August 24, 20241 yr KC-46 boom severed, hoist cable snapped during AR with F-15 over CA causing the KC-46 to land with half its boom in trail at Travis AFB and F-15 to divert.
August 24, 20241 yr Don't forget to brief your double missed cable gear down min fuel divert gameplan. That'll put some hair on your chest.
August 25, 20241 yr Broke one cable, missed the other…jeez Not to second-guess, just curious on the divert location choice, but why not divert to EDW and a lakebed landing? Roll forever until you stop. FAT is a logical choice given it is an F-15 base with parts and familiar ATC/ARFF. Edited August 25, 20241 yr by Clayton Bigsby
August 25, 20241 yr 25 minutes ago, Clayton Bigsby said: Not to second-guess, just curious on the divert location choice, but why not divert to EDW and a lakebed landing? Roll forever until you stop. Are you asking why they tried a second cable engagement on a RWY that had another cable available w/ calm winds. Or why they chose to fly ~30 miles away to Lemoore instead of 140 miles with minimum fuel and a hydraulic problem?
August 25, 20241 yr 52 minutes ago, Clayton Bigsby said: Broke one cable, missed the other…jeez Not to second-guess, just curious on the divert location choice, but why not divert to EDW and a lakebed landing? Roll forever until you stop. FAT is a logical choice given it is an F-15 base with parts and familiar ATC/ARFF. I suspect most CAF aircrews do not even have lakebed runways in their crosscheck. When I flew Green Flag missions in R-208, we talked about Edwards as a divert option, with its two main runways, but spoke nary a word about lakebed landings. Lakebed landings are not something people think about, except for the Hawg. Remember, Mountain Home made a big deal about landing on a taxiway. https://www.mountainhome.af.mil/News-Photos-Videos/Article-Display/Article/3681602/gunfighters-complete-operation-garrison-forward-phase-one/
August 27, 20241 yr If it ain't Boeing, then it's probably going. They really screwed the pooch on the 46.
August 28, 20241 yr We use Fresno and Lemoore for our local diverts and go there often for training sorties. With 9,500 and 8,000 at FAT, and 2 x 13,500 at NLC, most of us would choose NLC if we had a runway length / stopping issue. Nevermind the fact NLC is the Navy: they know cables"; have them on all four runways; and inspect them regularly (not that we can take a cable in the T-38A). I'd like to know what the after action report is on the broken cable at FAT. I've landed a T-38 on the Edwards lake bed once. A decent option this time of year normally. But you don't want to show up there without pre-coordination, only to find out the lake bed is unusable due to rain. Edited August 28, 20241 yr by HuggyU2
August 29, 20241 yr 23 hours ago, HuggyU2 said: I'd like to know what the after action report is on the broken cable at FAT. A few years ago, we (F-16) had a cable break during a barrier cert of a new cable. He was on speed and best we could tell is the hook skipped and the hit the cable with the tip of the shoe. Did some damage to the ventrals. Shit happens. Edited August 29, 20241 yr by SocialD
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