Flying Machines

These were the directions:  By the trash barrels on Hwy. 375 near Coyote Summit, take the dirt road that leads south from the highway and follow it up the hill about 300 yards off the highway.  That is where we could watch the good guys (Blue Team from NATO) and the aggressors (Red Team from Nellis AFB) engage in very realistic dogfights in the airspace over Railroad Valley and the old Cedar Pipeline Ranch.

WHAT A MINUTE!  I have seen this movie!  We end up off the beaten track getting bombed ourselves because we are in a restricted area and no one realizes we are there!!!  Having already been in one movie in Vegas, I didn't want to end up on the evening news, too. With that in mind, we instead parked ourselves at the end of the very public Nellis AFB runway to watch the planes take off and land for the Red Flag exercises in North Las Vegas.  These are very realistic aerial war games to give pilots from the U.S., NATO and other allied countries practice for real combat situations.   Here's a pic of a jet from Nellis landing with the Vegas Strip in the background.

I read somewhere that it costs approximately $5,000 every time an F-15 or F-16 takes off for an hour of practice.   I think I saw $250,000 of our taxpayer money fly by today!