A few winters ago in the Utah wilderness south east of Hill AFB, 3 of us were snowshoeing at about 01:00 on a moonless night with cloud cover at about 2000 feet. If you know the area, it was about 4 miles from the top of Emigration Canyon and is a National Forest area. My friend lives in the canyon and the distinct sound of jet fighters with a slow red strobe and white light on the middle of the fuselage could commonly be heard and/or seen flying in tandem formation.
Hill AFB is excellent training for Afghan terrain; to its west is uninhabited desert and various restricted areas and to the east is the Wasatch Range, which simulates mountainous areas. Jets can easily cross-over and train in both areas due to the low population of both. :gun
During our hike we could hear jets above us, but this was typical and thought nothing of it. As we continued, we stopped short of the ridge we were hiking to for water and to make sure our dogs were doing well. There are no trees in this area. While stopped for a few minutes, we couldn't hear the jets. Then all of a sudden, one of the jets flies over the ridge in a south-easterly direction at a maximum of 1000 feet heading directly for us, then within what seemed like only a few hundred feet from us he switched on the landing lights completely illuminating us and the hill behind. We ducked out of fear. As soon as the jet passed overhead he turned off the landing lights and made a sharp banking left turn to avoid the hill behind us. As my friends were still shaken somewhat, I looked to the large hill rising behind us when I saw a piece of ordinance with a telltale green tracer leave the aircraft, the ordinance arced from the aircraft and struck the hill behind us, extinguished by the heavy snow cover. At this point I thought he was going to make another pass and got in a prone position, very afraid. No cell reception to call 911 or Hill ATC. I honestly thought we were going to be blown up. We stayed low and got the hell out of there.
I come from an Air Force family and take this allegation very seriously, and I would never joke about this nor embellish the story. I'm quite positive we were used as target practice, but that the pilot intentionally missed. I would like to know any information about what kind of dummy round was launched at us. Anyone have a similar incident? I wasn't able to discern the pattern of lights on this aircraft. Thank You.
Hill AFB is excellent training for Afghan terrain; to its west is uninhabited desert and various restricted areas and to the east is the Wasatch Range, which simulates mountainous areas. Jets can easily cross-over and train in both areas due to the low population of both. :gun
During our hike we could hear jets above us, but this was typical and thought nothing of it. As we continued, we stopped short of the ridge we were hiking to for water and to make sure our dogs were doing well. There are no trees in this area. While stopped for a few minutes, we couldn't hear the jets. Then all of a sudden, one of the jets flies over the ridge in a south-easterly direction at a maximum of 1000 feet heading directly for us, then within what seemed like only a few hundred feet from us he switched on the landing lights completely illuminating us and the hill behind. We ducked out of fear. As soon as the jet passed overhead he turned off the landing lights and made a sharp banking left turn to avoid the hill behind us. As my friends were still shaken somewhat, I looked to the large hill rising behind us when I saw a piece of ordinance with a telltale green tracer leave the aircraft, the ordinance arced from the aircraft and struck the hill behind us, extinguished by the heavy snow cover. At this point I thought he was going to make another pass and got in a prone position, very afraid. No cell reception to call 911 or Hill ATC. I honestly thought we were going to be blown up. We stayed low and got the hell out of there.
I come from an Air Force family and take this allegation very seriously, and I would never joke about this nor embellish the story. I'm quite positive we were used as target practice, but that the pilot intentionally missed. I would like to know any information about what kind of dummy round was launched at us. Anyone have a similar incident? I wasn't able to discern the pattern of lights on this aircraft. Thank You.