Space Coast Florida (Patrick A.F.B)

Police in Ohio have just been deemed not liable in the killing of a man in a Walmart based on the fabrications of a 911 caller. The deceased was playing with a BB gun, which indeed was probably ill-advised, as he strolled around talking on a phone, but the 911 caller claimed (falsely) the deceased was pointing the gun at people generating a highly charged scenario that made the police have a short fuse.


On Monday I and a friend were parked in a public parking lot across a public road from Patrick A.F.B. looking into the base through a fence that in no way restricted visibility. There was, by the way, nothing going on to see.


We were approached by a soldier in, I suppose, fatigues who got out of a vehicle marked 'Police' who informed me that we were 'called in on'. Another 'soldier' with an assault rifle arrived but stayed to the rear of my car.


I was informed that looking at the flightline was 'not allowed especially with all the high alerts'. ID and some other personal information was recorded in a form and I was informed that a repeat visit would result in a $250 ticket plus processing fee.


It is my observation that many of the population of the USA have been whipped into a state of paranoia and irrational fear and are possibly out-doing the worst examples of pre-Solidarity East Europeans.


Anyway, stay away from Patrick A.F.B.


Denny Bridges

Most military bases are very different from airports in terms of rules for photography...I'd avoid them.

And what did the BB gun have to do with ANY of this?

Between that comment and the one at the end about us being whipped into paranoia and irrational fear sounds like he has an agenda.

Air Force Bases are usually hard-up on security more so than any of the other branches. Good examples would be at Joint Base Langley-Eustis and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. There's no good spots around McGuire to spot but there is one very good spot at Langley (actually two) that are now no longer usable. It's almost as if security forces at AFBs treat their bases like they have the most top secret things that are on base. Spotting at all military bases is at your own risk but know that you risk getting detained.

Probably the most spotter friendly military base I've been to is Naval Air Station Oceana...