Originally Posted by Astro14
Training. Low level training routes exist across the country. You would know if you're under one, as you would have low level, high speed (not helicopters...) traffic often.
These guys, at 1,000 feet, at night, they're practicing navigation and flying on night vision devices.
Decades ago, our A-6 guys would fly through Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and North Carolina at 500 feet, 480 knots, at night, in the weather, for training - using their terrain following radar.
Folks living under those training routes would hear the roar of an A-6 at night, without warning. They weren't always happy about that...
I had a flight of B1Bs fly over me in the TX panhandle near Pecos 20 years ago, doing terrain following training in the desert.
There was a building roar, and you could not see them until they where right on top of you. Scared the crap out of me...