LOL! Yes you are correct…. But Guam has a longer wait time for spare parts. “Unfortunately”…. Haha.. I liked “Big Boys” burgers on the beach. Good times.
I in a C-5 unit at one point and the divert rate to places like Japan and Germany got so out of hand the wing king had to get involved, especially after aircrew were caught buying tickets for their family in those places before the mission even took off.
“Mission to Hawaii next month. Better buy the wife and kids tickets as I sense the plane will hard break for at least three weeks.”
Because there went 50 other bulbs they could have swapped in its place. Also, the FCCs always carry a bench stock of bulbs.
That was just a great example of air crew putting themselves before the mission.
"Barrow"? You mean like... a wheelbarrow? Or maybe as in another word for an ancient tomb?
I assume you meant "borrow", but you put "barrow" in quotes so I'm really not sure. As a fellow veteran Airman, I do find it shocking how a former FCC either does not know how to edit their post (it has already *been* edited), or does not know how to spell such a simple word.
Indeed you are right the mission does come first. Also keep in mind if you are going to flaunt on the internet about being a former member of this or that organization, you should probably attempt to represent yourself - and by extension that organization - the best you can.
Also keep in mind if you are going to flaunt on the internet about being a former member of this or that organization, you should probably attempt to represent yourself - and by extension that organization - the best you can.
> Also keep in mind if you are going to flaunt on the internet about being a former member of this or that organization, you should probably attempt to represent yourself - and by extension that organization - the best you can.
Says the person that's putting a fellow veteran on blast over a spelling error. You're doing a great job throwing stones from your glass house.
That was actually back in 1984 or 1985. We were on our way back from Sudan to Kelly AFB. I was just a passenger on the aircraft along with the rest of my unit that had been TDY for a "real world" deployment. We had been in the Sudanese desert near Libya for about 6 weeks. We ended up leaving the next morning.
Oh.. Wait .. what? C5? I’ve been on one.. or two.. never in air..! What a BEAST!
What was that like, pilot? Load master? Engineer?
Another amazing aircraft for the history books..
Agreed.. But.. putting a huge.. metal beast in the air.. even with faults.. when it doesn’t look graceful enough to fly.. and still does.. with leaks.. is truly a wonderful thing to see.. I love the big ones.. 747.. yeah.. “hey let’s go fly an house today!”
SR71 pissed itself all day everyday….until it got up and stretched herself.. I loved that one, still do.. but it was definitely a hangar queen..
Every flight took two weeks of maintenance…. But she did her job..
The only a/c I ever fell in love with…. With the exception of my first 172 solo ..
Oh.. Wait .. what? C5? I’ve been on one.. or two.. never in air..! What a BEAST!
What was that like, pilot? Load master? Engineer?
Another amazing aircraft for the history books..
Edit: and yes, I’m a 55 yo boy… been engineering and airplaning for 30+yrs.. with everybody.. been there done that… just found this sub today..
I have worked some with the AN225 and AN-124.. beautiful a/c… all of them..
Like a damn kid in a candy store..SMH
No…. I worked for Boeing and we had the Ukraine folks come in to move fuselages. (737) and forward cab of 747. And whatnot …. Fairly often to maintain schedule..
But …. I really loved both AN’’s. Truly brilliant engineering marvels.. Just amazing a/c .. and the Ukraine crew were fun guys.. we ate a crap ton of steak dinners and allot of hanging out drinking and talking at my house…. Good folks all around , and a great aircraft…
So sad to see 225 destroyed in this stupid war. “Special action”. Whatever..
Stupid people doing stupid things..
Indeed a sad day. All crews of Antonovs were very sad to see the big bird story end that way, any museum would be honored to have had her in retirement.
Shame the desicion was made to park her in Kiev rather than keep her overseas during that period. An odd one at that as it makes no sense on the charted plans.
I bet you have heard some great stories from the crews. They really do keep the deadlines for many of projects and keep infrastructures going. Questtion is what will replace An124s after the frames are just not repairable enough. Ulianovsk plant most likely not manufacture any more and updates planned are stalled due to the stupid war.
Yes.. many nights. (Back in the late.. late soviet days.. ). Those guys wanted good steak.. cases of BUDWISER?. Lots of blue jeans, cowboy boots and hats..
allot of exercise equipment… Jack Daniels bourbon.. and allllloooootttt of strip clubs!! Fun guys.. and they were good people ..
I was happy to oblige. To check out a great airplane and just to give some meat for the chance … yeah. Easy.. I got to see everything..
Honestly…. Next to the B-29… 737. A320.. DC3..P51. .. Hurricane… Sopwith… C5… etc. …. 225 and 124.. they are up there with the great aviation achievements.
I just hate that the 225 is gone…. I saw that beast… many times.. I watched it fly thinking … it should stall out.. too big! But .. it did .. beautiful! Period..
Damn.. f the Rus… and what they did to that airplane..
My father was stationed at Altus when the first C-5 was delivered. It was a big to-do. Everyone on base was on the flight line to see it come in. And then we saw it off in the distance. And everyone cheered. And cheered. And cheered some more. Then 20 minutes later it landed.
OH yeah. ALTUS! Hell I grew up near there in Okie..! Wow ! Blast from the past!
Were you ever around Burns Flat, OK.. back when it was a SAC base?….
That was … and still is a big ass runway..
Good times down there.. Altus is heavy lift now? .. I think? ..
Surprisingly…. My wife grew up in Dill City.. next to Burns Flat base.. shortly after it closed.. .. crazy.. I’ve landed there a few times.. 14,000 ft runway.. three B-52’s wide..
I swear I could put a 172 down cross-wise with a good stiff west wind..
Crazy place…. If you ever want a cool airport to go visit for a $100 hamburger…. Burns Flat people.. allot of history there..
I’ll shut up now..
OOhhh. Side story.. back in the early ‘60’s.. my wife’s grand parents had a farm a ways off the end of the runway.. …. An F-86 crashed in their pasture.. and the pilot, ejected, came to the door… asked for a drink of water.,, and a phone.. still carrying his parachute.. Poor kid.. I’m sure he thought he done f-ed up..
I would like to know whatever happened to him?
Altus is a training base for 17’s and boomers, they don’t really do real missions anymore. But, those Altus tails have appeared in some movies, which is cool!
We either work together or you’re in the reserve? Or maybe you separated before we saw each other. But I’m pretty sure we would have been at the same base at the same time, lol!
We had a crewmember arrested in Bermuda. Probably wouldn't have been a big deal if he hadn't started going on about having diplomatic immunity (he didn't btw). The embassy got involved and weren't too happy about being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night for a drunk copilot. Let's just say that being met at the airplane by the Ops officer and First Sergeant on arrival at home station was not anyone wanted to finish up the trip.
Reminds me of an old story about a scenario just like this. C-5 pilot says over the radio "cute little 747 you got there buddy, what's your Gross?" 747 pilot replies "About four hundred...per year"
The plane I'm in is being tow to a parking spot. Someone in cockpit has to be able to stop the plane in case a tow bar breaks or to take action if anything else happens. In this case, I also communicate with the tower for instructions and relay them to the tug driver.
When you're getting towed and pushed back you'll have a bypass pin in place to prevent nose wheel steering. You really don't want 3000 psi of hydraulics moving the nose one way and a tug trying to move it another.
The pins are designed to keep the gears from retracting. for whatever reason, some companies don’t even put them in. The hydraulics are on because the plane is being physically moved to a spot. Most aircraft have nose wheel steering active and the brake rider needs to ensure that it is off, that way it can be towed.
Gear pins and bypass pins are different things.
On the 747 we have 1 or 2 electric aux pumps (depending on engine spec) that will absolutely cause damage to equipment and persons in the firing line if a CA was to bump the tiller with them active. The hydraulic bypass pin prevents that.
All the planes I've towed require a steering bypass pin to disconnect the nose wheel steering from the hydraulics. There is no switch in the cockpit, the pin has to be installed on the nose gear.
You're correct on the landing gear pins, one company I worked for required them, the next company I worked for told us not to install them.
I was mostly confused on why braker was operating radio during tow operations. Might be cultural thing?
When i was working in maintenance side and being brake man during moves it was always the tug driver who was in contact with tower. He is the one movign the plane, crossing the paths and everything else.
Hell, we did not do tow bar transfer for big planes (widebody), they were moved with grabber style tugs that do not need brake man in the plane.
Usually if a pilot is in the cockpit, the pilot talks to the tower. On a maintenance tow where a mechanic or a ramp person is in the cockpit, it depends on the policy of the company. Another place I worked at, they had radios in the tractor and the tractor driver talks to the tower but we also had tractors the didn't have radios so communications were relayed from the brake rider to the tractor driver. We also had towbarless tractors and could tow a plane without anybody in the cockpit.
During a maintenance tow there typically is no pilot. The maintenance personnel will power on the jet with the APU (auxiliary power unit) for hydraulic and electrical power. The brakes use hydraulic, and lights and radios use electric. During winter/summer the heater/AC uses bleed air (pneumatic) power.
The Brake ride will operate the aircraft radios to communicate with ground/tower to coordinate the tow clearance, copy/follow tow data instructions, and confirm clearance to cross active runways, or other CMAs.
When you tow an aircraft you need someone up top to operate brakes on the event of a tow bar separation. Sometimes you will also operate radios and relay instructions to the tug driver.
Go to the air show at Dover Air Force Base one year, or just visit for a weekend. Seriously, on both accounts. The Air Show is great, and the C-5 is basically a constant in our skies
I will one day , i went to the Barksdale AFB and went inside the B52 , they also fly and dropped a carpet bombs far away but still a wave of very hot air got to us , it was amazing.
You can go inside one any time you'd like at the Air Mobility Command museum at Dover AFB.
They have a huge collection of aircraft, the newest being a recently retired KC-10.
At EAA AirVenture one year I sat down in one to re-tie my shoe. That same year, later on in the week, we followed the Google Street View guy as he walked through it. Good times.
Many years ago I was doing circuits on one of my first solos in a Cessna 152. The grass runway circuit crossed diagonally over the main runway. I called "downwind to roll", then "going around", then climbed away. Tower told me "please remain north of main runway" just as was crossing it. I panicked a bit, then looked over my left shoulder as I began to turn, to see a Hercules taking off towards me. I panicked a bit more and got out of the way as fast as my little Cessna would go. There would only have been one winner there!
In general, it means big plane. Super refers to the A380.
To be specific, heavy is a plane that creates a specific amount of wake turbulence when flying, taking off and landing to affect planes flying behind or through the path of the turbulence behind the plane. The B757 is one of the smallest planes to be considered "heavy" because of the turbulence it creates.
In this instance, I assume they said heavy instead of C5 is because they probably thought I wouldn't have known what a C5 or Galaxy was and when the "Heavy" passed, it would be obvious. When I took the picture, I didn't know what kind of plane it was.
It's not purely weight, it's about wake turbulence intensity. The 757 is lighter than the usual heavy cutoff, but is usually designated heavy anyways as its wing design makes it produce unusually powerful wingtip vortices for its weight.
> 2-8. Aircraft Weight Class.
> a. J – Super. AIRBUS A-380-800 (A388) and ANTONOV An-225 (A225).
> b. H – Heavy. Aircraft capable of takeoff weights of 300,000 pounds or more whether or not they are operating at this weight during a particular phase of flight.
> c. L – Large. Aircraft of more than 41,000 pounds, maximum certificated takeoff weight, up to but not
including 300,000 pounds.
> d. S – Small. Aircraft of 41,000 pounds or less maximum certificated takeoff weight.
>
> NOTE 1 – A “+”denotes an aircraft weighing between 12,500 pounds and 41,000 pounds. For Class B airspace rules, these aircraft are “large, turbine-engine-powered aircraft.”
>
> NOTE 2 – “NOWGT” (no weight) means a Weight Class has not been determined for wake turbulence
separation.
>
> REFERENCE –
> P/CG Term − Aircraft Classes
> 2-9. Wake Turbulence Category (WTC). In an ICAO flight plan, the WTC indicator follows the aircraft type designator in Item 9 (Number and Type of Aircraft and Wake Turbulence Category), for example, A345/H, GAZL/L, E737/M, and is based on the maximum certificated take-off weight, as follows:
> a. Heavy (H) – Aircraft types of 300,000 pounds or more;
> b. Medium (M) – Aircraft types less than 300,000 pounds and more than 15,500 pounds;
> c. Light (L) – Aircraft types of 15,500 pounds or less.
- FAA Order JO 7360.1E
The A380 is like 25% bigger in most categories, actually. Greater wingspan, something like 300,000lbs heavier at maximum takeoff weight.
The only thing bigger than the A380 was the AN-225, which was destroyed in Ukraine a year or two ago.
Looks like a C-5B from Kelly Field in Texas. IDK how old this picture is, but I thought their fleet was completely upgraded to the M-model. 🤷 we used to plan our M-models to them while some of their birds were getting retrofitted.
I agree with your edit, probably not from Kelly. The tail stripe on all the 68th and 356th birds I remember seeing had the Texas flag on them, this looks like a brown background.
It 100% has the old TF-39s and is annolder photo. Those are not the engine installed on the C-5M. Also I don't think Memphis even has C-5s anymore. IIRC they transitioned to C-17s.
While still in ROTC I was assigned to Altus for a program that may not exist now. Between junior and senior year I was there and basically had the run of the base. I flew the C-5 sim and spent many hours riding in the jump seat of C-141s and C-5s. The Galaxy, needless to say, was one impressive aircraft. The fact that it has two 3-bunk bedrooms for crew rest is an eye-opener. I recall sitting on the flight deck and looking down 60 feet to the ground. Six Greyhound buses could fit in the cargo area.
I also had an internship at a national laboratory near Chicago. Our Department of Energy had developed a giant super-cooling device with the Russians. It needed to be flown from Chicago to Moscow, so the C-5 was booked. I saw it kneel down to swallow that huge machine and haul it around the world during the Cold War.
When the C-5 arrived in the USSR the Galaxy was still a new plane and, as it came to a stop, dozens of Russians ran out to meet it. Each went to a specific part of the aircraft taking notes and photos. They were building their file on new technologies incorporated into the aircraft.
I've been lucky enough to fly on one of these before in the upper deck from Hickam to Andersen when my dad was still in the AF. You sit backwards, but there are no windows so it's a weird sensation.
My dad was a master load planner and I enjoyed hearing his stories of the various things they transported from helicopters to warheads.
I flew from Hickam to Travis to McGuire Space A as they called it back then. Also flew in a 141.
My full time office was a Coast Guard C-130 though at Barbers Point, HI.
I got my PPL outta KCCR in the 90s. Loved seeing these going in and out of Travis AFB.
The AF controllers were really great too, I used to drone around solo at night and they gave me flight following and asked what the heck a Katana was (at that time it was a very new plane in the USA).
Miss those times.
Not sure how long ago this was. There are only so many red tails in the system these days, and they’re all on the eastern side of the country. I flew on these from 2006-2015. Pretty cool to see them on the front page.
I was always surprised that bad boy isn't a super. It looks unreal flying at low altitude because of depth perception, if you're at the right distance it kind of seems like it's just floating very slowly like a hot air balloon.
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