their aircraft to conduct the intercept.
Once started, the two Eagles — ying
under the callsign ‘Rock’ — taxied out
of the alert facility for an immediate
departure. A complicating factor came
into play, however, as Runway 10L/28R
at PDX is currently closed, which means
only one long runway is available to eld
all the jet tra c.
The Eagles’ departure was delayed for
about one minute as a single commercial
ight, a Boeing 737, was on short nal as
they reached the ‘hold short’ line. Once
the 737 landed and cleared the runway,
‘Rock’ ight departed as a two-ship,
utilizing a 20-second trail departure.
Both aircraft were in full afterburner,setting o car alarms and rattling nearby
windows as they cleared the runway and
turned north.
‘Bigfoot’, the controlling agency for
the Western Air Defense Sector, cleared
the ight supersonic as the F-15s began
a climb to medium altitude. Witnesses
on the ground reported hearing sonic
booms as they made their transit.
Meanwhile, near the unfolding incident,
Seattle Center was in full emergency
response mode. Tra c in and out of
Sea-Tac was halted, and approach control
was diverting smaller aircraft into other
airports — such as Bremerton — to keep
the airspace as clear as possible. This
measure was instituted to give the Q‘Rock’ fl ight’s mission was to keep the
Bombardier out over the water, away
from the heart of Seattle and the surrounding
population centers
At one point during his hour-plus trip
through the air over Puget Sound, an air
tra c controller asked Russell if he was
‘comfortable with just ying the plane
around.’ His response was both humorous
and a bit ironic: ‘I played video games
before so, you know, I know what I’m
doing a little bit.’
Eagle country
Approximately 129 miles to the south of
Sea-Tac sits Portland International Airport
(PDX), home to the Oregon Air National
Guard’s 142nd Fighter Wing. Equipped
with the F-15C Eagle, the 123rd Fighter
Squadron provides aerospace control alert
(ACA) support to NORAD’s Western Air
Defense Sector (WADS). F-15s assigned to
the ACA mission sit in a facility adjacent to
Runway 10R/28L, fueled, armed, and ready
to respond in a moment’s notice to any
tasking, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
365 days a year.
When the ‘active air scramble’ horn
sounded, two Eagle drivers sprinted to
‘Rock 41’ (serial
84-0016/MA)
getting airborne
for the mission.
It wears the
markings of the
104th FW from
Westfi eld Barnes
Airport/ANGB,
Massachusetts,
because the
Portland unit has
borrowed some
jets due to a joint
deployment to
Europe. It’s also
worth noting
that this jet also
carries a Sniper
targeting pod on
the centerline,
which is now
used by the
F-15C for long-
range visual
identifi cation of
targets. William
T. Shemleyhttp://www.combataircraft.net // October 2018 15