Posted on 05/18/2011 6:46:23 PM PDT by TankerKC
A military aircraft crashed at Point Mugu Naval Air Station in Ventura County Wednesday afternoon.
A Boeing 707 fuel tanker carrying 158,000 pounds of jet fuel crashed shortly after take-off around 5:25 p.m. and burst into flames.
3 people were reportedly onboard. All were able to escape with minor injuries, according to Teri Reid, an Air Station spokesperson.
13 emergency units initially responded to the fire. Ventura County Fire Department brought in a water dropping helicopter to battle the blaze.
The cause of the accident was under investigation.
Yikes! My son is a KC-135 AC!
Not water but a version of what is called AFFF. aqueous film fighting foam. It lays a vapor barrier on top of the fuel to seal in the vapors.
Ummm, no - a KC-135 is a 707 airframe - a tanker. If not, someone tell my son who is an AC on the KC-135 tanker (jet)
I believe you are thinking of a KC-130. Which is a tanker version of the C-130. The KC-130 has four turboprops as do all versions of the C-130. Only off by one number so pretty easy to make that mistake.
The KC135 is a Jet Tanker thats been is service since the early 1960’s.I know I served In SAC and It was my mission to provide security for the Alert Force of KC135’s and FB111 bombers.
They had a squadron of KC-135 tankers at Castle AFB, Merced, CA when I was there in 1962. They were standard fare back then at SAC bases along with B-52s.
Isn’t a KC-135 technically a 717?
Isn’t a KC-135 technically a 717?
A 707.
wow
Thanks - I wondered why a.net photos of the KC-135 identified them as 717-xxx. I had thought that a 717 was a two-engine variety of the 707. Now to be quiet and read up on these fine aircraft!
The KC-135 is based on the 707 airframe.
As I recall, the 717 designation was applied to the DC-9 when Boeing acquired Douglas.
Water won’t dilute it, but it will expand the burning puddle very nicely.
Thank God for miracles, KC.
We have an ANG refueling air wing here in Pittsburgh and I see those 'ancient' 707's flying most every day and always thought with all the fuel on board that I don't want to be around if one of them has a problem.
Great news that the crew survived. Great news.
It's time for a new tanker in the fleet. Screw the politics. Pick one and get'r done. The 707 has done its job. It is time to retire them.
Yes it was, at least it was for a several decades.
Boeing gave the KC-135 the model number 717. The 707 and the KC-135 derived from the same prototype, the 367-80, but the 707 has a wider fuselage (a distinctive "double bubble"), and is overall larger than the KC-135.
From the July 2006 issue of Boeing Frontiers (internal Boeing magazine):
"The Dash 80 led to two airplanes: The 707, the world's first successful commercial jet; and the Model 717, the world's first production jet tanker—better known as the KC-135 (717 was also used as the product designation for the MD-95 after the Boeing–McDonnell Douglas merger)."
Denoting the KC-135 as Boeing model 717 happened early in the airplane's career, because when Boeing built the smaller, higher performing model 720 airliner to compete with the Convair 880 and 990, Boeing named it the 720 (an amalgamation of 707-020) because the 717 model number had already been used for the KC-135.
3 aboard
Pilot, Co-pilot, Nav?
What about the boomer.
So, the 717 designation has been applied to two different planes -- the KC-135 and the MD-95 (or DC-9, as it used to be).
Thanks for the clarification. It seems that 717 was an internal Boeing designation. We alway roughly equated the -135 to 707s.
It would appear the downed airplane was an Omega Air Tanker. According to Post #12 (from tcrlaf) Omega Air tankers only conduct drogue type refueling, so probably no boom operator then. Just the 3 up front.
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