MOA encounter this morning
In the interest of full disclosure and crow eating now and then, I file the following PIREP. Today, while returning from Big Bear (great fireworks on the lake) at 9500 ft. in the Bagdad MOA...... a target popped up at 6 miles 12 O'clock. Thinking it was just another Embry Riddle student droning along towards the Republic of California.... I started a stop watch to see how long that 6 miles would take. WOW... he (or she) was cooking right along.
In no time at all I had a visual on a pair of F 35's out of Luke Air Base. The instructor went vertical a half mile out and then rolled inverted to look down on our canopy. His student stayed the course... straight and level and passed to our right about half a mile or so. After passing, the instructor joined back up on the student's 6 and continued on.
This answered one of my questions about ADS-B. I was in anonymous mode squawking 1200. The two fighters appeared as one target and in plenty of time to obtain a visual. I can only surmise from the instructor plane that he saw us clearly and was making a statement.
I usually keep the traffic software in normal altitude mode... so I don't fill the screen with airliners up high. A brief but interesting encounter on the early morning flight.
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"Kindness is never a bad plan."
exemption option waived. Donation appropriate.
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