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Coast Guard rescues Pan Am Flight 6 - in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
Unto the Breach ^ | 17 October 2019 | Chris Carter

Posted on 10/17/2019 5:11:14 AM PDT by fugazi

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I imagine pulling Ocean Station duties (we maintained several weather boats during the Cold War) had to be incredibly boring duty. You're literally 1,000 miles from anywhere.
1 posted on 10/17/2019 5:11:14 AM PDT by fugazi
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To: fugazi

If you can get a pix of the Pan Am sea plane it would really add to your posting.


2 posted on 10/17/2019 5:21:35 AM PDT by mosesdapoet (mosesdapoet aka L,J,Keslin posting fobills are nr the record hoping some might read and pass around)
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To: fugazi
Very interesting story. There is a point that I would like to underscore from this about reliability engineering. You are not safer with 4 low reliability engines when the plane can barely fly on 3 engines - the probability of a disaster is the probability of a failure of less reliable engine - not divided by 4 but multiplied by 4. That is why passengers are much better off on a 787 where a lot of engineering and quality control have gone into ensuring that the two engines that are there are extremely reliable.

Bottom line - there is no safety in numbers when you are only as strong as your weakest link.

3 posted on 10/17/2019 5:23:13 AM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: AndyJackson

Fascinating point... It’s neat to see the formula and mathematics behind the common sense. Shaking my head because I had argued against the logic of flying across oceans with only two engines.


4 posted on 10/17/2019 5:30:19 AM PDT by fugazi
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To: fugazi

Stupendous...


5 posted on 10/17/2019 5:31:02 AM PDT by Founding Father (The Pedophile moHAMmudd [PBUH---Pigblood be upon him]; Charles Martel for President)
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To: fugazi

Those were the days. We had a HUGE MILITARY (far bigger than today’s) and used them only when needed, as opposed to satisfying John McCain’s desires. Back then if the Kurds wanted to wage jihad against Turkey, about all the support they’d get from us would be a note saying something like “have at it, boys”.


6 posted on 10/17/2019 5:32:36 AM PDT by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart - I just don't te Don'tll anyone.)
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To: fugazi

I would say the last flight I actually found enjoyable was on Pan Am. That was due as much to the absence of TSA as it was due to the in-cabin experience.


7 posted on 10/17/2019 5:32:48 AM PDT by fruser1
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To: AndyJackson

A lesson that many fail to learn.


8 posted on 10/17/2019 5:32:58 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Beware the homeless industrial complex.)
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To: fugazi

“I imagine pulling Ocean Station duties (we maintained several weather boats during the Cold War) had to be incredibly boring duty. You’re literally 1,000 miles from anywhere.”

They probably played a lot of Cribbage, but I did hear a story about an ocean station relief ship that was coming up to relieve the ship on Ocean station and they noticed when they got close there was a crewman pushing a lawn mower on one of the weather decks. The initial thought was probably “these guys are crazy from being out here so long...”

Well it turns out this particular crewman would bring lawn mowers on board the ship so when he was out on Ocean station he could repair the lawn mowers in then he would sell them once he got back to shore.


9 posted on 10/17/2019 5:32:59 AM PDT by Clutch Martin (The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.)
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To: mosesdapoet
How can something (like this plane, which was essentially a civilian variant of a B-50, which was a modified B-29) be so beautiful and ugly at the same time?
10 posted on 10/17/2019 5:34:13 AM PDT by fugazi
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I think by 1956 the Pan Am Clipper Flying Boats were coming to the end of their life cycle, they had served well in the mid-to-late thirties and through the war but they were old birds 1956.


11 posted on 10/17/2019 5:35:00 AM PDT by Clutch Martin (The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.)
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To: mosesdapoet

Click on the link and there’s video of the landing and rescue


12 posted on 10/17/2019 5:35:05 AM PDT by BronzePencil (Liberty's in every blow! Let us do or die!)
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To: Clutch Martin

Pushing a lawn mower when the other crew steams in sounds like a stunt I would have come up with, to scare them into thinking you’ll go nuts out here... just like that ship’s crew did.


13 posted on 10/17/2019 5:36:55 AM PDT by fugazi
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To: fugazi

That was my first thought... what an ugly bird.


14 posted on 10/17/2019 5:38:27 AM PDT by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel.)
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To: fugazi

Amazing story. In the middle of the ocean. Think of all the publicity Capt. Schilly got for landing in the Hudson.


15 posted on 10/17/2019 5:52:40 AM PDT by gcparent (Justice Brett Kavanaugh)
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To: fugazi

The History Guy on Facebook has a complete episode on this rescue. Semper Paratus! USCG


16 posted on 10/17/2019 5:57:24 AM PDT by wetgundog
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To: wetgundog

I made six crossings of the Pacific by the time I was 13 years old Army Brat.
MSTS featured a two week ride, Seattle to Yokohama, Yokohama to Seattle...


17 posted on 10/17/2019 6:00:48 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered. But journalists are forgotten.)
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To: fugazi

I think I'll watch one of my favorite movies tonight.
18 posted on 10/17/2019 6:03:39 AM PDT by Blogatron (Brought to you by The American Frog Council; "Frog - The other green meat.")
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To: Clutch Martin

It wasn’t a flying boat.
They were long gone by 1956.


19 posted on 10/17/2019 6:18:54 AM PDT by oldbill
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To: fugazi

A similar story happening at the same Ocean Station November with the military version of the Stratocruiser, the C-97, can be found here:

https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/above-amp-beyond-mission-unaccomplished-27032965/?all

Not to ruin your vacation plans, but the mid-point of the route between California and Hawaii where Ocean Station November used to park is the most remote from land airway segment in the world. There you are farther from land, and any divert base, than anywhere else in the world, 1100 miles.
(Yes, there is a more remote spot in the sub-Antarctic South Pacific, but no one flies there.)


20 posted on 10/17/2019 6:24:43 AM PDT by oldbill
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