Im going to Colorado for thanksgiving this year and I want to do some spotting there. One place I want to try is Buckley SFB and I also heard that centennial also has some similar traffic. Other than using FR24 to find transport planes and cargo planes, how do you guys know if a fighter jet is coming to land or takeoff? I don’t want to go there for the whole day and not see any traffic.
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FR24 is the best you can get, but sometimes it won’t show up because it likes to stay hidden on radars no matter where you go. I believe a good place for you to go to find a good place to spot is.
I apologize if I did not understand your question correctly.
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Globe.adsbexchange.com has a few military aircraft
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Your best bet is to sit out there and wait. I would recommend investing in a Uniden BC125AT scanner which can be programmed with Buckley’s radio frequencies.
ADSB Exchange generally does not display fighter jets under the military filter. They will show up within (I believe) 25-30 miles of their filed airports as an unknown aircraft. Usually you are able to figure out what it is through its available flight history and hex code.
Buckley and the 140th’s Sandbox departures is a bucket list item of mine. Good luck!
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I find I can use liveatc to listen in, and if there’s a military aircraft I can usually hear ATC’s side of the communication but not the fighter jet. I usually can hear tankers and p-8s just fine. Not as good as seeing them on a map but if they aren’t visible this has helped me see them
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Thanks! Is the scanner legal for use at a base?
It’s legal. Base security might throw a fit about it if they see you using it, but I’ve never personally run into any problems anywhere I’ve gone.
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Thank you so much for the info! Also great pics on ur insta!
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Buckley frequently produces sorties on weekdays. The guessing game is when they take off. My recommendation: go to sua.faa.gov and check the Airburst and La Veta MOAs and ATCAAs. They’ll have times associated with them. Be where you want to be at least one hour prior to the associated scheduling time.
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Buckley SFB
For Buckley I have some answers! (this is all public knowledge) Basically Buckley is scheduled to fly Tuesday-Friday from 9:00am to 9:30pm with 1 or 2 weekend/night flights a month. That leaves a pretty big window tho so if you want to 99% of the time catch the jets the first sortie departs around 9am with 2 jets. They fly 3-4 sorties a day each lasting around 1 hour. Along with all of that ill put some resources below.
Noise at Buckley (including some training locations)
Spotting locations:
Aircraft Viewing Lot
Good location has a parking lot only 2 downsides is it will be backlit in the morning and you can not get all that close
Dirt Lot (39°40’56.1"N 104°43’48.5"W)
Good location has a dirt lot and will be lit in the morning only issue is you can not get very close.
The hill (39°40’48.6"N 104°44’09.2"W)
Now although it says do not park on the side of the road either park farther down or risk it because they tend to not care. There are also often 2-3 spotters up there. If you go to this spot bring some ear protection because the aircraft will sandbox out over your exact location
Centennial
For Centennial I recommend the Wings over the Rockies museum but if you dont want to go there I have 2 other locations that also work
Spotting Locations:
Parking lot (39.58816098890146, -104.85535571915379)
Pretty good for arrivals onto 17L and R not great for departures
Other Parking lot (39°33’34.5"N 104°51’17.3"W)
Great for arrivals onto 35L and R and departures on both!
Hope this helps and feel free to DM me with more questions!
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Ur such a life saver! Thank you for taking your time to write such a detailed response will definitely be seeing some action thanks to you!
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