Posted on 02/22/2008 11:16:36 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
The way it was explained to me once by a jet jock, “If you can get in, you can get out.”
Ali Jivanjee was the name of the pilot that died. Could explain why the collision occured. Not a US pilot.
An American I guess. Don’t know if naturalized or not. But yes he is a muzz. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/22/funeral-under-way-pilot-jet-fighter-crash/
“landing a B-52 on a 7700 ft runway in bad weather! I bet the pucker factor for the aircrew was quite high.”
I wonder how far he was from the threshold when the wheels touched. Not far I’ll bet.
The aircraft had just departed from Minot AFB, another B-52 base. Crew was there for training, many military training routes in the area. Because the B-52 is a long range aircraft most of its training missions are long flights. These type of flights happen almost everyday. The article did not state exactly what the emergency was only that because of bad weather the pilot diverted to Minot International instead of trying to return to Minot AFB.
It’s bigger than Iraq, although that is a contributor. In the 1950s and ‘60s, we were spending nearly half our annual budget on the military. Today, it’s significantly less than 10%. What has taken its place? Entitlement spending. In other words, welfare and free pills for old people have become more important.
I was in Minot at the time the B-52 landing. The ILS, (instrument landing system) that allows the aircraft to land in bad weather failed on the A/C. The base, located 15 miles north was fogged in (make note the temp was 5ºf) and the minot airport was light and patchy fog, still good for a VFR landing. The runway at MAFB is 10,000’ X 300’, the runway at the city is 7700’ X 150’. The B-52 wing span is 159’. The span between the outrigger wheels is about 140’. Not an easy job when there is only 5’ room for error on either side of the runway. I have video of the plane leaving. The A/C was loaded with enough fuel to get to
AFB. It used about 5000’-6000’ of runway
BS .... show us those numbers. 42% of GDP would be like North Korean levels of spending. 10% is a lot more believable.
OK - no ordinance and minimum fuel. Were the outriggers even touching down? Did you post your video on-line? Thanks for the feedback!
Iraq is sucking up every available dollar. Maintenance suffers as a result.
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