RAAF F18 Cradle Mountain High Speed Flyover

[Overlandman]

Four F18 aircraft will do a high speed fly pass over Cradle Mountain today at low level on a training run crossing the North Coast between Devonport and Burnie between noon and 12.30 then heading to Cradle Mountain, Queenstown then coastal to Flinders Island.
Pilot Officer Roff said he hoped the weather would be clear and that we get to see Cradle Mountain.

[GPSGuided]

Publicity/Photo op for the air force? Waiting to see the F35...

[wayno]

do they fly low level around aus? could scare a few people, i had the skyhawks in nz come over a hill at fifty metres, didnt hear anything till they appeared above me one day, scared me half to death.
F35, expensive white elephant, jack of all trades master of none..

[GPSGuided]

Have not heard of any regular low level passes here in Aust but I know there are valleys in the US and UK that are popular with photo shooters and plane spotters for the regular low level training passes.

[wayno]

They used to fly at two hundred feet around various parts of nz. Not aware of it happeing in parks.the skyhawk engines were the same as the original 737 engines. Made a high pitched scream.

[RonK]

do they fly low level around aus? could scare a few people, i had the skyhawks in nz come over a hill at fifty metres, didnt hear anything till they appeared above me one day, scared me half to death.
F35, expensive white elephant, jack of all trades master of none..

They certainly do low-level approaches below the radar are practiced regularly.
A few years ago when F111's were still in service we were driving along the beach on Frazer Island when one came from behind and flew over at what seemed no more than 100m, low enough to cause a minor sand storm.
Of course we never saw it coming, just suddenly hit by a massive wall of sound, even though the car windows were closed.
By the time we realised what had happened and spotted it, it was just a black spot in the distance.
Whenever I recall the incident I picture the crew laughing their heads off.

[GPSGuided]

They targeted you there!

[icefest]

I had a couple of low level flyovers near the Whitsundays last week. They weren't flying higher than out may was tall.

[Overlandman]

The 4 aircraft flew over Penguin at 1.20pm, they headed South on the Ulverstone side of the Dial Range, possibly up the Leven Canyon. They were throttled back and below 1000ft. As they were heading towards Cradle I had a look at the Cradle web cam. The sky was clear, there were no F18s in the screen shot.

[GPSGuided]

That would have been an optimistic catch if they showed on the web cam grabs.

[Overlandman]

There have been some good screen grabs in the past
A couple that come to mind
The rescue chopper in the hover at the car park
A close up of the currawong tail feathers
Regards OLM

[GPSGuided]

Yes, remember those catches. Makes the webcam special!

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

I think only about 1 in 10 times I fly to Tassie can I actually see clear weather at Cradle... Hope the stars aligned and they got some good views.

[Nuts]

Well, i'd prefer they stay well away. WHA is becoming circus enough already.

[Hiking Noob]

I remember years ago a hornet broke the sound barrier over land and good lord did that make a boom, house windows were flexing!

[steveh72]

Just reading this post,
Was up at Cradle, sitting in kitchen hut, when we heard almighty roar, and then the jets flew over at summit height.
Awesome sight, was with a group of ventures but no one was quick enough with the camera, would have been a very special photo of the hornets with snow capped cradle in the background, but alas.

Cheers
Steve

[GPSGuided]

So annoying that they don't give enough warning to allow some nice photos. Could Cradle Mountain be the Australian version of UK's Mach Loop or US's Rainbow Canyon near Barstow, CA. Photographers camp out at those viewing spots and wait, and wait...

[Nuts]

You could go on the Wombat Waddle while you wait.

[zorro]

Post removed by admin.

[Gadgetgeek]

Last time I was on fraser we saw one of the f18 training flights head past. Was pretty cool to watch since the fishing was pretty poor. Although, I feel like saying F18 high speed flyover is a bit of a tautology, While they are far from the fastest aircraft, they sure don't tend to do anything slowly!