Strange Aircraft Activity Observed In Southern Utah

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. Based on where you are, my first thought was the "Red Flag" exercise at Nellis....

but a quick search showed the last one was in July.

They might have been calibrating sights/targeting equipment/ Perhaps there is a target in the desert out there you aren't aware of. I could be a simple cross laying flat on the ground and the pilot would fly in such a way as to keep one wing pointed directly at it as he circles.

Just a thought. Not a pilot, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last week!

Edit to add that Nellis is probably less than 30 minutes away for that aircraft.

One more edit to say, I lived in Palmdale, CA from late'01 through '04 and passed by "The Skunkworks" regularly. They must have had one or another contract on those AC130's because I saw them there quite regularly. There would often be 4 or 5 on the ramp near their huge hangar, the big gun protruding from the side clearly visible, even from a half mile away on the street;