The "chainsaw" in the picture is a "Cutters Edge" Multi-Cut Fire Rescue Saw.
They are manufactured in Julian, California
Posted on 04/25/2006 4:14:09 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
I suspect it is the Air Force "Fire Department".
"$182,000 for the canopy. Is there anything on this plane that hasn't been gold-plated by the generals?"
Really, really want the very best mechanism for getting
a pilot OUT of a burning plane that may explode any
moment.
Then, $182,000 will be like monopoly money because our
armed forces personnel are worth a whole lot more than
$182,000.
(I have not served. My tagline honors my son and my cousin.)
Neither the Army nor the Air Force are getting screwed. You and I are getting screwed.
No kidding. Are the canopies Lexan or something better?
I never worried about what they were made of...just kept 'em clean with Mirror Glaze.
The Air Force has fire fighters.
CDI "Center For Defense Information" was during the 1980s a Soviet-line front organization. It has always opposed every US weapons system, and still does.
I don't know who's behind them now that their Soviet patron and lord is paws up.
We'd still be loading muskets by the muzzle, saing wooden ships, and wouldn't have none of them newfangled flying machines, if CDI had its way.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Yup; screwed.
There should be at least $125,000 of reusable parts in that puppy, that should be recycled into the repairs.
Did they cut the whole thing to pieces; or were the sensible...naw, of course not...and cut out enough of the plexi to get him out, leaving the frame intact?
I should have waited until I saw pics. Didn't realize it was a single piece bubble.
just my luck,, dozens of sites to pull info from.
not sure who funds them these days.
Tooling to build canopy, say $10 million
Machinery cost written off over 5,000 aircraft = $2,000/aircraft
Machinery cost written off over 182 aircrqft = $55,000/aircraft
Thirty years ago they'd have been military personnel, but as part of the cutbacks in the eighties and nineties jobs that didn't absolutely have to be done by a sworn service member were made civil service. Supposedlt this saves money; an Airman 1c costs less than a civlian fireman, but you need to recruit a new airman every four years or so.
And the reason the fire guys do it, is simple: they have training on extracting people from airplanes. The F-22s crew chief doesn't. In fact, he or she was in tears just about then.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
That picture is plastered all over the internet, in the ready room, the Officer's Club, on his car, at his kids' school....
You bet! I shut down an F16 in Arizona with a battery failure, luckily I had cracked the canopy about four inches open. It still went up to about 150 degrees in the 1/2 hour it took to get the proper wrench to hand crank the canopy open. He may not be pissed, he may be dehydrated and pissed. I can't imagine sitting there for 10 hours, I hope he had the engine (so the A/C worked) or a start cart blowing refrigerated air into the cockpit.
Bad idea. If the canopy won't open, firing the ejection seat is likely to spatter the occupant.
The "chainsaw" in the picture is a "Cutters Edge" Multi-Cut Fire Rescue Saw.
They are manufactured in Julian, California
The ejection seat on my planes went right through the canopy! But, it would destroy the cockpit, and...ejecting is dangerous under the best of circumstances, lethal under the worst.
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