This is a video clip of Gulfstream II N105TB and a MiG-29 overhead Groom Lake on 7-Apr-2003
video clip of MiG-29 and Gulf II N105TB over Groom Lake
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A trip to Tikaboo Peak on Monday 7-Apr-2003
Our previous visit was in late April 2001 and on that occasion Tikaboo Peak had some snow which made the climb a little tricky in places. On that occasion we arrived at Tikaboo base camp at around 0630 and there was some noise from what my colleague thought to be a MiG-29 overhead. The video footage on that occasion was inconclusive and by the time we reached the summit, it had landed.
This year we weren't too hopeful of seeing anything as it was earlier in April, there was a war on and we didn't leave Vegas until 0530 which meant that we could be amused/worried by Howard Stern on the radio all the way up to the turning off Highway 93. The easiest route into Tikaboo from civilisation is from a turning just to the north of the entrance to the Pahranagat Wildlife Refuge. It's a dirt track across Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land which is public land and the equivalent (I guess) of National Trust land here in the UK.
This year's trip to Tikaboo Peak the 7900ft mountain in Nevada from where one can see Groom Lake AFB in clarity - albeit at range 26nm - was most entertaining.
Initially we thought that we had stumbled across a 'families day' as there was constant action for 4 hours featuring a Su-27 and MiG-29.
Both Russians had a F-16 as a playmate and the MiG-29 was flying in formation with a Gulfstream II.
The Gulf II N105TB is part of the Airborne Seeker Test Bed (ASTB) program - 5TB being a stylised STB - and based at Bedford-Hanscom Field with DoD/MIT Lincoln Labs. Lincoln Labs allegedly have a hangar for this G2 at the northern end of Groom Lake; this seems to be likely as during April it seemed to spend the week at Groom while returning home to BED for weekends, holidays, birthdays etc.
N105TB spent much of April 2003 in Nevada it seems. On returning to/from BED at weekends it stops at SPI (Springfield, IL) much of the time although PUB (Pueblo, CO) has also been o