BERKELEY, Calif. (Tribune Content Agency) — The U.S. Navy is investigating a military jet that zoomed over Berkeley this week after residents reported it flew frighteningly close to homes and UC Berkeley, a Navy spokeswoman said.
Lt. Reagan Lauritzen, a media officer for the Naval Air Force, said the investigation into Tuesday's flyover is "based on local reporting of the flight pattern."
"While training missions in the local area are common and the pilot was under positive FAA control, the U.S. Navy is investigating the flight to ensure the aviator complied with all FAA and U.S. Navy regulations," Lauritzen said in an email.
The flyover sent Berkeley into a frenzy shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday. Several residents on Twitter reported that the loud, low-flying jet, a F/A-18E Super Hornet, was noisy enough to set off car alarms, wake babies and scare office workers and could be heard from downtown to the university campus.
Officials said the jet traveled from Naval Air Station Lemoore, located southwest of Fresno, Calif., to the Bay Area and back.
FAA regulation calls for an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest structure within a 2,000-foot horizontal radius above any city. Lauritzen said the jet flew at 2,500 to 3,000 feet over Berkeley.
Online airport noise tracker WebTrak showed about the same, with the plane dipping below 3,000 feet as it passed over West Berkeley, then down to about 2,500 feet over the UC Berkeley campus before it rose above 10,000 feet as it moved over the inner East Bay hills and back toward Fresno. The tallest building on the campus, the Campanile, stands at just over 300 feet.
A Berkeley-based news site, Berkeleyside, reported that the pilot flew over UC Berkeley to say hello to his brother, who attends the university and is moving to Texas this month.
©2015 the (Walnut Creek, Calif.) Contra Costa Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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