T-33 Fly Over Boulder- Way to Go Roy....I love it !

jlittle2 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:14 pm

Jet's early-morning roar riles Boulder residents
Officials say pilot probably didn't break any laws

By Heath Urie, Daily Camera
Friday, July 25, 2008

Many Boulder residents awoke Thursday morning not to the sound of buzzing alarm clocks, but to the rumble of a vintage Korean War-era jet buzzing overhead.
The jet was a Lockheed T33 flown by its owner, Broomfield resident Roy Halladay, according to officials at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Jefferson County.
Halladay couldn't be reached Thursday, but some residents and airport officials in Boulder are steaming over the flight. "It was really loud," said south Boulder resident Don Glen, 78. "You think, 'What the heck is that?' "
According to eyewitnesses, including Glen and many others in the area who called Tim Head, manager of the Boulder Municipal Airport, Halladay's stainless-steel red, white and blue military training jet was being followed by another small plane over Boulder from about 6:50 a.m. to 7:20 a.m.
The aircraft took off from the Jeffco airport, Head said, and were flying relatively low and directly over the city. Head said the planes woke many residents because they went back and forth across the area several times.
"It wasn't just a pass over the city," Head said. According to Head, Federal Aviation Administration rules prevent most flights from cruising closer than 1,000 feet above a populated area. Head said he wasn't sure whether Halladay's flight was within the established limits.
"Even trained airport-type people have a tough time establishing altitude," he said. "They probably weren't breaking any laws - they just managed to wake up half the city."
Boulder police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said dispatchers received at least a dozen calls about the aircraft, but referred complaints to the FAA.
Head said he told callers upset about the early-morning buzzing to contact the Jeffco airport to register their unhappiness. "We make sure pilots don't do stupid things like this," Head said of the Boulder airport. "It gives pilots a bad reputation." Kenneth Maenpa, manager of the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, said Halladay did not break any rules in making the flight, although it may have shown poor judgment to fly over the city in the early morning.
"The fact that it was 6 in the morning was unfortunate," Maenpa said. "I'm sure he won't do it again." Maenpa said he has spoken with Halladay since the incident and the veteran pilot apologized for causing a stir.

Hi Roy, I have a lot of pictures of your plane, and all I can say is....WAY TO GO....the Peoples Republic Of Boulder needs some waking up once in a while......and you can fly over my place at Parker and Quincy in Aurora ANYTIME you would like....Excellent Job !!!

BigGrey · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:48 pm

jlittle2 wrote:

Jet's early-morning roar riles Boulder residents
Officials say pilot probably didn't break any laws
(snip)
Halladay's stainless-steel red, white and blue military training jet was being followed by another small plane over Boulder from about 6:50 a.m. to 7:20 a.m.
(snip)
Kenneth Maenpa, manager of the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, said Halladay did not break any rules in making the flight, although it may have shown poor judgment to fly over the city in the early morning.
"The fact that it was 6 in the morning was unfortunate," Maenpa said. "I'm sure he won't do it again." Maenpa said he has spoken with Halladay since the incident and the veteran pilot apologized for causing a stir.

C'mon airport manager, was it 6:50AM or 6:00AM? Everybody should be up by 7:00AM anyways. :wink:

Sadly, noise abatement at airports is a very serious issue. Some people at Chino would complain about the cow smell. I would tell them that the cow smell is the only thing keeping the warbirds flying there. Replace the cows with houses and you have serious trouble with noise complaints.
NIMBYS..... :evil:

Les

Bill Greenwood · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:57 pm

John, thanks for the generous donation..

I like the looks of a T-33, but I don't think it was smart or polite to fly over Boulder low before 7 am. It creates a lot of bad p r. One pass, say at 10 am is another matter. I don't know how noisy it was, but Boulder is a nice place with a great little airport and we are trying to advance general aviation there. If is a question of being at an unsafe altitude, defined by FAR as anything below 1000' over a town, whose word do you think the FAA is going to put much stock in, that of one pilot or of many people on the ground? And the ground people don't have to be trained observers. Roy might possibly have used radar service that showed his altitude.

Obergrafeter · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:18 pm

It is a good thing that the Budd Conestoga pioneered the use of stainless steel in the manufacturing of airplanes otherwise Lockheed wouldn't have been able to win the Korean war with the red white and blue T-33s. Got to love that non biased in depth researched reporting.

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:43 pm

Quote:

Halladay's stainless-steel red, white and blue military training jet

I want me one of those!!!!

K5DH · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:52 pm

Jet noise: the sound of freedom!

jlittle2 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:54 pm

Hi Bill....you bet and thank you.

My post was more in humor than in poor taste.....it might have been a questionable thing to do, but having met Roy, and watched him fly for a long time, I would have a very strong doubt in my mind that he was under the altitude restrictions, nor was he truly trying to torque off the people in Boulder, but to anyone on the ground not initiated to a T-33 flying around, it probably was not in perspective as far as altitude goes, and it likely sounded pretty loud. I flew in one in 1970, and can vouch for the sound levels.

By accounts there was another plane shadowing him, so I wonder if they were doing some air to air photography. The hills up there at sun up provides some great photo opps.

Only Roy would know the details for for sure.

richkolasa · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:02 pm

I really wish that I could get in the face (and possibly head-butt) every freaking "nimby" individual of questionable judgement that biatches about airplane noise. Stupid teenagers make more dang noise on any given night in one city than airplanes do in a month in the entire country, and no teenager takes me to California in 5 hours if I want to go!

Rich

RyanShort1 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:15 pm

richkolasa wrote:

Stupid teenagers make more dang noise on any given night in one city than airplanes do in a month in the entire country!

Well put!

Ryan

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:19 pm

At recent city council meetings were a helicopter company was denied a business license based on complaints generated by the legal flying of the previous company. Citizens testified under oath that.............
1. helicopter hovered over a school playground regularly at 25' :roll:

2. houses were buzzed repeatidly at 50' or less. :roll:

3. The leaded gasoline was poluting the air and destroying the city's livability. :roll:

FAA intervention imminent :idea:

richkolasa · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:22 pm

Bill Greenwood wrote:

John, thanks for the generous donation..

I like the looks of a T-33, but I don't think it was smart or polite to fly over Boulder low before 7 am. It creates a lot of bad p r. One pass, say at 10 am is another matter. I don't know how noisy it was, but Boulder is a nice place with a great little airport and we are trying to advance general aviation there.

Bill,

First thanks for your kind words regarding the passing of my fiance Regina in the off-topic thread (as well as everyone elses thoughts and prayers). You don't remember me, but we did spend some time hanging out at Caldwell-Wright (Essex Cty), NJ when you had the Spit here for the Jaguar thing by the Statue of Liberty. Our 172 is there. Seems like 5 years ago, what was it, 16 or more?

You're a class act.

Your words are all correct, but I'm just so sick of the nimby stuff directed at aviation, that I had to vent. It's like the PC junk in America, it just destroys common sense and any sense of proportion. People want their precious packages delivered across the country in 8 hours, but they don't want to hear aircraft. They want to get to LA from NYC, but they don't want to hear aircraft. They want to be saved by a medivac chopper if THEY are injured, but don't want to hear the choppers if the aren't involved. ENOUGH!

The T-33's not a quiet bird, but it's not an F-104 either. I was hanging with Jive and Lunar at McGuire this year while he was flying Big Dog's T-33, and I have to say, I was about 500 feet from the runway, probably a bit less, and it was not an earth-shattering event when he took off. I can't imagine it being as bad as our over-sensationalizing [lying] Media would have one believe.

Heck, I live in a suburban area only a few miles from rural northwest Jersey, and I've been waken up before 6:30 am about 15 times this year by construction crews, dumpsters being emptied, family arguments, and a host of other annoyances. I survived, and so will the people of Boulder.

I'd certainly rather that he wouldn't do it before 8 or 9am, but I hope it's not too big a deal for GA in Boulder. Just my two cents.

Best,
Rich

richkolasa · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:25 pm

By the way, is this the aircraft in question?

richkolasa · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:27 pm

RyanShort1 wrote:

richkolasa wrote:

Stupid teenagers make more dang noise on any given night in one city than airplanes do in a month in the entire country!

Well put!

Ryan

I'm like that broken clock ya know! Twice a day, I happen upon something.

airnutz · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:54 pm

Obergrafeter wrote:

It is a good thing that the Budd Conestoga pioneered the use of stainless steel in the manufacturing of airplanes

Interesting choice of words OberG! Actually, the Budd BB-1 Pioneer...erm...pioneered that
stainless honor in 1931.

Back on subject...yeah, 7am is a bit early for jet fun. Over the years I've tuned out the Harley's blasting
past my bedroom 75 feet away at 8-9am on Saturday morning, but I jump out of bed upon hearing the
rumble of B-17's..'24..'25's.etc. Weird Huh? :roll:

I wonder just how wild the T-33's passes were if a smaller plane was actually following him about???
Sounds like an early morning foto shoot to me as well.

I'll say this...most of the wimps these days wouldn't have lasted one week during the Cold War! :shock:

Glorious days...B-58's..CH-37's..F-8's..F-4's..P2V's..onward ad nauseum.

Sniff..Sniff.. :cry:

jlittle2 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:54 pm

Roy's plane has unpainted fuselage....and if I was smart enough to figure out how to post the picture directly (boy I must be tired, stupid or both !!)....but here is the link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlittle2/2 ... 967422541/

and airmutz has about right.....I lived in Okie City in the early 60's, and every morning was a treat with 20 -30 B-58 Hustlers leaving Tinker and blowing out half the windows in the City. But I was always on the back porch watching them race overhead, and the fantastic sound of sonic booms as they blew by Lake Hefner.

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T-33 Fly Over Boulder- Way to Go Roy....I love it !

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