Posted on 04/03/2006 5:10:20 AM PDT by Trust but Verify
Driving in Delaware southeast of Dover a few years ago, I drove along a flock of snow geese that was LITERALLY 20 miles long....continuous stream of them.
I know the pilot had to do what he had to do.........but I sure hope dumping fuel wasn't one of the things he had to do - not in that area.
"...We would break down in some crummy areas....we never broke down in...say ...Hawaii...."
A little off-topic but going with your comment. A friend and I was traveling to Australia in 1991. He started feeling bad over the Pacific. We had to get off in Hawaii and get him to a hospital. Turns out his spleen was in the process of rupturing. Everything turned out great after his emergency operation.
Yes, Hawaii is a very nice place to get hung up in and a great concilation prize for those whose trip plans have to be altered.
I'm glad everyone made it out of that bird alive. Unbeliveable there was no fire. Looks like a lot of cargo was aboard.
Yeah, I'm sure they're talking about through traffic. I'd be shocked if locals are being denied access north of the site.
Or anything other than their ideologies.
That's a good one - aircraft; aircraft carrier. No wonder the MSM couldn't understand why the actual election didn't match precisely the exit polls. Duh, they are really morons aren't they. Deserve to go out of business faster than it is happening.
I should have thought of the fuel dump - I bet you're right.
The Air Force has done a lot of testing of aircraft components regarding birdstrikes. The test usually consisted of shooting a frozen chicken at about 300 f/s at radomes, canopies, and even engines when running (in a test stand of course). Even in a test setup, those frozen chickens do a lot of damage (frozen so that they would not "disassemble" shen being shot out of a compressed air cannon).
Also the AF has some strictly enforced regs regarding low level buzzing of wildlife refuge areas. Not just the usual green enviro reasons, it's a good way to lose a plane at worst, at least lose flight status.
I heard something about a hydraulic failure.
According to WGMD they will need to show ID, which implies they can get in.
Exercise - as in ORI (operational readiness inspection).
I was at Plattsburgh AFB when there was an ORI, when FB-111'a were based there.
KC-135 taking off sounds like the whole earth is shaking.
FB-111 taking off on burners sounds like the air is being torn asunder.
Got to lay in the boom pod and watch an F-111 do a "Zippo" after refueling. He took on enough fuel to fill his overflow or something like that (I am ignorant on that part - I program the computers not pass the gas LOL) then dumped it and hit afterburners -- lit up the entire sky. One of the coolest things I have ever seen.
I don't know if anyone has noticed this or not, but the tail number is 40059, which is a 1984 C-5B model. I mention this because I was listening to Fox News about 08:30 this morning and they had a telephone interview with a retired General who mentioned, when asked about possible causes, that the C-5 entered service in the 1970s. Thereby implying that its age may have something to do with it. Well, OK, but this one did not enter service in the 1970s.
However, to Fox News' credit, I just heard them specifically meniton it was a C-5B.
THe AF has a website (or used to ) that deals specifically w/ bird and other associated wildlfe strike damage. I'm at work now. I'll see if I can find it later.
In a second career, I flew as a courier on a number of C-5 missions. I suspect that the Loadmaster was riding with the crew on the upper deck unless he/she was performing a last minute inspection of the cargo deck or checking for fire in the aft troop compartment area.
It looks like the fuselage separated near the crew lounge/bedroom area.. The courier seating area just forward of the wing box appears to be in pretty good shape and it looks as if the emergency egress slide is deployed from that area.
I remember riding on a new C-5B in the 88-90 time frame; it had only 24 hours flying time. Too bad it's one of the B models - they're a lot newer.
I'm stationed at Charleston AFB and work with the C-17 all the time. I rode on a C-5 from Texas on my way to Turkey early this year. From what I've seen of the pics I probably would have been a goner if I had been seated where I was on that flight. Glad to hear the crew survived...who said there is no such thing as miracles.
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