So there I was just sitting there when all of a sudden I hear the sound of a low flying fighter jet pass very close to where I am. I go outside to investigate and here he comes screaming out of the sky flying at an altitude of only a few hundred feet at a distance from me of roughly 300 yards (at his closest).. I could see the jet clear as day and easily identified it as an F-18.

He flew low and pitched straight up into the sky, did some sort of cool maneuver and flew off... I thought it ended there...

Just a few minutes ago it came back and buzzed the residential area again this time right over top of me again only a few hundred feet off the ground...

I checked online to see if our Airspace was restricted for this morning.. It was not.. as this is a very active area for small civilian aircraft his low altitude flying could have posed real danger.

My question is.. Since when does the air force do low altitude bombing drills over residential area? Especially in a small fairly remote town..

Anyway figured it was worth reporting as this has never happened here before.. Although I will not give my exact location I know for a fact the Jet came from Hill Air force Base as they are the closest... Any thoughts?

P.S. I also think it is worth noting that if there was anyone sleeping in town this morning... they aren't anymore!

So your trying to get people to look at your sighting by calling it a bombing drill? How do you know what they are doing?

In my area, as of late, the military air traffic has been flying MUCH lower than I have ever seen before.

I am not the only person to comment on it, either. Very interesting.

The Air Force doesn't fly F18s. Must have been the Navy or Marines. Is there an airshow or airshow practice going on at a nearby airport?

Originally posted by DaMod
My question is.. Since when does the air force do low altitude bombing drills over residential area?

How do you KNOW this is a low altitude bombing drill?

Are you in fear?

Originally posted by Baldryck
The Air Force doesn't fly F18s. Must have been the Navy or Marines. Is there an airshow or airshow practice going on at a nearby airport?

edit on 29-6-2012 by Baldryck because: missed the part where you said you are in Utah

There are MANY air shows this time of the year and it is not unusual to see military aircraft at low altitudes this month. If you were actually able to identify the jet it certainly wasn't engaged in anything covert.
A couple weeks ago there was a group of vintage WW2 bombers en route to some east coast airshow that flew overhead, unfortunately I was so stunned by the sight and sound I didn't think about my camera until they were gone.
It's the stuff in the sky you CAN'T see that will kill ya.

They used to perform mock attacks on a major bridge in Bridgeport AL all the time.

The Navy has NAS Fallon in Nevada, that is home of Top Gun now. It could have been a flight from there, and someone showing off for friends or family on the way over. The depot for the Hornet is at NAS North Island in California, he could have been on a solo flight heading that way, stopping at Hill for crew rest and fuel, then on the next leg.

Originally posted by Baldryck
The Air Force doesn't fly F18s. Must have been the Navy or Marines. Is there an airshow or airshow practice going on at a nearby airport?

edit on 29-6-2012 by Baldryck because: missed the part where you said you are in Utah

Exactly my thought.

Also, F-18's do not fly that low when dropping bombs. They way you were describing the flight pattern, it sounds like someone could have just been messing around. They never get to "just fly".