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Well I didn't see afterburner trailing out from the engines. It's usually very noticable with it's blueish/purpleish red tint.
And they did shake the whole airport quite violently but it was just totally awesome to experience.
They started at like 7:30am or something like that. It was a flight of two, sometimes a flight of just 1 or a flight of 4.
Each time they took off it was just awesome to both see and hear.
Now here is the bigger question I was wondering. The pilot told me the runways in TUS are 11L/29R. He told me that the runway is like 10,800 ft. long and 150 width.
Now these F-16's are kinda small most took off without ordinance on/under the wings so why'd they get airborne almost just before the numbers?
I think MikeD is in TUS or at least in PHX. or somewhere in AZ. maybe he might be able to answer that question since he is military.
Everett
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Ev,
Yup, I'm about 5 miles from the Guard's ops at TUS. Assuming they departed off 11L, it's really 15,253' X 150' overall, but 10,996' useable on 11L, and the same usable on 29R with a 3300' overrun.
Now which "numbers" would you be referring to? Even w/o ordnance, the F-16 would need about 2K of runway or slightly longer to get airborne.
You'll never see them departing out of TUS with "heavy" ordnance. That required a designated load area which only exists at DM, so they come here to fly with heavyweight ord.