Too bad they didn’t get their money’s worth in the person assigned to turn on the runway lights.
“Too bad they didn’t get their money’s worth in the person assigned to
turn on the runway lights.”
Maybe.
But it sounds like an automated system that would switch on automatically
when an emergency landing call would come in. Maybe it’s poorly written:
“The problem was then further compounded when the airfield automated
lights failed to activate when Epperson and his Flight leader radioed
in the emergency.”
I’d love to know if, after the crash, somebody said “NEVER buy those
d-mned Made In China Christmas Tree Lights for the runway again!”
Regardless of details...this sort of “landing” should get included
in some special “survival tales” of History Channel’s “Dogfights”.
“After years of operations at Tonopah, the F-117 was redeployed to Holloman AFB (New Mexico) in May/July 1992, where it is part of the 49th Fighter Wing. In January 1990, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney proposed that the stealth fighters be relocated from Tonopah, to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico’s Tularosa Basin.”
Item #2, it’s an UNMANNED airfield, as in, nobody home after dark.
Item #3 FAA data (if you want to Google earth the site)
FAA INFORMATION EFFECTIVE 25 OCTOBER 2007
Location
FAA Identifier: TNX
Lat/Long: 37-47-40.7750N / 116-46-43.2290W
37-47.679583N / 116-46.720483W
37.7946597 / -116.7786747
(estimated)
Elevation: 5549 ft. / 1691 m (estimated)
Variation: 15E (1980)
From city: 27 miles SE of TONOPAH, NV
Time zone: UTC -7 (UTC -8 during Standard Time)
Zip code: 89013
Airport Operations
Airport use: Private use. Permission required prior to landing
Activation date: 07/1969
Sectional chart: LAS VEGAS
Control tower: no
ARTCC: LOS ANGELES CENTER
FSS: RENO FLIGHT SERVICE STATION
Attendance: CONTINUOUS
Wind indicator: yes
Segmented circle: yes
Lights: RY LGTS OPER BY CALLING SILVERBOW TOWER 134.1 OR 297.65.
Nearby radio navigation aids
VOR radial/distance VOR name Freq Var
TPHr123/18.6 TONOPAH VORTAC 117.20 17E
Airport Services
Airframe service: NONE
Powerplant service: NONE
Runway Information
Runway 14/32
Dimensions: 12000 x 150 ft. / 3658 x 46 m
Surface: concrete
Runway edge lights: high intensity
RUNWAY 14 RUNWAY 32
Traffic pattern: left left
Airport Ownership and Management from official FAA records
Ownership: U.S. Air Force
Owner: US AIR FORCE
HQ AIR COMBAT COMMAND
LANGLEY AFB, VA 23665
Phone 804-764-3120
Manager: VERNON GABBARD JR
SANDIA LAB PO BOX 871
TONOPAH, NV 89049
Phone 702-295-8313
Normally you click your mike a couple of times on a certain frequency to activate the strip lights for a few mins. I can’t imagine the size of or the density of brass the pilot had for nads to attempt a engine out/dead stick landing, at night, on an unmanned airfield in an F-16 - the worlds largest Lawn Dart.
Sounds like the kind of system that's been used for years at small town airports. Key the mic on the designated frequency, and the lights should automatically come on.
If so, it could be anything from a simple 'wrong frequency' at either end to a significant software failure, to human error in setting up the system.
Too bad they didn’t get their money’s worth in the person assigned to turn on the runway lights.
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This field had automated lighting installed ,,, typically you transmit on a special frequency to turn on the lights... didn’t work this time,, usually you would transmit directly above the airport (otherwise spurious signals from a great distance would turn on the lights constantly) and enter the pattern... I don’t know how well a F-16 glides but he didn’t have much time to accomplish this task and get circled around for a landing..