F-35 Mach Loop

A Life Aloft

A Life Aloft

Well-Known Member
The 'Mach Loop' is a set of valleys situated between Dolgellau in the north (north-west Wales), and Machynlleth in the south (and from which the Mach Loop gets its name), which are regularly used for low level flight training with flying as low as 250 feet from the nearest terrain.






Same course as seen from a Typhoon

 
A Life Aloft said:
The 'Mach Loop' is a set of valleys situated between Dolgellau in the north (north-west Wales), and Machynlleth in the south (and from which the Mach Loop gets its name), which are regularly used for low level flight training with flying as low as 250 feet from the nearest terrain.






Same course as seen from a Typhoon

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250' agl? Man, that's pretty high up there!
 
Adler said:
I'm sure it does. But as a spectator during an air show, I'll take a F-4 or F-15 any day.
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The crappy thing about today's air show's, is that you can't see full capabilities of modern airframes.

I too am a fan of yesteryear..
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Nark said:
The crappy thing about today's air show's, is that you can't see full capabilities of modern airframes.

I too am a fan of yesteryear..
<<<-----
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Have you seen the F-22 demo flight? It's impressive. If anyone is in the Florida panhandle in May go check out the Gulf Coast Salute at Tyndall AFB. It's worth it for the F-22 demo alone.
 
@NovemberEcho I haven't seen one since Miramar ~2009. Pretty cool to see them turn on a dime, I'll give them that.

If I had a billion dollars and a tropical island, I'd still buy a radial engined WW2 fighter.
 
One of my passes through the loop back in 2008:
ScreamingEagle.jpg


EDIT: Just checked my logbook, and it is 2006, not 2008.
 
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jtrain609 said:
Meh.
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The good pics never made it to the internet, anyway. The photographers in the loop generally knew better than to circulate anything that had the appearance of being hot-dogging, but the way the terrain is at Cad Pass West (which is the eastern north-south portion of the Loop, where most of the really famous pics are taken) even guys who are absolutely adhering to the minimum terrain clearance rules can look more "showy" than they really are.

In the pic I posted, if I remember correctly the side of the hill where the photogs sit is about 1300' MSL, which is 800 or 900' above the elevation of the road at the bottom of the valley. Thus when you're flying at 500' AGL properly, in accordance with the terrain clearance rules, the pics from 200 or 300' above you can make it look like you're really down in the weeds.
 
Hacker15e said:
The good pics never made it to the internet, anyway. The photographers in the loop generally knew better than to circulate anything that had the appearance of being hot-dogging, but the way the terrain is at Cad Pass West (which is the eastern north-south portion of the Loop, where most of the really famous pics are taken) even guys who are absolutely adhering to the minimum terrain clearance rules can look more "showy" than they really are.

In the pic I posted, if I remember correctly the side of the hill where the photogs sit is about 1300' MSL, which is 800 or 900' above the elevation of the road at the bottom of the valley. Thus when you're flying at 500' AGL properly, in accordance with the terrain clearance rules, the pics from 200 or 300' above you can make it look like you're really down in the weeds.
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I shot a really sweet coupled ILS the other day.
 
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