Posted on 08/05/2021 8:33:39 PM PDT by blueplum
The planes landed on a four-lane stretch of Michigan State Highway M-32
The Michigan Air National Guard took off and landed multiple planes on a four-lane stretch of State Highway M-32 Thursday, which is the first time that modern combat aircraft have intentionally landed on a U.S. civilian road, the Selfridge base said.
Part of M-32 near Alpena in the northwestern part of the state was closed down for the training exercise, which was dubbed "Thunder Landing Zone (LZ)."
"Thunder LZ gave the pilots the opportunity to land in an austere environment that they’re not used to," U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Brian Wyrzykowski, the mission commander, said after...
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Germany designed their highways for this purpose so they could keep the planes hidden during WWII.
Big freakin’ deal. The Russians do it all the time. Their aircraft are designed for it.
“Their aircraft are designed for it.”
Yeah, some of their fighters like the Mig-29 taxi around drawing intake air from the top of the fuselage to avoid sucking up crap from unimproved/makeshift runways.
There’s a common myth that one in five miles of the Interstate System is straight so airplanes can land in emergencies. But it’s right up there with the bathtub and missing kidney.
And have intake screens of course. They don’t care much about FOD.
The Eisenhower Interstate system was originally designed for military aircraft. every 10 miles was supposed to have a mile long stretch without bridges and signage to allow military aircraft an emergency landing or for tactical reasons if war came to our shores.
I’m guessing that they had troops walk the entire road looking for FOD. So in return for using the road as a runway they picked up all the litter!
There was an interesting video on moving the U2 (or SR71 or one of those) from the Skunk Works in California out to the testing area in Nevada(?). A freeper’s dad had worked on it.
Anyway - they had surveyors and such scope out the route and move road signs, guardrails, telephone poles, etc. to accommodate the complete plane (wings and all). It was quite the undertaking, and all done in secret. “Oh, they are improving the intersection, etc.”
There is video of an A-10 doing it today. Doesn’t need much runway when air brakes are out, and just the sound of a Kawasaki dirt bike on take off.
What was the slope requirement? One percent grade or ? Here a flat slope would be rare.
It's perfectly legal to land a plane on Alaska roads and highways. I know it's also legal in some other states.
I am sure they had an audience.
The concept and practice has been around for two generations however.
Today, many nations have prepared and practiced war gaming at the same level.
Much of NATO has done this for a while.
Russia, China, India, Israel, and others.
https://www.rbth.com/lifestyle/327305-why-are-russias-military-jets-land-on-highways
While not jet powered, I have personally been in a C-130 landing at approximately 1200 ft.
I have also been in a C-130 landing and taking off on dirt and grass. So roads are not always necessary, but would be preferred.
Shunpiking through central Missouri about 25 years ago I came upon an operation flying crop dusters, using the road as their runway. Looked like a permanent installation. Half a dozen Pipers, hangers, chemical tanks, the whole bit.
what a great first-hand account! Thanks, FRiend :)
YUP, LEGAL; back when President Eisenhower started the interstate highway system, at certain intervals there had to be a 3 mile stretch that was straight and clear enough to land military fighter and bomber aircraft.
If you pay attention to your 2 lane and older multi-lane freeways they pretty much follow the lay of the land, but every X number of miles (I don’t remember the exact number now) they had to have a straight clear area for emergency landings and takeoffs.
Some of these features were built into older highways during WW-2, Highways 99 and 395 in central and eastern California are good examples.
A lot of that shoulder clearance has since been planted with landscaping shrubs and trees, big mistake in my opinion.
We used to land lears and citations SPs outfitted with gravel kits on gravel roads in Amazonia and Matto Grosso and Roraima Brasil in the 80s
Routinely
YUP, LEGAL; back when President Eisenhower started the interstate highway system at certain intervals there had to be a 1 to 3 mile stretch that was straight and clear enough to land military fighter and bomber aircraft.
If you pay attention to your 2 lane and older multi-lane freeways they pretty much follow the lay of the land, but every X number of miles (I don’t remember the exact number now) they had to have a straight clear area for emergency landings and takeoffs.
Some of these features were built into older highways during WW-2, Highways 99 and 395 in central and eastern California are good examples.
Of course those clear have since been planted with landscaping shrubs and trees, bad idea in my opinion.
Eons ago, when I was an Airport Operations intern at a busy general aviation airport, we had a huge air show. One of the performers was a solo F-15. He lit the afterburners, held it on the runway longer than normal to build speed, and then rotated to the vertical for a “Viking departure.” After he landed we checked the runway, and he had melted two pretty substantial gouges in the asphalt. Had to have it repaired.
Incidentally, that air show was one of the best I’ve ever seen. It was designed to represent the entire history of aviation, beginning with a functional Wright Flyer replica, through the barnstorming era, early commercial aviation, WWII (which was the best part), Korean War, Vietnam, and up to modern day military aviation. It was great being in Ops at the time, especially because I was working the midnight shift at that time, so I got to see the show during the day and then at night I was able to drive the entire flight line and get closeup looks at all of the aircraft.
We had everything from the aforementioned Wright Flyer replica, to a Spitfire, P-38, P-40s, several P-51s, several B-17s, F4U Corsair, Japanese Zeros, MiG 15, F-86, F-104, Hueys and Cobras, F-15s, A-6s, F-14s, and more. I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot. In total, there were about 200 aircraft involved. The WWII segment, in particular, was stunning. It really gave you goosebumps seeing such a large number and wide variety of WWII aircraft flying together simultaneously. I haven’t seen anything since then that even came close.
Hoot Gibson flew the MiG 15 (and set the grass on fire with the tail hanging over the edge of the taxiway). The Vietnam segment also started a big fire because of the explosions set off during the helicopter assault portion of the show. Good times.
Michigan Air National Guard lands jets, takes off from US highway in military firstThe interstate highway system was originally designed and built for that purpose.
Every so often there has to be so many miles of straight highway for just that purpose.
The system was born during the cold war.
Sometimes in old movies you'll see a placard on a wall indicating that building is a fall out shelter.
We took the threat of attack very serious.
Unless you had periodic duck and cover drills in school like a fire drill, you'll never understand.
As I recall the Cuban Missile Crisis might have been the scariest time for children.
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