NAS North Island (KNZY) 2023

[falcx]

The 71 is sailing out this morning. At least 20 Hornet's on the visitor platform at NI. Combi of Growlers and F/A-18E's.

[SBGrad]

At LEAST 20. On the way to the World Famous I-Bar* we cruised past the T-Line and pretty much the entire airwing was parked. The beer was waiting so I wasn't looking at numbers, but I did see the Blue Blasters and Fighting Checkmates CAG birds.




* Either somebody hasn't seen Top Gun Maverick, or they weren't paying attention, because some guy put their cell phone on the bar and it was a free round for everybody. Our timing was impeccable, because this happened less than 2 minutes after we walked into the bar.

[SBGrad]

Binocular/naked eye spotting from the front door last week-- some VFA-122 Supers and various VAQ-129 Growlers including one with CAG colors. I figured they were in town for CQ dets and sure enough, Lincoln left after they arrived. I haven't been at the beach because we went to Vegas for a long weekend.

But after reading this story, I'm sure gonna be headed to the beach for most of this week: https://www.yahoo.com/news/f-35c-mirror ... 54804.html

[The DJ]

Currently USAF F-35s at NI, not sure what unit.
Also, USArmy with 2 MH47s and 5 MH60s.
It could be a nice day at the beach if they use the right runway.

[SBGrad]

It could be a nice day at the beach if they use the right runway.

Ha ha, it was a good day to work on your tan, and play with dogs.

The last 2 days have seen a grand total of 2 F-18s landing during daylight hours, one F-18E Monday and one Growler yesterday. No other fast movers landing in the day. I did see about a dozen -18s talking off Monday afternoon from 18, but they never came back. The -35s are strictly night flyers, they took off after dark and landed approximately 930p Monday and Tuesday nights. ADSB showed 2 KC-135R and an E-3 Sentry off shore last night. Oh, and one Growler landing at about 800p Tuesday.

The army helicopters are camera shy as usual. I might have something I can use, it's pretty backlit. They never fly up the beach, always Surf Arrival for them.

[The DJ]

It could be a nice day at the beach if they use the right runway.

Ha ha, it was a good day to work on your tan, and play with dogs.

The last 2 days have seen a grand total of 2 F-18s landing during daylight hours, one F-18E Monday and one Growler yesterday. No other fast movers landing in the day. I did see about a dozen -18s talking off Monday afternoon from 18, but they never came back. The -35s are strictly night flyers, they took off after dark and landed approximately 930p Monday and Tuesday nights. ADSB showed 2 KC-135R and an E-3 Sentry off shore last night. Oh, and one Growler landing at about 800p Tuesday.

The army helicopters are camera shy as usual. I might have something I can use, it's pretty backlit. They never fly up the beach, always Surf Arrival for them.

Yeah, too bad it's a night ex. I'm guessing they're here for WSINT? Looks like a bigger exercise than previous years.
Pretty busy on the SW-coast, VFC-12 18s at Lemoore, F-15s at Miramar, F-35s and F16s at NI, plus the stuff at Nellis.

The 18s taking off on Monday afternoon were most likely VFA-34 and VFA-211 departing back to Oceana via CO and TX after COMPTUEX on the 71.