Air Force training jet collides with crop duster

AP Wire Service ^ | January 18, 2005

[billorites]

[Pearls Before Swine]

How does that happen? Jet... fast; crop duster... slow and low.

[xJones]

That's too bad because those crop dusters do a very necessary and good job. And so do Air Force pilots, except when they run into crop dusters.

[TXBSAFH]

I would not be surprised if the pilot was hotdogging.

[quark]

How does that happen? Jet... fast; crop duster... slow and low.

"Constant bearing, decreasing range." Speed & altitude don't have anything to to do with it.

[ShadowDancer]

And so do Air Force pilots, except when they run into crop dusters

Somebody's dead and I shouldn't be laughing and yet, I am.

[Hatteras]

[Mamzelle]

Wonder what crop was getting dusted a mile high in January?

[River_Wrangler]

I would not be surprised if the pilot was hotdogging.

Which one?

[DemHunter]

I guess I'm getting a little paranoid. But, I thought somewhere in the story I was going to read the crop duster pilot's name. I'd be reassured if it was Buck or Clem or even Otis.

But if it's a Yousef or a Mohammed, I'd worry.

[River_Wrangler]

Wonder what crop was getting dusted a mile high in January?

You beat me to the question. I have broken out of the clouds on an IFR approach at 500 feet to discover crop dusters on approach between me and the runway but haven't seen to many at altitude.

[Mark17]

I would not be surprised if the pilot was hotdogging.

Which one? The crop duster pilot, or the tweet pilot? USAF instructor pilots generally do not let their students hot dog it. The Air Force sure has been using tweets for a long time.

[Toespi]

avweb.com ^ | November 8, 2004
The Transportation Security Administration issued an advisory on Friday that a Piper PA 25 Pawnee crop-dusting aircraft was stolen from Ejido Queretaro, near Mexicali, Mexico, on Nov. 1. "Although there is currently no indication that this has any connection to terrorist activity," the TSA said, "the theft is cause for concern. Past information indicates that members of al-Qa'ida may have planned -- or may still be planning -- to disperse biological or chemical agents from cropdusting aircraft." The stolen aircraft is registered in Mexico and bears the tail number XBCYP. If you see the aircraft, the TSA says you should...

[ChefKeith]

Ping

[narby]

A Pawnee isn't a very big ag plane. About the size of a 182.

I'd worry much more about stolen 18 wheelers than stolen planes.

[TheBattman]

Crash happened at 5000 ft. - higher than the typical altitude crop dusters operate at.

[Sergio]

The T-37 "tweet" is not a fast aircraft. On very cold winter days when turbine engine performance is greatly enhanced, instructor pilots tell students that the tweet will almost perform like a jet.

Also, from personal experience, civilian pilots, flying VFR, in small aircraft, tend to be the ones flying through military training areas, unaware of the dangers they are putting themselves and others in.

Best Regards

Sergio

[Ready4Freddy]

Maybe delivering a plane?

[duk]

That one fact in the article, ( 5000 ft.) tells me there is something more to this story!