Loud plane over Ballard attracts attention

Geeky Swedes Ballard

A plane roared over Ballard around 8:30 Tuesday night, startling some residents (including ourselves) who stepped outside to see what was generating so much volume. “(It was) the loudest I’ve heard in a long time. Woke up my 6 year old!” wrote SeattleRichardson in the forum. “That scared the LIFE out of me,” said GinaMarie. A couple weeks ago, a similar incident startled Greenwood residents at 3:30 a.m. No word on the type of plane, but some folks in the forum are speculating that it’s a UPS plane flying at low altitude due to the weather.

Update: Says “Interbaby” in comments below, “I was on my roof fixing a leak in Interbay when I was startled by the loud roar overhead. It was a military jet moving southbound very slowly toward Boeing Field.”

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

32 thoughts to “Loud plane over Ballard attracts attention”

  3. Sounded like a plane was going to crash into our house. I used to live a mile from a major airport under the flight path of the big Virgin Atlantic jets and never heard anything that loud before.

  4. Thanks, Swedes! Any chance you could maybe check into it for us? Really sounded unusual from where we sit … probably something totally mundane, but would be interesting to know for sure.

  5. I heard it over the din of doing dishes, it was military and not a commercial (passenger or cargo) aircraft. Given The Speaker was in town could have been an escort for Mrs. Pelosi's government G-5 getting her safely down to SF for the weekend. The UPS fleet is all level 3 now and regardless of weather wouldn't have been that noisy.

  6. And here I thought I was the only one who noticed it! I have really good windows so I rarely hear any air traffic when I have the house closed, and this one sounded like it might come right into the living room.

  8. My wife and I too heard it over here on Sunset Hill. We live on the second of a three floor building yet it sounded like it was just overhead. I went to see if there was a low flying plane, but it was actually up a couple thousand feet. After looking through the flights on the Seatac flight tracker, nothing seems to match up. Sure was loud though.

  9. It flew over my condo at 8:37pm. I work in the airline industry and I was a bit nervous about the noise too. Seemed way too low and loud to be a 'normal' SeaTac flight, and yet I could not see anything in the sky. Had me wondering if that airplane had a problem maintaining altitude (eek!) or if it was an old private jet that did not have upgraded sound kits installed. 707s used to be thunderous in the old days… And another thing…it didn't sound like a typical descent 'whine', it sounded like it was applying throttles a bit. Perhaps a go around or a takeoff…There might be an FAA hotline for this type of situation.
    I wonder if it could've been the Veep's airplane. I would've thought he'd fly out of McChord AF base next to Ft.Lewis…

  11. I'm guessing it could have also been support for the veep which usually have several c130's with support staff and numerous vehicles for transport. But it wouldn't explain it landing since he was likely leaving.

  12. Take off and landing are the most vulnerable times for an aircraft so it would make sense they were flying low cover for the plane to get up and off. Most likely they were going out of Boeing Field and that is why the covering aircraft were roaring in over Ballard.

    FYI – The C-130's wouldn't be able to keep up with AF2 which is a 757, no contest in performance.

  13. I was on my roof fixing a leak in Interbay when I was startled by the loud roar overhead. It was a military jet moving southbound very slowly toward Boeing Field. The engine noise seemed much louder than normal for a jet moving so slowly. That's all I have to report. Over and Out.

  14. The DC-8's that roll into KBFI are pretty quiet (with modern CFM-56's). Never saw any UPS ones, the only ones I see are usually some cargo carrier.

    It's the UPS 757/767's and “MD-10” (DC-10 with glass cockpit) that seem to be the loudest.

    Haven't seen any 727s out there, sadly :(

  15. wasn't there an article a few weeks ago here about increase flight noise over ballard? where's all the people that said they “love the loud airplane noises because it reminds them they live in jet city?”

    I for one am sick of it. stupid airplanes–I hate 'em.

  17. Actually AF2 is ANY Air Force plane that happens to be carrying the Vice President. Air Force 1 is ANY Air Force plane that happens to be carrying the President. They're call signs, not airplanes.

    It's also not a 757 but a C-32 (a modified version of the 757) operated by the 89th Airlift Wing. The plane is also not just for the VP. The President will fly on a C-32 when the more common VC-25A won't work, usually due to runway limitations but also when the VC-25A isn't available due to maintenance issues (there are only two VC-25As in service). Conversely, there have been times when the VP used a VC-25A instead of the C-32 due to the longer range it offers.

  19. That one got our attention too. My husband and I looked at each other… eyes widening…finally hubbie says, “Ok, THAT'S a loud one”. We just sat still listening and hoping it wouldn't come any closer. (or crash)

    I sure appreciate being able to click on to My Ballard and get information like this !

  23. I heard it too…it seemed to go on and on while I sat nervously waiting for some kind of more disastrous noise. But it never occurred to me to come here and check! MyBallard knows EVERYTHING–look at all you aircraft smarties crawling out of the woodwork! I'm impressed.

  24. I heard it and indeed, it was much too loud to be a commerical flight, either frieght or passenger are just not allowed to be that loud. It had to be a military airplane and most cargo jets I've heard don't sound quite like that one, seemed more like a fighter or a trainer of some sort.

  26. thanks for the link, flightaware is really nice. Anyone know how to find a current list of all nonstop destinations out of SeaTac, US & International? I've wanted to know all the places I could easily go.

  31. Too funy considering when I started this thread in the forum last night I was going to call it “WTF…Top Gun in Ballard!”… LOL

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