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Houses shook, car alarms went off, cats panicked and some people's ears began to ring: Not an alien invasion, just a pre-hockey jet flyover at Fenway
By adamg on Mon, 01/02/2023 - 2:51pm
Mary Ellen captured the jets as they roared past Millennium Park in West Roxbury.
Around 2:25 p.m. people across the area, thousands of people who were not at Fenway Park for the Bruins/Penguins winter classic, suddenly heard a roar overhead, of the sort that might presage the kind of alien invasion only knowledge of Macintosh computer viruses and a stirring speech by Bill Pullman could fend off.
Or as John Savoia asked: "What the hell just flew overhead?"
We've had jet-fighter flyovers at Fenway before, but this one, by two F-15 jets from the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, seemed louder and lower than earlier ones - or maybe just having more of their engine noise bounce off the low cloud cover - area residents report.
Deborah Hier reports: "It rattled my windows, sent my cat running for cover and gave me an instant headache."
Kfan managed to catch his breath: "Are we at war or is there a sports things happening? Jet fighter just dive bombed all of Cambridge and Boston."
Tina Sparkle added: " I've never heard anything like that in the two decades I've lived here, *and* the year I lived around the corner from Fenway."
Rosalie Rippey gave a final look at her husband: "Sooooo loud! My husband and I were looking at each other like, it’s over. This is our final moment."
KVS agreed: "Fighter jets for the winter classic at Fenway. That was the loudest I have ever heard them."
He added: "My heart is still racing.I’ve lived in Somerville for 22 years and I don’t EVER remember it being that loud - including after 9/11. "
Some notice would have been nice, Samantha Irene writes: "Know if there’s any civic responsibility for them to post when there are flyovers or that this is posted somewhere in advance? When I expect it it still gives me jitters, but when I don’t it’s really bad."
Drew Starr is not pleased: "At least where I'm at near Berklee, the fireworks were negligible, but still have some ringing in the ear that was facing the window from the flyover."
"The whole house shook," Emi, in Somerville reports.
It was reported in the Boston Globe that two F-15’s from the 104th Massachusetts ANG would be flying over Fenway for 2023 Winter Classic.
I recorded it. pic.twitter.com/xsrQLWrG9l— Neil (@chiefohara1969) January 2, 2023
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Comments
not only was it a loud
not only was it a loud flyover, there was definitely a HUGE bang. I really thought a plane was about to crash down in Somerville. These flyovers are ridiculous. Give everybody a heart attack to "entertain" the few thousand that happen to be at a sports game for a few seconds. Several of my neighbors were texting each other in fear something bad had just happened.
Agreed. At the minimum, any
Agreed. At the minimum, any actual damage (windows broken..etc) should be sent to the Red Sox for payment.
And from now on, all flyovers at Fenway should be restricted for playoffs only (with ample notice to the city). This city already gives them waaaaay too much.
For instance, did you know that the Hotel Commonwealth pays 2.5 times the property tax of Fenway ($14 for a 12 ounce beer) Park?
I can think of better uses
I can think of better uses for our jets.
J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!
J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!
Exactly...
Like when Daddy Yankee played here a few months ago
Huh
Like filling the mandatory flying hours needed ? These aren’t tacked on flying hours or fly overs. The pilots need to fill flying hours and these act as training with TOT (time on target),formation , low altitude flying and more. Courtesy of your local neighborhood JTAC.
"Mandatory"
If it's so important, why do these jets only fly over Boston when there's sporting event? Shouldn't they be flying on some set schedule to get all their hours in?
And presumably they practice more then a single pass a few times a year over Fenway. So what's wrong with the normal training loops that they have this pressing need to buzz a stadium on a holiday afternoon?
As long as we're burning all this money anyway...
we might as well at least make a public spectacle of it!
sounded like a plane crashing
It scared the bejeezus out of me and my neighbors here in Somerville. What's the point? I don't care if they posted it somewhere in the Globe once, there's no way most people are going to know this is happening before it happens. And it's not like it's July 4th or something, when we might expect it, just a random January 2nd. There was a loud BOOM! and then such loud airplane noise that I really thought we were about to get landed on. I don't see the fun in terrifying thousands of city residents.
Seriously
I can't be the only person who hears a plane like that and wonders if we're being attacked. The US is basically in a proxy war with Russia right now.
Seriously? Russia?
Do you realize how hysterical this sounds? Get a grip.
Same thing in Medford
I was outside with my son and his partner and we were all "WTF WAS THAT??!??!".
Then I remembered the Fenway game ...
Fuck that noise
They went right over my house in Medford. Eat piercing loud. And for what, so people at Fenway park can get a split second view of a fighter jet?
Let North Korea and Russia play the penis game with their military. The US should be better than that.
In contrast it would be pretty cool if they flew some unique experimental aircraft as a show off. Instead of showing off what can destroy, show off what we can build.
Same!
My family and I were in a full on huddle thinking we were about to die from a plane crashing into our house. We are traumatized!
This is more
for TV than the people at the game. It always is. Half the people in the grandstand couldn’t even see them anyway.
Ain't Nothin'
Try living in Day Square, Eastie at the end of runways 15/33 R and L, it's every 15 seconds and you have to pull the shades at night because of the landing lights on the planes.
Many years ago my wife and I
Many years ago my wife and I were at Fenway in pretty good first baseline seats. I forget what the holiday or occasion was, but four jets flew the missing man formation over the park coming right at us. The second element lead, instead of nosing up and out, dropped down and rolled out underneath the formation. I turned to my wife and remarked that the pilot was going to be in trouble. First of all, that's not how the formation is flown, and second, the formation was over a populated area and hijinks there are forbidden.
I later read in the Globe that the pilot had been disciplined.
Opening Day 2008
Yup, we were up along the third base roof and said to each other "That guy is f**ked".
Just for the record, flyovers are dumb as dishwater.
Add me to the list
My office is near Fenway and this scared the hell out of me when it went by. It took me a few seconds to realize what it was. I've seen dozens of flyovers but none were ever this loud.
Get Some
You would've never heard them if it was an attack.
Well that's not true
Someone would have heard them. They can only attack so many targets at a time silly.
Could have been Top Gun:
Could have been Top Gun: Maverick envy. Can't let Tom Cruise show real jet pilots up.
hearing most of these comments
pronounced in a whiny nasal voice.
Yes, maybe it sucks but it's a recruiting visibility exercise as well as a part of training for the pilots. Sorry the military intruded on your bliss.
Pilots are likely Massachusetts Air National Guard out of Otis, so they get a kick out of it and to tell their families they are doing it.
Paranoia runs strong in here, apparently
Either most of these posters just moved to the city, or are just paranoid. Flyovers are a pretty common occurrence in the city.
Becoming a lot more common
It used to be once a year.
And it's always been stupid.
I was just annoyed
I figured it was a flyover, but it still woke me from a much-needed nap.
Projection
That's because you're projecting.
lol. As if even a tiny fraction of one percent of military recruits will become pilots.
you didn't have to tell me
you know nothing about the military or military recruiting,
but for the benefit of others:
1. There are 43,000 pilots in the military, 19,000 in the Air Force;
2. young people in the critical recruiting age group (17-25 or so) interested in being pilots might enter by a variety of ways: enlisted service first, or the service academies, ROTC, or college grads going to Officer Candidate School.
3. Many young people might want to be pilots but as the physical and educational requirements are strict, will not qualify and end up serving in many ways: aircraft mechanics, security police, medical specialists, linguists, etc etc,
4. The reason for the flyovers is to raise consciousness and the coolness factor of the military among the critical age groups. Even medical doctors might think about joining the Air Force.
You don't have to tell me
that you ARE projecting.
Look, it's really ok for you to just say "wow, those planes are cool!" I think they're cool too. But I don't let that blind me to the silliness of using this as a tactic to recruit any but the dumbest of people, i.e., the ones who can't do even elementary arithmetic to figure out they'll never sit in that cockpit. But then, military recruitment isn't exactly known for its scruples.
yes, we know
you are one of the bourgeois liberals who sneer at "dumb" soldiers.
The military, its think-tank the RAND Corporation and their advertising agencies have been doing this for years, they think it works.
But "lbb" knows better.
What, pray tell, is lbb's recruiting and public relations strategy for the military?
What the military can do, that is. The insanity of the civilian leadership is a political matter.
lol
My dad got drafted in WWII and ended up as an artillery company commander, but go off about how I sneer at "dumb" soldiers.
Even a stupid jackass should understand that saying that deceptive recruiting practices snare dumb people is not the same thing as saying that "soldiers" are dumb, so I guess you've just told us that you're being disingenuous.
If we don't tell people about all the money we're burning...
then they might not want to join us in burning money later!
Sorry the military intruded on peoples' bliss by burning a bunch of money that couldn't have possibly been used for any other purpose. There's absolutely no reason for people to be annoyed by disruptive noises caused by billions of dollars in military spending, after all - especially not if the pilots are enjoying it!
Perhaps I'm being a bit pedantic here
but the fighters left Otis in 2007 when they were transferred from the 102nd Fighter Wing to the 104th FW based out of Barnes ANGB in Westfield.
They should have sent a B2
They should have sent a B2. That flyover was unnervingly quiet in 2010 and it had the unexpected benefit of looking like the Bat-Plane come to life.
Very Pricey
If you want to talk expensive, those things only fly out of Whiteman AFB in Missouri. Also the "stealth" B2s were always a ridiculously expensive boondoggle.
Also...apparently they are currently all grounded https://www.kmbc.com/article/whiteman-air-force-base-b-2-spirit-stealth-...