Hi guys, I´ve started miltary flying since I´ve bought The F-16 and the A-10 from Iris some weeks ago. Now I´m facing a question, which I can´t answer myself. It´s the question, wheather military jets are restictet to fly 250 knots below 10.000ft or not. Could someone be so kind to bring some light in the dark?BTW: Sorry for the topic headline, should be 250 KIAS, for sure^^

In the United States, military airplanes are restricted from flying in normal airspace outside the FAA regulations unless there is some sort of major emergency.There are Military Operation Areas (MOA's) created for lower level training, and in those MOA's military airplanes will have the rights to fly at high speeds and low altitudes. MOA's are clearly noted on sectional charts. There are also Military Training Routes (MTR's) for which similar rights are granted. MOA's are large areas of airspace, while MTR's are narrow paths between waypoints not unlike victor airways or commercial jetways. GA and commercial pilots flying in the MOA/MTR areas should always check with the local controllers or FSS's to determine if the MOA is active or not. If the MOA is active, extreme caution should be taken while in flight to avoid any unexpected encounters. You can check this map to determine if a MOA (*or any other special use airspace) in your area is active. -Greg

Thanks Greg for your reply. Only to sum up: A military aircraft has to fly FAA conditions until it is in a MOA, than it´s unrestricted. Did I understand this right?Annother trhing: Are these MOA´s located in the FSX map or not?

This is the rule, but fighters rarely abide perfectly by the 250 speed limit :( I work them screaming in at sometimes 400+ kts and that's below 100 haha!

I't been a long time since I was involved, so regulations could have changed over time. But back in the day, and in the U.S.,safe operating speeds for the type of aircraft prevailed over the FAA 250 knot rule. 350 knots indicated airspeed seemed to be pretty common for figher jet aircraft until in the approach or landing pattern. GW

Back once upon a time when I was on the Alphasim C-17 beta, one of the team members (who is in the military) said that the C-17's rarely/never followed the 250@10000 rule.

I live (for now) on the eastern portion of the Greater Los Angeles basin and can see the planes on final to Ontario. A little further east and south is March ARB, which functions as a tanker base for the most part, AFAIK. But they do have some smaller aircraft sitting around and a few times I have heard them go by and I would bet my very last $$$ that they are above 250kts and well below 10,000'. Cause I can still hear them roaring away, from a long distance away. Probably after some wayword tourist who didn't study the flight restrictions over LAX and who thought it would be cool to circle the airport and look at the big jets for a while... :(