By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch A fighter-style jet airplane that repeatedly roared back and forth above quiet Eatonville and surrounding areas a good part of last week, often at low altitudes and possibly in violation of aviation rules, wasn't from Joint Base Lewis-McChord and wasn't military. As for where the plane was from, who was at the controls and why it was there, nobody is saying, although speculation is that it was most likely flown and owned by civilians. Given the proximity of the Air Force base at Lewis-McChord (JBLM), it isn't uncommon for military jets to occasionally interrupt the area's tranquility with a noisy, high-speed flyover. But it's never every day, which is what happened last week. The mystery plane, which started making passes Monday and was still at it Friday, may have buzzed the community below the minimum altitude of 1,000 feet that the Federal Aviation Administration requires of aircraft over cities. Pictures of the plane were taken by Tony Sirgedas, a freelance photographer, from the top of a hill that he said is 950 feet high. At times, he said, the jet was lower than that, including when it dipped below a nearby ridge he said is 850 feet high. "I was looking down at the plane," said Sirgedas. On its web site, the FAA states, "Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open-air assembly of persons," aircraft must maintain "an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft." From one of Sirgedas' photographs submitted by The Dispatch, JBLM officials confirmed that the plane wasn't from the base or any other military installation. There were no military markings or other identifying marks on the plane. Joe Kubistek, a media relations representative for JBLM, said the jet could be a Northrop F-20 Tigershark, "or some variant," and. is probably civilian-owned. "I would say that this is not a military-owned or operated aircraft," Kubistek said. "It would most likely be owned or operated in some capacity by a civilian or military retiree." He added that "without knowing more about the aircraft or its owner," he couldn't say whether it was being used on some sort of contracted basis for pilot training. The Northrop F-20 Tigershark emerged from design work in 1975 for the Air Force on jet fighters that the U.S. was interested in selling to allied nations. The plane, first flown as a prototype in 1982, was never sold to foreign countries and was developed only in three prototypes, and the program was abandoned in 1986, according to militaryfactory.com. Last year, a similar-looking jet aircraft made repeated wide, looping passes over Eatonville on June 2. JBLM officials at that time said it was part of an air exercise.
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