F-14 X2 to LGA

[SengaB]

2 F-14s in formation flew over my house from Base to final for LGA runway 22 an 1:00pm....... They had bright red tails.

Senga

[Matt Molnar]

Probably did a flyover for Yankees opening day.

[SengaB]

Ohh yes that woudl explain it.

Phil told me Melanie got some shots of them..I hope she will post them.

Senga

[Mellyrose]

I got shots of both. There was actually one yellow tail, and one red....

Even at full zoom, they were pretty far away, and there were some clouds on the horizon, so not awesome pics. I'll post em in a bit. :)

[SCOTYDEMCO]

Saw them from Great Neck but was looking for the flyover from the game, came back around with there gear down to land. It was in deed the Tomcatters CAG bird with the red tail! I was expecting Rhinos. The pilots usually go to the game for the seventh inning stretch to sing God Bless America. I will be heading over to LGA later, hopefully we can see them depart!

[AA 777]

I made a few calls and supposedly they are spending the night and leaving tomorrow..time unknown :(

-Matt

[SengaB]

Anyone know what time this sports game is?
This will probably be our last time to ever see an F-14 in operation.

Senga

[Ari707]

Game started at 1:05

[SengaB]

Oh wow today..so they already did the fly over?

Senga

[SCOTYDEMCO]

Yeah they flew over at about 12:50 or so. They came back around as I saw them with gear down and landed at LGA. I was hoping to catch their departure today but now we hear they will be spending the night? I may still drive over to see I I can get a shot of them parked today. Thanks for the info Matt.

[Mellyrose]

Here are a couple shots of them. Really bad light by this time of day, plus the haze and pretty far...I'm not happy with the quality, but it was pretty cool to see.

http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/F14_Yellow_041106.jpg

http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/F14_Red_041106.jpg

[SengaB]

Nice shots there :) FEXIX lives on!
Senga

[LGA777]

Thanks for posting Mel, pretty nice shots actually, I saw the second one land from work. I take the 4 train from the Bronx to work most days and today I SO WANTED to get off the train at 161 street !

Cheers

LGA777

[Mellyrose]

What's even BETTER about this....is that I went out this morning at about 10:30 to catch the scheduled 11am PSA....never showed :(

I was pretty disappointed, but RIGHT before the F14s came around, PSA did! I was actually LAUGHING (I was alone, remember).

Too bad the light and haze sucked. Oh well. More excitement than my days usually bring. :)

[SengaB]

I wish wish fate shared that kind of fortune with me.

Senga

[Steven Holzinger]

I might head out tomorrow if they depart before noon. I have class at 3 and I want to be back in Jersey by 2:30.

[Mellyrose]

I wish wish fate shared that kind of fortune with me.

Senga

You're KIDDING, right? This coming from Mr. "I was born with a scanner in my ears and flightaware built into my brain"

Bah!

[SCOTYDEMCO]

Nice catch Melly, I unfortunatelly was in Bayside when I saw them.

[Derf]

SWEET!!! that 100 bird had an ejection of the rear seater earlier in its life!

I have a picture somewhere of the pilot with no backseater or canopy!!!!

They were on a flight with someone from a news agency and he was not securely in the straps... He was trying to pull himself back into the seat using the little handle with yellow and black stripes when boom! He was GONE! Later dude!!! The wing-man got some great shots! I would kill to have that in my little photo book! Congrats on catching a real piece of history Mel!!!!

GREAT STUFF!!!

[Derf]

Woops, IT WAS THE OTHER PICTURE YOU TOOK!!!! SSSWWWEEETTT!!!!
And I must have confused the media with another cool story I was told by a Grumman Test Pilot.

http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/stories-07-01.jpg

"In November 2002, while training in Nevada, VF-213, an F-14D squadron was tasked with giving a familiarization Flight to an officer from one of our Aegis Class Cruisers. Apparently this individuals shoulder straps were not properly adjusted. While pulling positive Gs he began to float out of the ejection seat. In order to readjust his position he reached down and grabbed that little yellow and black stripped handle. Bang! The next thing he knew he was no longer in the Tomcat. He landed with minor injuries, was rescued and the Tomcat was recovered safely at NAS Fallon."

[Mellyrose]

Just edited another one...pretty cool to see this on the skyline:

http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/F-14Skyline.jpg

[Jonesbeach]

But on Top Gun when Goose pulled his ejection handle, (because Maverick couldn't reach his handle) both he AND Maverick ejected. Surely there must be a mistake in your story because the movies NEVER lie!

That's a great story, Fred! Though I can't imagine its much fun to fly the Tomcat as a convertible!

[Derf]

True, but it could be worse....you could have been on this A-6 that had a partial ejection without command by the navigator!

http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/a6/coming_in_for_landing.jpg

http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/a6/just_landed.jpg

http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/a6/close_up.jpg

At least the front seater in the F-14 had some glass in front to break the
wind.

Mel, We have not met yet but anyone here that has met me will tell you
that I am a man of MANY words, but that last photo you posted only left
me wanting to say only one, WOW!

Thanks for posting that Mel, That will go down as one of my all time
favorite shots of the F-14.......and the only ground to air shot at that!!!
WOW! Thank You!

[Derf]

Oh, and the full story on the A-6 can be read here

http://www.gallagher.com/ejection_seat/

[SengaB]

Anyone know the word onthe F-14s?

Senga

[GrummanFan]

Wow...that skyline shot is now my desktop...beautiful. Why did I go to the beach yesterday? Why did I not check these boards sooner? The one day I dont go online, I miss two friggin' Tomcats at LGA. :evil: :evil:

If they can get them up here for a Yankee game, they should be able to get them here for an airshow. It's only logical. They just have to.

[SCOTYDEMCO]

Should have been out spotting Dan. Glad to see you on the boards. Get that camera out and ready. and last but not least what is the status on the Cats? Did they depart? I'm stuck at work today. :(

[LGA777]

Just spoke to the LGA FAATower, as of 1325L there is equipment around the aircraft so my guess is they will be departing within the hour ! Stay Tuned !

LGA777

[Steven Holzinger]

Good thing I didn't venture out to get them...I have class in an hour and it wouldn't have worked out for me anyway.

[LGA777]

Still have NOT departed as of 1450L, canopies where observed as open about an hour ago, weather getting cloudy, a little gray !

LGA777

[LGA777]

About number 6 for takeoff on 13 as of 1605 lcl

LGA777

[Futterman]

Thanks for the updates, Ron...I just heard them fly over my neighborhood on departure. Definitely not a 319!

[SCOTYDEMCO]

Just departed at about 5 after 4 pm. I got a few shots as they circled over Great Neck.

[SCOTYDEMCO]

Thanks for all the info.

[LGA777]

Well they departed 13 about 4 seconds apart, got one shot of the first one that might be salvageable. Never been on our roof before with that much wind before, gusting to 25 knots made it even harder to shoot, little scary with the winds as it's basically about 6 floors straight down with no guardrails or anything to hold onto, but what a rush !

LGA777