My older brother is a pilot, now for a commercial airline, but for a couple of decades in the military. Post-training, he flew helicopters at first (SAR in
Voyageurs), then various fixed wing special items, including the remaining
Dak-o-saurus in the CAF. Most of his time was flying
Hercs, eventually, especially in a refueling role.
His buddies from training who had gone into fighters would use our farm as a turnaround point on training flights, just to say hi (a lot of them had come out for a home-cooked meal on various holidays), so we got to see a fair number of flyovers from
CF-104s and then
CF-18s when I was a younker.
When I was in grade school, my brother (who had been out to a nearby base for exercises) landed his
CH-47 Chinook in our schoolyard and let the kids come out and take a look. Regs were a bit looser back then, especially in the hinterlands where we lived -- I doubt this would be easy to arrange/keep quiet these days.
Had a funny experience a couple of years ago, when I had been out to visit him, and then he was flying the plane on my return home. A woman behind me tapped my shoulder during the flight to ask if flying was always so rough -- first-time flyer, and pretty nervous. (In fact the flight was almost perfectly smooth, but a minute or two of washboard bumps had her a bit alarmed.) I told her it was no problem, and added that my brother was flying the plane, and that he really was extraordinarily good at his job. It was clear that she thought I was bullshitting her (which probably meant she didn't believe me about there being no need for concern). Then she was standing near me at the baggage carousel when my brother came out and walked over -- we look nearly identical, save that he's a bit taller. She actually came over and apologized for not believing me. I told her I wasn't offended -- it does sound pretty implausible, all things considered.