This story I'm about to tell really helps explain why certain parts of the civilian population have bad feelings about the military. But first, a little background...
When I first got stationed in Florida, I was pretty well along in my flying career. I had started out in Okinawa as a regular ol' crewmember, being the Suggestion Box monitor for our squadron. Gradually, I gained experience, and when I transferred to Texas, I became an Instructor WSO. From there, I transferred into a Training squadron at the same base, teaching all the young bucks how become as good as I was (okay, laugh a little...that was a joke...). From there, I went back to Okinawa as an Instructor, and finally became an evaluator, giving aircrews their annual "Check Rides". I though I was at the height of my glory. But then (thanks to my brother, who was also flying RF-4Cs, and was already in Florida), I got transfered to a Test and Evaluation squadron in Northern Florida. In addition to testing new equipment on our jets, we participated in the Reconnaissance Evaluation Program with our sister squadron, and that sometimes involved chasing visiting aircraft through a simulated threat environment. Although not designed specifically to help that duty, our squadron had a low-level training program that kept us fairly sharp and aware of our surroundings. That brings me to my story...
It's was a great morning for flying. Nice temperature, good visibility, only a few clouds to get in our way. Not that clouds would matter that day, for I was about to head out for my first low-level training flight, flying at only 100 feet above the ground (that's only about 1/3 as long as the playing area on a football field), going over 500 miles per hour. We always diligently prepared for our missions, drawing our route on maps we carried with us, avoiding "no-fly" areas (which we marked with a red circle on our maps). These no-fly areas were usually set up in response to civilian noise complaints, and we put a 1 to 3 miles radius circle (pre-determined through negotiations between the civilian and the Air Force) around that person's house on the map. So, that day, we planned around the circles on our route (which happened to take us over bits of Florida and southern Alabama), and off we went.
Talk about fun! Once we hit the designated 100' corridor, everything came fast and furious. You lose a lot of your visual references when you're down that low, 'cause you don't see things on the ground until you're almost right on top of them. You're flying just above the tree tops, but they just go rushing by the canopy in a blur. However, radio towers were fairly visible, and we used those a lot to aid us with our navigation. I was flying with a seasoned pilot very familiar with the area, and he was pointing out good visual landmarks along our route. I remember see towns in the distance, trees, fields, and roads, but they went by REAL quick. Also, when you're down flying that low, the RF-4C air conditioner doesn't work for beans, so I was drenched with sweat when we finally finished our route. But what a rush! I couldn't wait for my next one!
We got back to the squadron a bit later, and were immediately asked where exactly we were flying. As we showed them our route, we were told that they had received a phone call from a prison in south Alabama, complaining about one of our jets. Since we were the only one flying near the prison that morning, it had to be us. And I remember the prison. We had it circled in red (with a one-mile radius) on our map, and the pilot has pointed it out to me as we went flying by it. The prison folks had a different story, though. They insisted we flew right next to the prison, and the guy in the guard tower had to look DOWN to see us! Now, if you have never heard an Air Force fighter jet fly by you at 100 feet going over 500 miles per hour, it makes a VERY significant racket. And if you don't know it's coming, it'll scare the living daylights out of you. And apparently that happened. Now, I know we weren't within a mile of that prison, but it may have seemed that way to the guard, and from his viewpoint, it may have SEEMED like he was looking down at us. But that's not the main part of this story. It just so happened there was a group of prisoners working in a field away from the prison, being looked over by guards on horseback, and that field was smack in the middle of our route (but outside the red circle). And I seem to remember seeing some folks in a field as we flew by. Here's what we were told happened: When we flew over the field, the convicts threw themselves on the ground, not knowing what was happening. Also, one of the guards was bucked off his horse, but thankfully received no injuries. I know I shouldn't have, but I giggled a bit at the thought of the convicts hugging the ground, wondering what was going on. But as I look back on it, I can see how similar instances probably happen daily, with unsuspecting people on the ground, ducking and looking up wondering what in the world that was that just went over them, making that deafing noise. When they find out (or they see the jet), it probably puts a sour taste in their mouth for the military. However, I want to point out that even though these type of missions are enjoyable and exciting, we don't do them just for fun. We need to practice certain skills in case we ever have to use them in a wartime situation. We make our best effort to avoid populated areas, but we can't always predict where people are going to be on any particular day. And hopefully most people will realize that.
As for the prison, it now has a bigger circle around it...