Triangle skies fill with 'warthogs'

From staff reports
News & Observer
Published Apr 15, 2010 05:36 PM
Modified Apr 15, 2010 05:37 PM

People in downtown Raleigh and elsewhere were surprised to look up around 3 p.m. today and catch sight of four Air Force fighter jets — A-10 Thunderbolts — screaming past.

Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman with the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta, said the planes were traveling under visual flight rules, so they were not required to file flight plans. The planes later landed at RDU's general aviation ramp.

Bergen said the planes were out of Moody Air Force Base, near Valdosta, Ga. A base spokesman said today he did not immediately know what the planes were doing in the Triangle. There are no A-10 squadrons based in North Carolina.

The A-10, nicknamed the "Warthog," is a distinctive silhouette in the sky. It's a heavily armored, single-seat, twin-engine, straight-winged jet whose primary mission is to destroy tanks, armored vehicles and other ground targets.

The planes have been used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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