direction. Plus they fly way lower than any jet or aircraft could go if it were carrying people. It's hard to say about how high up they are since they only fly over at night, but I would estimate about 100-200 yards from the ground.

Second, they have strange lights on them. The one we saw just the other night had a bright headlight on the front that scanned left to right, you could actually see how it was looking from left to right. And a week ago we saw a different "drone" which had a smaller red light on it, but no white lights.

Third, the direction or flight route that these "UFOs" are taking is way different from the usual pattern I see other planes flying during the day, to and from the SR Schultz airport I assume. Sometimes it seems like they are coming from the direction of the airport, but they fly a totally new route. Anyway, they always seem to fly directly overhead us just off of Hwy 12 and Fulton Road.

Lastly, they seem to be able to speed up and slow down at their own convenience. I'm pretty sure that a plane trying to get to its landing destination would maintain a pretty consistent speed, but these drones are sometimes hovering over one spot for a few seconds and speeding up again after they slow down.

I don't know what these are, but I know that they freak me out. The idea that we are careening towards a military state is scary and very disturbing. I was relieved to see that other people from my neighborhood are noticing these too because I thought I was crazy for awhile when I would see this weird shit happening. If any of this sounds familiar please let me know! Or just go outside tonight around 10:45 and wait for something strange to appear...

[Glia]

Ultralight craft would explain the low altitude and meandering flight path, but aren't ultralights grounded after sundown because they do not have instruments?

I have seen similar apparitions and they have turned out to be piloted ultra light aircraft flying from either Petaluma or Windsor. A friend in Sebastopol has his own small field near Sparks Road just south of Sebastopol and flies out of there frequently. They are just ordinary folks having fun. I don't think they mean you any harm.

[bushin]

I noticed this also. I was at 9/11 and the planes reminded me not only of the jets that hit the towers, but also of the surveillance jets that flew over NY that night and for quite a while after. No other planes but those. Brought back some memories of fear. Low-flying, slow. Would also like to know what they're up to.

Hi,

I live just off Hwy 12, just a couple miles east of Sebastopol. Every night my boyfriend and I sit in our backyard to relax before bed. But for the past month or so we have noticed weird plane/helicopter/drone activity occurring directly above us, usually around 11pm. ...

[Sabrina]

It really sounds kind of scary. Can anyone try to video this activity - maybe a video would expose more clearly something someone could recognize.

[MarilynO]

I don't know anything specifically about these aircraft, but I do know our government is deeply embedded in war anywhere and everywhere and not only are they training for expanded war, but the possibility of having to defend us from counter-attacks. And as the population at homes grows more restless and defiant with the disparity in wealth distribution, they also prepare to defend from WE THE PEOPLE, which could include drones.... I am still trying to convince myself that the possibility they would use drones against our populace is just Sci-Fi nonsense in my imagination... but if one looks at how drones have been used in very specific individualized attacks abroad, it is not so far-fetched.
Many of these drones are manufactured by www.insitu.com which is on the Columbia River where I came here from. They train in the beautiful foothills of Mt. Adams, stealthily, nearly silently... rarely seen, usually at night. It is a complete paradox that such a vast, rugged, natural and sacred ground would have these things being tested overhead (or NOT so overhead at all)
But I am not trying to foster terror in the souls of WACCO readers. What I want to foster is vigilance. Vigilance is not just awareness. It's being ready to act in whatever means necessary. When Thomas Jefferson said the "price of freedom is eternal vigilance" he was referring to the people being vigilant against corruption in the government, not bombing the crap out of other nations for the sake of corporate "freedom of enterprise."

These aircraft are a sign and a symptom of the insanity that has overcome our nation.

Hi,

I live just off Hwy 12, just a couple miles east of Sebastopol. Every night my boyfriend and I sit in our backyard to relax before bed. But for the past month or so we have noticed weird plane/helicopter/drone activity occurring directly above us, usually around 11pm....

[stuartdole]

You all sure it's not just helicopters - sheriff, search and rescue, etc? The bright light to the side is definitely a helicopter. We get them every week or so in Santa Rosa. Depending on the model, it might sound more like a plane. (I live near the CDF training site at W College and Stony Point - they come in from time to time for training exercises.) There are a lot of private helicopters (1% folks) around too - pilot might be looking for an address or something, and they can wander around a bit.

[podfish]

...
These aircraft are a sign and a symptom of the insanity that has overcome our nation.

weird.. I must have missed that previous period of national sanity. When exactly was it?