| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 5210.1 | | TROOA::MCRAM | Digital: There's no Life like it! | Thu Apr 10 1997 07:27 | 18 |
|
As I understand it went fell out of a 3 ship formation heading South
West from Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona and somehow made it's way North
West to Colorado. There was a brief radar sighting and a lot of
eyewitnesses who place it there.
Some heard a big bang and saw a smoke plume. It was carrying 4 Mk.82
500 pound bombs.
Logically either the pilot ejected and the jet flew itself until it hit
a mountain, or he became incapacitated and rode it to the end, or an
accidental ejection-type accident like the Britsh Harrier a few years
back. (Pilot pulled through canopy by chute, plane flew a long way
with bang-seat still in the plane).
Marshall
|
| 5210.2 | Hmm Finders keepers???? | SSDEVO::RMCLEAN | | Thu Apr 10 1997 13:51 | 4 |
| Also... They have had wonderful weather here the past few days (Pea soup fog
and icing) so that they can't even do a good search. I expect that when the
weather clears a bit more they may well find it. That is assuming that
the guy didn't fly it someplace and take it apart for parts ;-.]
|
| 5210.3 | still missing | MAIL1::BARNESJ | | Mon Apr 14 1997 11:57 | 24 |
|
I saw one newscast in which an Air Force spokesman reported that:
1. The aircraft's transponder had been turned off (or
malfunctioned),
2. The aircraft had been observed making manuvers that could not have
logically been made if the pilot was incapacitated,
Some others have speculated that the aircraft has been "borrowed" but
if that were the case the pilot could have easily avoided radar
detection in Colorado since A-10 pilots are trained to use terrain
masking to evade radar detection.
Local search team members in Colorado were quoted as saying that over
the years any number of aircraft have been lost in the mountains and
could not be located, some have been inadvertently found years later by
hikers. Snowfall in the area could quickly cover a crash site making
detection almost impossible.
As of this morning the aircraft and pilot are still missing and the
weather was forecasted to hamper search crews.
JB
|
| 5210.4 | | PCBUOA::MEDRICK | | Tue Apr 22 1997 12:04 | 9 |
| 1. A wingman's transponder is in "standby", only the Flight Lead's
transponder is "on".
2. Unless the autopilot was engaged, a straight wing acft without a pilot
(disabled or missing) would tend to fly the vertical maneuvers with
wing-overs in random directions or in a single direction with an
assymetrical load.......a swept wingwould do "dutch rolls" under the same
conditions.
Frank
|
| 5210.5 | | VMSSG::FRIEDRICHS | Ask me about Young Eagles | Tue Apr 22 1997 15:27 | 6 |
| FWIW - They believe they have found some of the wreckage. They
have spotted it from the air, but have not been able to get people
in on the ground yet to confirm and/or locate the pilot...
jeff
|
| 5210.6 | update | QUAKKS::DWORSACK | | Mon Jun 02 1997 14:47 | 5 |
| another one that didnt want to be found ??? (i thougt when i first
heard)...
i foget how this one turned out ??
|
| 5210.7 | He was found | TROOA::MCRAM | Digital: There's no Life like it! | Mon Jun 02 1997 15:09 | 9 |
|
They found the A-10 and enough of the pilot to identify by DNA testing.
I don't think they will ever know *why* he did what he did.
(Assuming that he wasn't disabled).
Marshall
|
| 5210.8 | No Funds, Patchwork Maintenance | SMURF::LIU | My Beer? Scudrunner Dark of course | Tue Jun 03 1997 09:22 | 12 |
|
And another A-10 went in last week on the same bombing range.
My partner-in-crime's eldest son flys A-10's out of Eilson AFB
in AK. The A-10 program is the unwanted orphan of USAF. The
airplanes aren't sexy and the original manufacturer is no longer
in business (Republic). So it sounds like they are short of
maintenance funding. I hear about hydraulic hoses being
spliced instead of replaced. And only half the airplanes
being flyable at a time. Not a pretty picture. If they
don't improve, I expect you'll hear about more crashes.
|