
The Mach Loop – low-level training areas for fast jet aircraft - zizee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_Loop
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zizee
> Mach Loop is among the few places in the world (Star Wars Canyon is another)
> where photographers can see combat aircraft flying below them.

Some amazing footage on youtube
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wzh7Hou30s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wzh7Hou30s)

~~~
LargoLasskhyfv
That may be true today. When in school sometime in the 80ies somewhere on a
hillside in Germany, i could look down on them too from the classroom, maybe
100 to 150meters away. I've seen A10, F4F, F15/16/18, Tornado, Jaguar,
Harrier, various Mirage that way. Sometimes the pilots had their facemasks
loosely dangling down, sometimes they waved back when i did. Half a year after
i left school this happended
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Remscheid_A-10_crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Remscheid_A-10_crash)
maybe 30 klicks away.

~~~
zizee
Sounds amazing, and also a little distracting! That must have made it hard to
concentrate in class :-)

Sad to hear how that ended - and crazy to be performing low altitude flight
exercises so close to a populated area.

~~~
LargoLasskhyfv
That was normal at the time. At least for the allied forces. Notice how i
didn't mention F-104G Starfighter? That's because they didn't do that, at
least not there. One DID "buzz" me with an almost deafening sonic boom, really
solid pressure wave when bicyling in some forest somewhere else in maybe 1984.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, and then _gone_ again, except for the roaring of the
air for maybe a minute after. Also at that time: looking out of the window at
home, again on a hillside, a F-111 roaring down the little valley from behind
the house, hopping over some ridge, becoming visible again, and rising almost
vertically to the top of the
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drachenfels_(Siebengebirge)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drachenfels_\(Siebengebirge\))
over the Rhine, waggling its wings, then nosediving again to the right to
vanish into the
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siebengebirge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siebengebirge)
All in what seemed to be a minute and VERY LOUD! I later reconstructed the
flight path on a map, which showed it going over the Russian embassy and
consulate first, then over the American one. As to why the F104 was supersonic
while so low, i have no clue. Maybe a near crash? Its direction pointed to
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%B6rvenich_Air_Base](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%B6rvenich_Air_Base)
roughly. As for school? No problem, had effortless Ones or
Twos/A-Grade/B-Grade. It was mostly boring, really.

~~~
zizee
> Russian embassy and consulate first, then over the American one.

I like to imagine a few spilled spilled coffees that day. Thanks for sharing
:-)

