The mother of all potholes

Inkara1

Inkara1

Well-Known Member
Crews were doing work on a runway at an American airfield in Iraq. This involved cutting out a large, square section of the tarmac, basically creating the mother of all potholes.

One minor problem: no one bothered to issue a NOTAM (notice to airmen).

This wasn't a problem during the day, since the pilots could see the work site and avoid it. But a C-130 came in at night, and you can guess what happened.

Pics
 
Gonz said:
GATO!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Just be glad his wingman didn't follow him down. That's an MC-130, and they usually travel with AC-130's. Think of him as the spotter...
 
ClaireBear said:
Good grief! :rolleyes:

You know if they had brains they'd be even more dangerous! :p
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Not the aircrew's fault, nor the people 'fixing' the runway. It was the tower's fault. It's hard enough bringing 100,000 pounds of metal safely to the ground in broad daylight. Those guys had no chance at all...the tower folks should be immediately removed from their jobs, and forced to pay for the airplane.
 
Raven said:
erm...oops?
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Nope. No oops about an 'accident' like that. Somebody either A: Didn't follow up, or B: didn't follow established procedure. In the civilian world 'B' is called negligence. Most times in the civilian world, though, negligence doesn't cause this much destruction. Whoever get's the hammer for this better be thankful nobody died...
 
Its a testament as to how absolutely sturdy C-130's are. Almost anything else would have ended up as flaming confetti.
 
Gato_Solo said:
Not the aircrew's fault, nor the people 'fixing' the runway. It was the tower's fault. It's hard enough bringing 100,000 pounds of metal safely to the ground in broad daylight. Those guys had no chance at all...the tower folks should be immediately removed from their jobs, and forced to pay for the airplane.
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Even a ring of fairy lights would have surficed... surely!

So is it air traffic control who should have ran out and put a flashy light beside the big gaping hole... not the construction crew?
 
I've been in the Air Force for nigh onto 16 years, and I've only seen 1 aircraft accident. It was in Korea, when the first female U-2 pilot decided to land abruptly. She survived, but niether her aircraft, nor her career, made it. Had that sucker covered up with black tarps for close to 5 months while they went through their investigation...
 
Gato_Solo said:
I've been in the Air Force for nigh onto 16 years, and I've only seen 1 aircraft accident. It was in Korea, when the first female U-2 pilot decided to land abruptly. She survived, but niether her aircraft, nor her career, made it. Had that sucker covered up with black tarps for close to 5 months while they went through their investigation...
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And the fact the pilot was female just had to be mentioned didn't it! ;) :D :lol2:
 
ClaireBear said:
And the fact the pilot was female just had to be mentioned didn't it! ;) :D :lol2:
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Hey...I was giving her props. Notice I said she was the first female U-2 pilot. That, in itself, speaks volumes about her skills. ;) :winkkiss:

Lost towards end of August 1994 at Osan AB, Korea. USAF Pilot: Cholene Espinoza survived, while trying to land in fog aircraft lf the runway and crashed, aircraft burnt.
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You don't know fog until you've seen Osan during the summer. ;)

Here's where I got the quote.
 
Lost on 5 October 1980 at Osan AB, Korea. USAF Pilot: Cleveland H. Wallace survived. No other details.

Osan seems to be flypaper for U-2's.
 
unclehobart said:
Lost on 5 October 1980 at Osan AB, Korea. USAF Pilot: Cleveland H. Wallace survived. No other details.

Osan seems to be flypaper for U-2's.
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They have a squadron there. And, as I said in my previous post, the fog in the summer is no joke.
 
Gato_Solo said:
Nope. No oops about an 'accident' like that. Somebody either A: Didn't follow up, or B: didn't follow established procedure. In the civilian world 'B' is called negligence. Most times in the civilian world, though, negligence doesn't cause this much destruction. Whoever get's the hammer for this better be thankful nobody died...
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Surely the pilots would've noticed something as big as that as they circled for approach? Even from a few thousand feet that would've been noticable....
 
Not at night.

I keep waiting for a fuck-up at Dobbins. They train 130 crews there, and i'm in the flight pattern....
 
Raven said:
Surely the pilots would've noticed something as big as that as they circled for approach? Even from a few thousand feet that would've been noticable....
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Not at night. Only the approach is well-lighted, to line the aircraft up with the runway. It's like driving down a dark road, with your lights pointed up in the air. You get a feel for where the road is, because of the marker lights, but you don't actually see it. If they were coming in with NVG's, they wouldn't see it at all...just the black-out markers.

flag3.jpg


This is what the world looks like through night vision goggles.
 
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