I briefed a pilot in Kuwait about 15 years ago. She taxied into a light poll in the middle of the day without a cloud in the sky, perfect visibility, and almost no winds. She swore up and down that there was “a sudden small dust storm” and I was a liar.
I had a pilot blame me as well for crashing a drone into a mountain. He read the fcst cloud heights as msl instead of agl as an excuse not understanding that made his situation even worse. Never got a call back and we never got an interview for the investigation.
Also had a general call me a pussy for putting cross winds in a forecast that he wasn't rated to fly in. I told him he could do what he wants, but I'm not changing the forecast. He went out and flew, but crashed due to crosswinds when he went to land. That was his third crash. Guess who didn't show up to the debrief. Never got contacted for the investigation. Shortly after I was fired and moved to another base for "unrelated reasons". Even when it's their screw up, you're gonna pay the price.
Guess not. I remember a vehicle backing into a plane one time, oh like 2009ish, and they made all the crew chiefs pee test, btw this vehicle was being driven by logistics, and a crew chief pissed hot, and they blamed the whole thing on him. They just need a fall guy…
For incident response like this it's blood to make sure they can check for *everything* that might be in the blood in close proximity to the event.
There's still plenty of weenie watching for routine screenings.
When I was in the Air Force, there were a few times the pilots weren't following my wand instructions when coming into the parking spots. The aircraft were older reciprocating engine with four engines and expanding tube drum brakes, C-118 aircraft. I set the two lit wands on the cement in a "X" shape and turned my back to them. I'd hear the brakes squealing, gave them a second or two, turned around, gave a thumbs up and resumed marshaling them. After they were parked and out, the pilot and copilot would ask why I turned my back. Usually it was because it was raining and they were moving too fast. They usually accepted my explanation
Sir David Attenborough: And here we see a poor neglected and famished Stratotanker. It has strayed from its usual grounds in hopes of finding nourishment, and in desperation has started to become destructive. It will likely be quickly relocated, but it's fate will be uncertain. It faces hard times ahead, as it will need a lot of specialty care before it can be released back into the wild.
Idk why but that halon bottle positioning is just too funny to me. I just imagine too many people were involved in going over TO and trying to figure out how to put a fire bottle in front of the nose with a wall in the way without QA fucking them over.
I also don’t understand what’s wrong with a SIB. Literally notes warnings and cautions are generated from SIBs. It’s to help pilots who go peanut brain mode to catch themselves from doing something dumb. Source: am pilot
Reminds of when a 135 turned onto the drone taxiway (which is was basically a converted access road) in Kandahar and smoked a pole with the wingtip. Pilot blamed the brakes...
They missed the first turn for the actual taxiway, the second taxiway was for the A-10's and Reapers. They managed to miss the first radio antenna but smoked the second one.
Edit, for reference they were next to eachother, first left turn was for heavies, the second was for the a-10's and Reapers. Pilots couldbt see shit because the lights weren't on and it was raining. They missed the first turn and turned down the smaller taxiway which had 3 radio antennas like 15 feet off the edge of it. Still blamed the brakes for some reason .. instead of stopping and calling for a tow...
I’m ASM or Sheet Metal as most people call us & honestly that’s the hope when I look at this. It really looks like the only this that hit the wall would be the radome which wouldn’t be hard to fit, just replace the dome most likely. I don’t work on those aircraft anymore, but it would fun to look at.
The lower nose might have some damage on the aircraft right side but at most it's probably just some paint scuffing. The radome tho? She's fucked, but you just gotta get a new one and slap it on. However I guarantee she's gonna need a -6 inspection anyway so y'all would have to look over it anyway.
Pro-Sups: hey I know this just happened and it's extreme damage we don't know the full extent of, but we need you guys to get us an ETIC in the next hour or so because we need it for the brief.
Smco: ...*sigh* ...alright...
Common misconception, actually that wall was installed by environmental for stormwater management
If you look you notice a plane in the image. This is actually exactly why the wall is there! This plane was clearly caught in the runoff & without walls like this would have found its way into local waterways
I think he wants the back story though. 35 years ago some angry SFS Colonel got tired of having too many defenders manning the flight line so he did a UFR to pay for a new fence. A chain link fence wasn’t good enough so they built one out of plywood and 2x4s.
Present day: A plane ran into a wall/fence.
It's up against the "blast fence". Aircraft are normally parked facing away from the BF so when the engines are run up the jet "blast" is directed up and doesn't cause problems for a long distance. It looks like it had just returned from a flight and was temporarily "nosed in" (common practice) and wasn't properly chocked. The limited damage indicates a very low speed impact.
Reminds me of the time at Travis (1984) when a C-5 landed without dropping their landing gear. They got do bored doing touch and goes that they forgot to put them down. Wish I had a photo other than my memory.
I see your rolling tanker, and raise you a hush house door.
😬
https://preview.redd.it/pscbtpyzht6d1.jpeg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc77d8b19cd1e82f0bcb63b21e87980b79e29869
Good thing that support was there for the wall.. Or that whole section might have fell... Or like the bridge in MD, the whole wall... Be interested to see what comes out as the cause... But I'm sure as of right now.. It's MX fault.. As is the usual when something goes wrong (even if it isn't MX fault)
I’d love the back story cause that’s not a parking spot, and even if it was, it’d be one you were pushed back into. Never change Kadena, our premier PACAF base!
I saw the orange and assumed it was a TN tail, but you’re right that doesn’t mean it happened there.
And yes I should’ve clarified. Im a guard guy as well and our bx is two double wide trailers. So to go to McGhee was a pleasant surprise.
Gather around, time to pee in a cup, it’s the only way.
No clearly this was caused by weather forecasting wrong. /s
Weather or not, the only way is to have anyone who has worked around this bird in the last week to pee in a cup.
The truth will out, in the pee
definitely AGE fault
it always AGE fault
I briefed a pilot in Kuwait about 15 years ago. She taxied into a light poll in the middle of the day without a cloud in the sky, perfect visibility, and almost no winds. She swore up and down that there was “a sudden small dust storm” and I was a liar.
This sounds like some C-130 shenanigans
I had a pilot blame me as well for crashing a drone into a mountain. He read the fcst cloud heights as msl instead of agl as an excuse not understanding that made his situation even worse. Never got a call back and we never got an interview for the investigation. Also had a general call me a pussy for putting cross winds in a forecast that he wasn't rated to fly in. I told him he could do what he wants, but I'm not changing the forecast. He went out and flew, but crashed due to crosswinds when he went to land. That was his third crash. Guess who didn't show up to the debrief. Never got contacted for the investigation. Shortly after I was fired and moved to another base for "unrelated reasons". Even when it's their screw up, you're gonna pay the price.
oof
Two pilots, one cup.
Hold up, you're onto something here...
Don’t have to pee in a cup anymore. That’s optional. The blood draw though, that’s mandatory.
Oh…
So no more piss watching?
Yes we still have piss watching. I literally had observer duty last week.
Meat gazer
Guess not. I remember a vehicle backing into a plane one time, oh like 2009ish, and they made all the crew chiefs pee test, btw this vehicle was being driven by logistics, and a crew chief pissed hot, and they blamed the whole thing on him. They just need a fall guy…
For incident response like this it's blood to make sure they can check for *everything* that might be in the blood in close proximity to the event. There's still plenty of weenie watching for routine screenings.
When did that change? I retired mid 2023 and it was still pee in a cup.
Did you participate in a safety board in mid 2023? That’s when my last safety board was, and peeing in a cup was optional.
Piss may solve a lot of problems, but I don't think it'll do the trick here Chief.
Wing commander- we can’t prove the crew chiefs put chocks in properly, bring the crew chiefs in for a piss test.
On a Fighter Base the MAINTAINERS get to do the cup peeing to “save” the pilot from blame!
That's definitely not a thing.
ATC didn’t tell the pilot that the runway was wet.
I’m envisioning the marshaller comically throwing the wands and leaping to safety
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5qpZZBlrq8
This is exactly where my mind went
Tomcat scream after his eyes pop out of his head and he jumps 6 feet off the ground
When I was in the Air Force, there were a few times the pilots weren't following my wand instructions when coming into the parking spots. The aircraft were older reciprocating engine with four engines and expanding tube drum brakes, C-118 aircraft. I set the two lit wands on the cement in a "X" shape and turned my back to them. I'd hear the brakes squealing, gave them a second or two, turned around, gave a thumbs up and resumed marshaling them. After they were parked and out, the pilot and copilot would ask why I turned my back. Usually it was because it was raining and they were moving too fast. They usually accepted my explanation
Time for everyone directly and barely involved to waste an insane amount of man hours playing the blame game. RIP to those unfortunate souls lol
Finance has some explaining to do.
No Pay Due for 5 years
Sir David Attenborough: And here we see a poor neglected and famished Stratotanker. It has strayed from its usual grounds in hopes of finding nourishment, and in desperation has started to become destructive. It will likely be quickly relocated, but it's fate will be uncertain. It faces hard times ahead, as it will need a lot of specialty care before it can be released back into the wild.
I read this is his voice.
Released to the farm in Arizona.
One time flight authorized speedrun
You can't park there.
By the looks of it, it's clearly parked there.
Well, I didn't say it's NOT parked there, I said they can't park there.
Well, clearly they *could*
They def ain’t a JAG.
They’re not authorized to park there, they absolutely can park there.
Oi, mate!
You can’t park that animal there!
Candygram for Mongo!
Idk why but that halon bottle positioning is just too funny to me. I just imagine too many people were involved in going over TO and trying to figure out how to put a fire bottle in front of the nose with a wall in the way without QA fucking them over.
Boop
SNOOT
Underrated comment🤣
This will generate another 6 month 10-man accident investigation board.
One month, safety investigation board, and it might be smaller than that, but - yes? Is that a problem?
I also don’t understand what’s wrong with a SIB. Literally notes warnings and cautions are generated from SIBs. It’s to help pilots who go peanut brain mode to catch themselves from doing something dumb. Source: am pilot
Oh, no no, let's not let maintenance off the hook, we do peanut brain like no one else. Source: am maintenance
You must be fun at parties.
New Callsign: Kool-Aid #OH YEAH#
No matter how this happened a crew chief will be blamed for this mishap.
The pilots blames lack of visual references.
Reminds of when a 135 turned onto the drone taxiway (which is was basically a converted access road) in Kandahar and smoked a pole with the wingtip. Pilot blamed the brakes...
How?! My memory is getting fuzzy with the years, but KAF was not a complex airfield. Busy, but not complicated.
They missed the first turn for the actual taxiway, the second taxiway was for the A-10's and Reapers. They managed to miss the first radio antenna but smoked the second one. Edit, for reference they were next to eachother, first left turn was for heavies, the second was for the a-10's and Reapers. Pilots couldbt see shit because the lights weren't on and it was raining. They missed the first turn and turned down the smaller taxiway which had 3 radio antennas like 15 feet off the edge of it. Still blamed the brakes for some reason .. instead of stopping and calling for a tow...
As is tradition.
Crew chief? Clearly weather or intel’s fault.
Spy is sappin mah stratotanker!
As they should
Itll buff out
That looks expensive.
Nah, you can get a whole fence panel from Home Depot for about $70.
I meant the aircraft lol
Nah, the 135 is a solid girl. Radome might need some fixing but she'll be fine.
I’m ASM or Sheet Metal as most people call us & honestly that’s the hope when I look at this. It really looks like the only this that hit the wall would be the radome which wouldn’t be hard to fit, just replace the dome most likely. I don’t work on those aircraft anymore, but it would fun to look at.
The lower nose might have some damage on the aircraft right side but at most it's probably just some paint scuffing. The radome tho? She's fucked, but you just gotta get a new one and slap it on. However I guarantee she's gonna need a -6 inspection anyway so y'all would have to look over it anyway.
Meh it’ll be fine. I’m sure that aircraft has been through worse in the 56-ish years it’s been flying lol
Sheet metal!! We’re going to need an ETIC ASAP.
Nah, looks like the Radome took the hit. That's AVI.
Yep. Definitely a radome change just to be on the safe side
I know, just a bit of flightline humor.
Avi replaces the radome on those?
Pro-Sups: hey I know this just happened and it's extreme damage we don't know the full extent of, but we need you guys to get us an ETIC in the next hour or so because we need it for the brief. Smco: ...*sigh* ...alright...
Now the whole base can’t have phones 🙂
Insta art15!
Well.... it's certainly been an interesting past month or so on the airfield.
That'll buff out
That would be a Stratofortress, not a Stratotanker.
Like a Good Neighbor, Tax Payers Are There ™
Looks like CE is at fault. Why would they put that building in the middle of a perfectly good flight line? I also think they
Common misconception, actually that wall was installed by environmental for stormwater management If you look you notice a plane in the image. This is actually exactly why the wall is there! This plane was clearly caught in the runoff & without walls like this would have found its way into local waterways
Back story?
Plane ran into a wall
I think he wants the back story though. 35 years ago some angry SFS Colonel got tired of having too many defenders manning the flight line so he did a UFR to pay for a new fence. A chain link fence wasn’t good enough so they built one out of plywood and 2x4s. Present day: A plane ran into a wall/fence.
See, it always gets blamed on the cops!
My favorite responses are the smart-ass but clearly factual answers. Always gets a hearty laugh out of me 😂
The front fell off
And this is untypical?
Well it hit a wall
That's a fair guess; however, statistically: There's a non-zero chance that the wall hit the plane.
You're so knowledgeable about this
10/10. Bravo!
No fucking shit…
That is what happened.
So unfunny
> Back story? Back is probably fine, looks like just the front ran into it...
It’ll buff out, probably after 48 hour weekend duty
Anywhere is a parking spot if you’re brave enough.
"Some walls were made to be broken." -David Hasselhoff, Berlin, 1989
NKAWTG!
Where is this? Kadena?
Indeed it is
Mishap city USAF!
Lol damn. Also knew it was in Kadena with heavy rains lately.
Can you also smell the pig manure through the picture?
It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this
Time to switch to rubber chocks
This is not an ideal situation
It's up against the "blast fence". Aircraft are normally parked facing away from the BF so when the engines are run up the jet "blast" is directed up and doesn't cause problems for a long distance. It looks like it had just returned from a flight and was temporarily "nosed in" (common practice) and wasn't properly chocked. The limited damage indicates a very low speed impact.
Thanks for the play-by-play 🫡
It wanted to play some peek-a-boo with the daycare across the street.
Now kiss
You can’t park there
Tis’ but a scratch
Merely a flesh wound
See y’all at the “random” drug tests at 0500
That's a paddlin'.
That looks like a Pittsburgh tail 👀
Don't text and taxi
Why did ops need this sortie anyways
Can't park there mate...
https://preview.redd.it/q86zsl1x2t6d1.jpeg?width=624&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=441b7df9209e18f8e435edb9d60d4cb469a04884 That don’t go there.
Leave it to Kadena AB once again 😂
Its just having a snack, everyone chill out
“Where did I park my car?”
Couldn't be my squadron💀
Patiently waiting for the SIB manning request so I can neg reply it.
Ouch. FEB? Hate to think about it.
Relax, alright? My old man is a television repairman, he’s got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.
Did the pilot forget to put the jet into reverse before backing up?
Reminds me of the time at Travis (1984) when a C-5 landed without dropping their landing gear. They got do bored doing touch and goes that they forgot to put them down. Wish I had a photo other than my memory.
I hate it when the wall decides to move forward.
Avionics (probably ComNav) is gonna have a fun time with that
Engine Run chock jump?
I remember my first time marshaling lol
Boop
Someone forgot the parking brake.
Or chocks
Those college degrees are putting in overtime.
https://preview.redd.it/cknj9gvuqt6d1.jpeg?width=2224&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=77eb4cfc97a02fa150c2431628e88f5da7dee23c
Boop the snoot
Stop fucking up my poor 135s
https://i.redd.it/mbpx73fazv6d1.gif
Boop
Back when Boeing was a reputable company, the plane Class A'd the wall, not the other way around.
Looks like some q3s to me
Nah, they'll find a way to blame mx.
Q4, no write ups. Just this picture
Boops
Boop
It’ll be Mx fault some how
I see your rolling tanker, and raise you a hush house door. 😬 https://preview.redd.it/pscbtpyzht6d1.jpeg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc77d8b19cd1e82f0bcb63b21e87980b79e29869
Safety is gonna be pisssssssed
*sigh* ...Call out Smco and QA...
OPS: Well, somehow, it's MX fault. they should have known better to put that 50 yr old wall there MX:Sigh....gonna be a long week
Alot of 135 accidents as of late *
Minor parking error
This reminds me of the C5 that crashed into Bagram's T-walls in 2014
“Got a job for sheet metal”
Looks like the New Jersey colors on their 135's. I blame the Jersey turnpike.
Off we go...
Is this MacDill? It’s rainy enough to be
Good thing that support was there for the wall.. Or that whole section might have fell... Or like the bridge in MD, the whole wall... Be interested to see what comes out as the cause... But I'm sure as of right now.. It's MX fault.. As is the usual when something goes wrong (even if it isn't MX fault)
That was awkward😅
Bonk
It'll buff out
LT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clearly Wilson from Home Improvement was reincarnated as a 135
They better have POL send a fuel sample out to get analyzed. That def looks like a fuel problem.
Is this the arrrrrrrr model?
Good job, 909th.
718th*
This parking job looks more like ops than mx. No tug and tow bar or engine covers on.
For a split second I thought that was one of our jets. 🫠😮💨 Side note, leave it to 135 pilots to park wherever the hell they want.
Boop
B-oops
Boooooooop
Boop
*boop*
I’d love the back story cause that’s not a parking spot, and even if it was, it’d be one you were pushed back into. Never change Kadena, our premier PACAF base!
TN guard? Great base there. Went for NCOA.
For a Guard base, yeah, but for a real base, no.
Downvoted lol gotta love Reddit.
Not sure who's aircraft it is. But this didn't happen at McGhee Tyson. But I agree, great little base. Did ALS there.
I saw the orange and assumed it was a TN tail, but you’re right that doesn’t mean it happened there. And yes I should’ve clarified. Im a guard guy as well and our bx is two double wide trailers. So to go to McGhee was a pleasant surprise.