Combat Air Patrol Observed Near Camp David

When the president is in residence at the Camp David retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains,the normal restricted airspace over the camp is extended outward from 3 nautical miles,or 6.5 miles,to 10 nautical miles,or about 22 miles in diameter.As the president is at Camp David this weekend,I know that combat air patrols by NORAD military aircraft may be visible.Still,they are more often heard than seen as they carry out their part in Operation Noble Eagle,as the post 9-11 airspace protection mission is known.I indeed hear them as I walk near the Mason-Dixon line,the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania which lies beneath the expanded restricted airspace.The jet engine noise of a sudden becomes very loud.I pause and,looking up,regard the swift low passage of an F-15 Eagle,painted olive drab or gray,hurtling north toward the edge of the security perimeter with jaw-dropping speed.This is better than an air show;it is the real deal,a combat air patrol protecting the President of the United States and his family and guests,as well as their neighbors in Northern Maryland and South Central Pennsylvania.The F-15 banks to the left and the right before vanishing over the horizon.There may be another,unseen fighter aloft at a greater altitude also participating in the patrol.Suffice it to say,the Air National Guard F-15 had made my walk one of the safest in the world on that sunny morning. NORAD,the North American Aerospace Defense Command,is the binational U.S.-Canadian organization that monitors and defends the continent's sovereign airspace.