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Engines don't exactly stop on a dime with shutdown.

Does this count as a kill?

A friendly reminder to any airline pilots here, if you look out the window and see someone approaching the plane when they shouldn't be, just shut the engines down. The passengers will survive the 30 seconds of darkness as you wait for the Apu to come online, and aside from saving a life, you may be saving a whole lot of people a whole lot of trauma from seeing something most people can't handle seeing.

Absolutely. I didn't see in the initial reports who was asking the question and who was denying touching the switches, I just assumed it was the fo denying it. But if it was the other way around, I have no difficulty imagining your scenario. Like I said, High context societies... It was always 99% that this was going to be pilot error

Either scenario plausible. Ego is an enemy and we should only fly rested. I can't believe the dumb risks I took flying tired. Without Gods grace I would be CFIT too.

Reverse your roles. FO was pilot flying and he queried the CA about the motors, who denied taking any action, despite the recorded events on the box saying each switch was cycled off then on. Having encountered enough Indian aircrews, I can readily imagine a senior CA denying any error. I can imagine a few senior CA I've flown with in the USA doing the same. Ego gets strong with some.

Here's my guess. First officer was a moron, or completely inexperienced. For whatever inexplicable reason, he moves the engine cutoff switches to cut off instead of whatever he was supposed to be doing. Recognizes it instantly and puts them back, but at that point the engines have already started to shut down. Captain asks him why he did that, he does the FNG thing/High-context-society thing and denies the fuck up.

I never would have guessed 550. When he asked what I guessed I did a wild out of A$$ number of 3000 at Omaha. I think in hindsight he may have been referring to only those on duty in the actual strong points. I just looked and I found a list of 37 strong points for Omaha Beach so I could see 550 as not beyond the realm of possibility. I guess it would all depend on what area was defined for the duty area by Ambrose or anyone else. I think the weather had most in Normandy thinking not happening today. From the German perspective they picked a helluva time to minimum man. I'm sure Eisenhower knew the Germans were blissfully unaware thanks to the codebreakers at Bletchley Park and the fact if they suspected anything was afoot the airways would have been burning up with radio traffic. I did pose the hypothetical question to our guide of what would have happened had Hitler not invaded Russia and he saw no-way we could have breached the Atlantic Wall given how deep they could have stacked their forces. The Russian Front certainly sucked up a whole lot of resources to say the least. From a practical perspective it takes a bit to get to Normandy. We took a train from Paris to Bayeux where our guide met us early in the morning and he dropped us off at Carentan in the evening to catch the train back to Paris. As mentioned most tours shut down in winter so summer has its advantages. It was 28 degrees and the wind off the channel was brisk so if you go in the winter plan accordingly. Any questions message me and I'll do my best to answer. P.S. to Uhhello you are spot on about Pointe Du Hoc.

Been there three times and each time is fantastic. Made it one year on the anniversary. Got to talk to some D-Day vets. Pointe Du Hoc is absolutely bonkers what was accomplished.

Great airplane. Great mission.

Concur. I'm suspect of the 550 German figure as Balkoski cites around ~2000 at Utah IIRC and Ambrose's book on D-Day placed the initial force around 7,500 or so. Nevertheless, Normandy is not to be missed and I hope to return one day for a more in-depth guided tour.

What’s that, like an 8 gallon giveaway?

Truly the greatest generation if you’re interested in the minutiae of D-day at Omaha beach, highly recommend Omaha Beach by Balkoski. This book delves down to the second when things occurred and gave me a whole new appreciation of the hell those guys went through securing the beach head.

Tangentially related. On a trip to Europe in January I got to spend a day in Normandy. BTW a day alone is nowhere near long enough. Please put a visit on your bucket list. Standing on the beaches of Omaha and Utah to the Cemetary at Colleville-sur-Mer to the D-Day aid station in the 12th Century Church at Angoville-au-Plain that still has blood-stained pews 80 years later I felt like I hardly deserved to be in the presence of such greatness and sacrifice. Our guide (former British Military so he could discuss it from a military perspective) not surprisingly said not many tours come by in the cold winter months, but the silence afforded in his mind allowed a proper solemnity for the time and place. One fact he mentioned was that only 550 or so German troops were on duty at the time of the initial landings which dumfounded me because we all know the carnage inflicted on the American troops.

Saw this tidbit in an article about Norway acquiring the Whiskey https://breakingdefense.com/2025/07/us-clears-norway-to-purchase-hh-60w-helicopters/ This move shifts the mission from the Huey, originally slated for the Boeing MH-139 Grey Wolf, to the more advanced HH-60W.

Adios!

Wow

If this doesn't hit you in the feels then you ain't got no feels. Daughters are different than sons. I think you have to have both to truly know the difference. I've got grandaughters now that have been in car seats in my truck. Not saying sons are any less special.

Hacker, will you guys still make it? Saw you’re missing out on some Ohio stops for post-mx stuff?

Allegedly Israel did this mod and was using it regularly to strike Iran. And now lo and behold, the US is interested in adopting the capability.

Not certified and why? Lack of GO support, belief that the mission is not part of the core AF mission(s). I could go on, heard as an anecdote a two star deride the AT-6 back in the 2016-17 timeframe with a “who’d wanna fly that” comment while at the Puzzle Palace. If a GO can’t imagine himself flying it I think they just play along and kill it later, same with the C-27J and other small fleets. Anyway… they’ll continue shenanigans and kill the program eventually. FWIW, if a person is lurking here with the ear of a decision maker, we’re gonna be suppressing insurgents, criminals/pirates, and all manner of rabble at the periphery of the Free-ish World from now till the end of time… Reapers and other UAS are good but round out the team with a capable, modular, purpose built platform, the Scorpion. Don’t overthink it, just acquire it.

Wonder what the autopsy will reveal as the cause of death. COVID?

Dual engine failure is ENGINE CONTROL STITCHES (Both) - CUTOFF THEN RUN. Next step is RAM AIR TURBINE SWITCH - PRESS.

Apparently not in that class, but the Viper will be a thing for 20 more years, as of current plans.

I’m actually surprised how intact he mostly is after that, at least from that camera distance.