Interesting 2-plane takeoff at BWI 4-28-06 (formation flight)

[Gary G]

I drive to work just south of BWI/Marshall airport every morning.
I looked up and literally thought there was going to be a mid-air
collision!
Then, I thought - "Oh crap! There's a plane with gear problem!"

What I saw was a plane that was along the lines of an MD-80,
and off the right wing was a corporate jet - something around an
8 or 10 seat - corporate jet. It was about in the range of 30 to 50 feet
off the wing.

I couldn't get my camera phone there in time for a close-up!
For about 5 to 10 seconds, I was really worried.

Well, they were making a departing, tight (impressive) left turn from the
southwest to fly east. It was actually a very nice formation flight.

But what the heck? It must have been someone important!
I doubt they took off with each other. I caught them in my eye when they
were probably about 1000 ft agl.

What the heck?

White, couldn't tell markings.

I had to apologize to the driver behind me for slowing down to watch that!

[Garner Miller]

In article >, Gary G
> wrote:

> I drive to work just south of BWI/Marshall airport every morning. I
> looked up and literally thought there was going to be a mid-air
> collision!
> What I saw was a plane that was along the lines of an MD-80,
> and off the right wing was a corporate jet - something around an
> 8 or 10 seat - corporate jet. It was about in the range of 30 to 50 feet
> off the wing.

I can guarantee they were farther apart than 30 feet -- that's less
than the wingspan of the smaller jet!

My guess is that the corporate jet took off of runway 15L, and the
MD-80 used 15R. They're parallel runways, and they're both in use at
the same time. The guy using the left-hand runway will either go
straight out or make a left turn shortly after departure; the guy on
the right, just the opposite.

The runways are separated laterally by about 4800 feet, and I doubt the
planes got much closer than that once they were airborne. They just
*looked* closer due to their large size.

[Gary G]

No - I can guarantee they were that close.
It was obvious that this was on purpose.
Maybe not 30 feet, but less than 100.
They flew directly over me while I was waitin at a stoplight just
southwest of the airport.
The small jet was probably about 50 feet back, no more than 100
feet away. They flew directly next to each other turning east.
Afte getting some perspective, the small plane was probably also down about
50 feet from the MD-80.
This was no mistake.

I watched them for more about 2 minutes.

The small plane had to be some sort of escort to the large plane.

I'm telling you, this was tight formation flying, no accident.
How they took off - I don't know. I didn't get to see them until they
were at about 1000 agl or so.

Given that I've flown about 20 hours, and watch planes
frequently at the local airport, I am that sure they were in formation
flight. The small plane was matching the flight of the large plane.
Again, they turned together, toward the east. I might have believed it was
something else, but for about 2 minutes of watching.

I wonder if it was an NSA plane (staff or something), or another agency
flight.