F-22s intercept an aircraft in a TFR

[Aerophile]

I was just enjoying a relaxing Saturday afternoon when I hear the sound of jets flying overhead. I live right next to the regional airport and since Pres. Bush is in town I figured it was just air traffic coming and going from the airport. It gets busy when he's at his ranch. Anyway, I went outside to see what all was going on. To my surprise I saw two F-22s flying circles around what appeared to be a Maule. I suppose he busted the TFR, they intercepted him, and were escorting him back over to the regional airport. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the plane they were intercepting but I got a couple of mediocre shots of the F-22s. The intercepted aircraft was pretty low and disappeared behind a tree line as he turned base to final.

Whenever I'm flying in and out of the TFR, I usually keep a close ear to 121.5. I hear guys bust the TFR a lot more often then most would imagine. I was out for only little more than an hour and 4 aircraft busted the TFR during that time. Once, I even heard the Air Force come on guard and threaten to fire on an aircraft if he didn't immediately turn to whatever heading they were telling him to turn to. He turned fortunately enough for him.

Anyway, here's the photos...

[The Ruptured Duck]

hehe, I bet some Cessna pilot now needs a new set of shorts  ;D

Theres 2 presidential TFR's here in ICT and Greensburg tomarrow. I'll have to take my Rebel down by McConnell AFB to take some shots and possibly expose my bare ass to AF1

[Omag 2.0]

How the heck does a f-22 escort a Maule without stalling? Must have been a lot of tiny cirlces...

Nice catch!  :)

[Aerophile]

How the heck does a f-22 escort a Maule without stalling? Must have been a lot of tiny cirlces...

Nice catch!  :)

Both F-22's were circling within about a 1/4 mile radius from the aircraft.  They were pretty darn slow though.  Loud too.

[C]

How the heck does a f-22 escort a Maule without stalling? Must have been a lot of tiny cirlces...

Nice catch!  :)

If they are anything like the RAF they practice reasonably often doing light aircraft intercepts.

[specter177]

Have you seen an F-22 during an airshow? While it is waiting its turn, it will stand on its tail doing very small circles behind the crowd.

[Jared]

awesome shots, glad they all complied!

[Isak922]

Thrust Vectoring does help a bit with low speed flight, or at least I'd assume so.

Wish I'd see more nice toys like that around here  :P

[Dr.bob7]

i dont like airports like that way close to Restricted areas, At my airport in colorado (Centennial KAPA) it has its own Class E airspace for about a 3 mile radius the rest is class B for Denver Intl

[OVERLORD_CHRIS]

Cool shots, as soon as I edit my video I'll get a few pics of the F-22's and F-15's from my video.