First U.S. plane lands at Baghdad airport

Reuters | 4/06/03

[kattracks]

First U.S. plane lands at Baghdad airport

BAGHDAD AIRPORT, April 6 (Reuters) - The first U.S. military aircraft landed at Baghdad airport on Sunday, a U.S. military source told Reuters.

"At least one aircraft has landed at the airport," said the senior source in the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division's aviation brigade, who was at the airport.

He said a C-130 military transporter landed at about 8 p.m. local time (1600 GMT), about an hour after dark, on the western, military side of the airport. He gave no details of whether it was carrying a load.

U.S. forces seized the airport, some 20 km (12 miles) southwest of the city centre, on Friday. They said on Sunday they controlled practically all road access to the city too.

04/06/03 13:15 ET

[goldstategop]

Doncha know the War On Baghdad is Wag The Dog II on a Hollywood stage?? :)

[DudleyDoright]

Could you define diff. between turbine and Jet?

Sure thing. Its actually kinda subtle, but important difference.

Both type are technically "turbines" in that they have the "suck, squeeze, burn, blow" cycle all occurring at the same time in approximately the same fashion. Compressor blades bring in the air and compress it, fuel is added and then ignited in the combustor, and the resultant hot gas is expelled through a set of rotating turbine blades to the rear. You have either a turboshaft or turbojet like this.

A turbojet derives all of its power from thrust out the rear of the engine. There is generally one turbine "wheel" in the power turbine section (after the "burn" part of the process) which is mechanically linked to the compressor section to provide a "self-sustaining" engine. But a turbojet's "power" is mostly all going out the back with a Newtonian "equal and opposite reaction" kind of thing going on. These power fighters like F-18s, F-16s, F-15s, etc.. They still power the B-52 and the E-model KC-135 tankers. They suck huge amounts of fuel to give obscene amounts of thrust. :)

A turboshaft is essentially the same concept as a turbojet, but the difference is that there is another power turbine wheel in the power turbine section which drives ANOTHER shaft (inside the compressor/first-stage power turbine's shared shaft) that sticks out of the front of the engine (yeah, yeah, the old T58 series had the power turbine shaft sticking out the back...) and drives either a prop (in the case of, say, a C-130), a large multi-stage compressor-like fan (in the case of a "turbofan" engine like that on the S-3 Viking, the A-10 Thunderbolt, or the C-17), or a transmission of some sort(in the case of all of our helicopters and the M-1 Abrams tanks).

How Stuff Works' explaination of a turbine engine.

My explaination isn't precisely it, but its close. I worked on helicopters for 10 years, so I suppose I know turboshafts pretty well. :)

[SC Swamp Fox]

I've seen pictures of the russian birds, in fact I watched one fly over us in the Indian Ocean once. (F-14's under and behind it.) I used to work on E-2C's and had friends in P-3's. These days I often find myself on Dash 8 commuter flights, which remind me a lot of E-2's I used to crawl around in.

One of my best fiends from high school flies KC-135's. That poor boy has been almost continuously deployed for the last 12 years. The only break he seems to get is when he goes back stateside for training.

[F.J. Mitchell]

"You forgot to mention that our Marines are running out of food."

You are right, I did- and Ya gotta pity any enemy, even those bottom of the food chain, vile Iraqis, face to face with hungry United States Marines.

[ewing]

I'm sure I dont want to see a Marine on 2 MRE'S a day..

[my right]

Both type are technically "turbines" in that they have the "suck, squeeze, burn, blow" cycle all occurring at the same time in approximately the same fashion.

Hey, appreciate the info. I guess I was trying to say that it was somewhat of a technical difference. My understanding was that: a turbojet is a jet powering a propeller, The propeller being the main modus of propulsion versus the jet propulsion alone. But maybe I'm just in a talkative mood. Thanks for your indulgence.

[upchuck]

Regarding our tank... give the poor RGs credit, they did hit the tank and disable it. But we destroyed it. From http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/886382/posts:

As the task force moved into the city, there were reports that many Republican Guard members were fleeing north. Soldiers from the 3rd Troop, 7th Cavalry Regiment, reportedly were stopping T-72 tanks that army forces were trying to take out of the city to possibly mount a defense in the north. Charlie Company lost one of its M-1A1 Abrams tanks during the fighting when it was hit by an anti-tank rocket and its fuel cell caught fire.

Tank crew members and other soldiers tried for about 15 minutes to put out the fire, but to no avail.

The crewmen were constantly under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades as they sought to salvage weapons, personal gear and sensitive maps and other equipment. No one was injured there, and the tank had to be destroyed, but Conroy praised the soldiers' valor under fire.

"They were very courageous standing on top of that tank with people firing at them while they were pouring 5-gallon cans of water trying to put out the fire," he said.

[TN4Liberty]

Baghdad Bob says that we don't control the airport. How can this be?

Just watch... when the plane leaves, he will claim "We have have beaten back an air attack at the airport and caused the American Air Force to retreat."

[AgThorn]

Yeah, just did the research, guess you are right ... oh well.

Maximum payload capacity of the C-17 is 170,900 pounds (77,519 kilograms), and its maximum gross takeoff weight is 585,000 pounds (265,352 kilograms). With a payload of 160,000 pounds (72,575 kilograms) and an initial cruise altitude of 28,000 feet (8,534 meters), , the C-17 has an unrefueled range of approximately 2,400 nautical miles. Its cruise speed is approximately 450 knots (.74 Mach). The C-17 is designed to airdrop 102 paratroopers and equipment.

[unspun]

Now we need the troops to come to Chicago and wrest Meigs Field from clutches of Richie Daley.

[AgThorn]

Regarding our tank... give the poor RGs credit, they did hit the tank and disable it. But we destroyed it.

True .. but still a shame ... based on the performance of the RG so far, it seems like we blew up a million dollar tank for nothing ... should have just taken the keys and left a note on the hood calling for AAA. The war will be over soon, what a waste of a good tank!!!

[NewYorker]

LOL

[ConservativeMan55]

Chris Jumpelt is the reporters name. The Iraqi's don't realize he is reporting when he calls. They think he is just using the phone. Notice when he calls it is in the middle of the night Baghdad time. They have strictly warned reporters not to report for Foxnews.

[Erasmus]

Until last weekend, I believe a C130 could be landed at Meigs Field in Chicago.

Given the landing gear on that momma, maybe it still can.

<]B^)

[thermodynamics]

Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to George W. Bush International Airport. Please stay seated until the plane comes to a complete stop!
This is the first flight of many here to GWB...Welcome and enjoy your stay!

[1poedpatriot]

LOL : -)

[hoosiermama]

Can you tell an aircraft by its sound. The ones flying over our house are too high and it's usually at night or as today is overcast. They are loud enough to wake us at night. Sound is a very low droning sound.

[libertylover]

When you make up a list of high-priority time-critical items, there are things that need to move in both directions.

I was thinking the C-130 maybe had a chow-wagon to cook some hot meals for the soldiers. I know MREs are a lot better than they used to be, but a nice big steak would make a lot of them pretty happy campers.

[laz17]

In his next performance, Baghdad Bob will assure us that the C-130 was piloted by Iraqis and was being used to fly in coalition POWs defeated at Karbala and Basra.

[laz17]

the tank was disabled and abandoned, and taken out by a coalition bomb before the reporters got there.

Yup. That tank was part of the unit that FNC's Greg Kelly accompanied into Baghdad. In fact, you could see in his video footage when it was abandoned. For the Iraqis to claim they captured it is pathetic. The tank was deliberately left behind and disabled, and all the Iraqis did was find it sitting there.