Monitoring Planes in VR-840     Planes entering VR-840 must monitor 255.4 MHz, AM, while in VR-840, and generally announce on this frequency that they are entering the route, a couple minutes before entering.  Generally, several minutes before this, they tell Boston Center ATC that they are proceeding to the route, usually on 263.05 or 282.2 MHz AM.  Other frequencies sometimes used prior to entering are the Portland approach frequencies, ie 381.2 and 353.9.    While in the route, F-16s from Vt ANG, Burlington, often use 138.525 for air to air communications.  Other bases use many different A/A freqs, too numerous to mention.

VR-840 begins at Pleasant Mountain just west of Bridgton, Maine, and proceeds north through Locke Mills, Rangeley and up around Greenville, Maine.  Planes are allowed to fly as low as 100' above ground level in VR-840, but usually they fly at 500' and at speeds typically around 500MPH.

   Several different planes have been observed flying VR-840, including
F-16, A-10, F-15, AV-8, EA-6B , B1b , P3, KC-135 , KC-130, T-37, T-45, and a few others.

Below are a few pictures I've taken of the planes. Note, at first I found it very difficult to get a picture of a plane coming over at 500' and 500mph, mainly because it is hard to get it in the viewfinder of the camera, but I am slowly learning the techniques necessary.  Some of the pictures are low quality, others aren't too bad, others are pretty good.  The first pictures were generally taken with a VHS video camera, and captured via computer video capture card, these were all limited to 640x480 resolution, and weren't very good.  Later I graduated to various digital cameras, first to a Sony digital videocamera and eventually to a Nikon D7 with a cheap 500mm lens.  In general, I've found that the long focal length or optical zoom is more important than megapixels for getting good pictures.  It is also important to have a camera with a real eyepiece rather than a screen for viewing, and it is preferable to have a camera that doesn't blank out the view when the picture is snapped,  because you lose the plane from the view while processing. When using a zoom lens, I used to start zoomed out to find the plane, then zoom in, however with the fixed lens, this isn't possible, so at first, I had problems finding the planes with the 500mm lens.  However I quickly learned to keep both eyes open, and if you focus on the plane with the eye not looking through the camera, it somehow guides you to find the plane in the camera view. I can now generally locate a plane in the camera in approximately a second.
I've also found that it is almost impossible to get a good picture when taking a picture into the sun (partly because my lens is very cheap, and the sun reflections destroy the contrast), and I generally get poor results on cloudy days, in both cases because the side of the plane in view isn't illuminated.  The best results are obtained on bright days with the sun behind, and in particular, bright days when there is snow on the ground to reflect up against the bottom of the plane. 

I'm trying to keep the newest pictures in this main page (although I'm about a year behind in keeping it up to date), and the older pictures can be found by clicking the links above.  One advantage of the older pictures above is that some of them include links to video clips of the planes, since many of them were taken with the video camera. 

Anyway, the pictures below were taken from June 2006 thru December 2006.  I am still working on adding more recent pictures.

BELOW, {78000626} Chili-1  an A-10 from Barnes, Ma ANG .   June 6 2006 

BELOW  , an unknown P3 from Brunswick.  Not flying up VR-840, just passing over.     June 15 2006
                        

BELOW:  Musket-1 {83001136}  F-16 from Burlington, Vt.   June 27 2006         

    Below:  Heat-1 ,  an A-10 from Bradley, Ct ANG  Aug 11 2006
           

Below: {78000638}  Again, a Heat flight from Bradley  Aug 14 2006                                                 
                                                       
Below  Yankee-69 {165316} ,  a Marine KC-130 from VMGR-452, New York.

                                                  
Below   REAPO-1 {84001212}, an F-16 from Burlington, Vt    Sept 14 2006 

Below , an A-10 from Bradley, Ct ANG  ,  Sept 26 2006

Below  Fig-1  an A-10 from Barnes, Ma ANG   Oct 4 2006

Below , Impact-1 {84001269}, an F-16 from Burlington, Vt ANG    Oct 5 2006

Below Musket-1, F-16 from Vt ANG Oct 6 2006

Below, Maple-1 {85001406} an F-16 from Vt ANG   Oct 19 2006

Below, Tonga-1 {83001136}  F-16 from Vt ANG  Dec 18 2006 

Below, Yankee 76, Marine  C-130 from NY   Dec 18 2006  Had to aim down to take this pic. Mountains in background.

Below, JAWS-1 {83001136} F-16 from Vt ANG  12 20 2006

Below, HEAT-1, an A-10, about a mile away, with mountains in background.

Atomic-1 , F-16 from Vt ANG    1/13/07


    Below:  A Lynx flight of Ma ANG F-15s  1/17/07
            

Below: {77000100}  Maddog , a Ma ANG F-15  1/23/07


Below,{?}{78000583}   Barney , a flight of 2 Ma ANG A-10s   2/9/07




Below, {?}{78000616}a Comet flight of Ma ANG A-10s  2/12/07
    

Below  a Maddog flight from Ma ANG, Otis   2/23/07

     

Below, {77000163}{77000097} Cajun and Lynx flights, Ma ANG  3/6/07
   

Below Pistol-1 ,  a Vt ANG F-16  3/9/07


Below, another Atomic flight, F-16 from Vt ANG  1/24/07


Below {85001406

} a Sniper flight of Vt ANG F-16s   3/23/07

     

Below  King-74,

, it has some unusual protrubrances on it's tail.


Above, another Sniper flight, F-16 from Vt ANG   6/8/07


Below:  Jumbo {84001220}, another  Vt ANG F-16    7/30/07


Below, Musket-1 Vt ANG F-16  7/31/07   {poor lighting from below, but close}



Below,  {164441} {165316}a YANKEE-76  flight of 2 Marine KC-130s from NY   8/9/07
  

Below, {78000586}   Killer-1  Ct ANG A-10 from Bradley...  9/25/07


Below, a Vt ANG JAWS flight, however the plane {84001374} is an Indianna ANG F-16 from 122nd FW, Ft Wayne, Ind.    10/2/07
Not sure if the Vt guys were flying the Ind planes or if the Ind guys were visiting too. Many of the Vt planes were away on other assignments at the time.  


Below  {84001269} Dagger-1 flight.  Vt ANG F-16   10/4/07


Below, {84001275} Tonga flight, Vt ANG   F-16   10/13/07


Below {84001220}  REAPO-1, Vt ANG F-16  1/24/08   {poor lighting}


Below, {78000520}{78000500}  a HAWK-1 flight of 2 Ma ANG F-15s, 1/31/08
This was at a period during which the transition from Otis AFB to Barnes was taking place, ie they were using a Barnes callsign, but these were Otis planes. Not sure if these are planes that eventually replaced the A-10s at Barnes or not.




Below, a Jaws flight of 2 Vt ANG F-16s, were flying east into area at 30,000'.  I heard them, went outside, and saw the vapor trails.  Took a closeup of one of the planes, then the planes decided to abort and head west.  Got a neat picture of the vapor trails crossing while doing the 180 deg turn.   1/31/08

Below {84001275}  Narley flight, Vt ANG F-16   3/6/08


Below, another pass by KING-74 , HC130 from 106 Rescue Wing, NY ANG, Westhampton, Long Island   4/9/08


Below,  4/16/08  KING-74 announced that it was coming up VR-840, then, SNIPER-1 also said it was coming up the route.  SNIPER-1 {84001384}  made it up first, a Vt F-16, then KING-74 came up.  Again,  KING-74 is an

, but it is strange {to me} that there are no markings on this plane.