Ace of Spades HQ

May 18, 2011

For Those In Peril
— Dave in Texas

~~A KC-135~~ An Omega71 aerial refueler crashed this evening at Point Mugu NAS in California. They were fully loaded with JP, and crashed on takeoff. So far reports say all 3 crewmembers escaped with minor injuries. Thank God.

Just a thought, it's a dangerous job, even if they aren't deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

UPDATE: several commenters including xbradtc pointed out this is an Omega71, not a KC-135. My bad. I saw the 707 airframe, heard tanker, and figured "well what the hell else would it be, there's only like thousands of em.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:41 PM | Comments (45)
Post contains 101 words, total size 1 kb.

1 With a full load that bird must be a bitch to handle.They are old and warn out and need desperately to be replaced.Thanks Congress!

Posted by: steevy at May 18, 2011 05:43 PM (eAAIq)

2 Yes. Thank God. And thank all our service men and women for their service. It's a dangerous world out there.

Posted by: NC Ref at May 18, 2011 05:43 PM (/izg2)

3 1 Oops I left out the Thank God the crew got out in time.

Posted by: steevy at May 18, 2011 05:43 PM (eAAIq)

4 Thrust >Drag + Lift>Gravity = Flight

Posted by: How This Shit Works at May 18, 2011 05:44 PM (cK73b)

5 KC-135

Good to hear the crew survived.

Posted by: fluffy at May 18, 2011 05:44 PM (SwkdU)

6 Thank God indeed. God bless them and every one of our servicemen and women.

Posted by: Ted Kennedy (now in the 9th circle of Hell) and Chris Dodd at May 18, 2011 05:45 PM (c0A3e)

7 Thank the Lord they are safe.

OT but related:

Warning - this will make you sick.

Obama gave the Coast Guard Academy graduation speech today. The first half was filled with 'I' and 'Michelle', this is the second half (HE TURNED IT INTO A CAMPAIGN SPEECH):

Ultimately, though, it wonÂ’t be the advanced technologies, the additional budget that determines your success. It wonÂ’t be the cutters that you command that give you the edge when the seas are swelling and a life is on the line. Your lives in service will be defined by something else, something inside of you -- invisible to the eye but obvious for all to see. The arc of your careers, like the course of our country, will be shaped by the values that have kept us strong for more than 200 years.

You see, as Americans, weÂ’ve always fixed our eyes on the future, setting our sights on what lies beyond the horizon. We havenÂ’t always known exactly how to get there. We havenÂ’t always known every shoal that lies ahead. But we are sure of our destination, and so weÂ’ve charted our course toward that Â“more perfect union.Â”

We havenÂ’t always been the biggest or strongest of nations. There have been moments in our history when others have counted us out or predicted the demise of our improbable American experiment. But what the naysayers and doubters have never understood is that our American journey has always been propelled by a spirit and strength that sets us apart.

Like any good crew, we welcome the talents and skills of all people, no matter where you come from, no matter what you look like. With every generation, we renew our country with the drive and dynamism that says, here in America, anything is possible.

And when tough times inevitably come -- when war and economic hardship threaten to blow us off course -- we do what Americans have always done. We remember our moral compass, that we are citizens with obligations to each other; that we all have responsibilities; that weÂ’re all in this together; that we rise and fall as one -- that we are the United States of America. And so we pull together. We each do our part, knowing that we have navigated rough seas before and we will do so again.

We Americans are an optimistic people. We know that even the darkest storms pass. We know that a brighter day beckons; that, yes, tomorrow can be a better day. For through two centuries of challenge and change, we have never lost sight of our guiding stars -- the liberty, the justice, the opportunity that we seek for ourselves and the universal freedoms and rights that we stand for around the world.

So, cadets, if we remember this -- if you stay true to the lessons youÂ’ve learned here on the Thames, if we hold fast to what keeps us strong and unique among nations, then I am confident that future historians will look back on this moment and say that when we faced the test of our time, we stood our watch. We did our duty. We continued our American journey. And we passed our country, safer and stronger, to the next generation.

Posted by: momma at May 18, 2011 05:45 PM (penCf)

8 I blame lottery winners on food stamps. But mostly Congress.

Posted by: USA at May 18, 2011 05:45 PM (YZISw)

9 Banish and burn this accursed sock!

Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at May 18, 2011 05:45 PM (c0A3e)

10 momma, here's a tidbit to make you feel better:

My F-I-L, Coast Guard Academy grad, has a very low opinion of Barry O.

Posted by: fluffy at May 18, 2011 05:47 PM (SwkdU)

11 yeah, I typed fast.. it's KC-135.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at May 18, 2011 05:48 PM (Wh0W+)

12 whoa - so a big-ass plane choc-full of jet fuel crashed and caught on fire, and the crew members escaped with only minor injuries?? Wow. Someone is looking out for them. God Bless America

Posted by: chemjeff at May 18, 2011 05:52 PM (7mSYS)

13 (HE TURNED IT INTO A CAMPAIGN SPEECH)

Has he ever given a speech that wasn't?

But enough of that clown. Glad to see there were no fatalities from this crash.

Posted by: HeatherRadish at May 18, 2011 05:52 PM (0vDuM)

14 My late dad was an AF test pilot.

So glad the crew survived. My dad is smiling down.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at May 18, 2011 05:52 PM (UOM48)

15 Holy crap, they were flying a huge ass bomb and got out okay? Thank you God.

Posted by: alexthechick at May 18, 2011 05:52 PM (sf+iw)

16 "It can blow at any seam." -- The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe And this is why "W" was no coward in the Texas Air National Guard.

Posted by: DieTrying at May 18, 2011 05:53 PM (rfnfN)

17 Thx Dave. What you say is true. Training and ops CONUS side are dangerous. For example EOD techs put their lives at risk with live ordnance on ranges and building sites all over the country every day.

Posted by: Dr. Manhattan at May 18, 2011 05:53 PM (K/zX7)

18 My F-I-L, Coast Guard Academy grad, has a very low opinion of Barry O.

Posted by: fluffy at May 18, 2011 09:47 PM (SwkdU)

My co-worker is, too, and still in the Reserves, and probably has a lower opinion of Preznit JEF.

Posted by: NC Ref at May 18, 2011 05:53 PM (/izg2)

19 With a full load that bird must be a bitch to handle.They are old and warn out and need desperately to be replaced.Thanks Congress!

Posted by: steevy at May 18, 2011 09:43 PM (eAAIq)

Boeing finally got the contract, they are starting to build the new ones now in Everett. I think the KC 135 was built in the 50's

Posted by: robtr at May 18, 2011 05:54 PM (MtwBb)

I flew on one of those when they had the old j-57's on them with water injection. Still used up every bit of runway with a full load of fuel.

Posted by: ziptie at May 18, 2011 05:54 PM (nj7LO)

21 But more importantly-- did that jet fuel fire melt steel?

Posted by: Rosie O'Donnell at May 18, 2011 05:54 PM (sgIff)

22 Even the civilian version, the 707 was water injection.

Posted by: ziptie at May 18, 2011 05:56 PM (nj7LO)

23 19 Yeah,finally.After years of wrangling.135's are all older than their pilots.Older and harder used than any B-52 still in service.

Posted by: steevy at May 18, 2011 05:56 PM (eAAIq)

24 Speaking of those in peril, I like this.

Posted by: HeatherRadish at May 18, 2011 06:02 PM (0vDuM)

25 Those KC-135s were seriously old when I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall in 1980!

Posted by: MCPO Airdale at May 18, 2011 06:04 PM (FAyWo)

The story says "Boeing 707". That's just journalistic ignorance right?

I got a nephew who is training to do aerial refueling out in CA now. Not Point Magu NAS though.

Posted by: Optimizer at May 18, 2011 06:08 PM (F56VB)

27 Yeah, any job or task that involves moving heavy equipment or combustible material ... pretty much guarantees the occasional horrific accident.

Amazing we can accomplish as much as we do considering how many accidents happen when the average person just tries to clean their gutters ... or shower tile. Makes serious engineering and logistics that much more impressive.

Posted by: Clubber Lang at May 18, 2011 06:11 PM (QcFbt)

28 My Dad was at Magu in the 60's. Thank God and thanks Dave for the post.

Posted by: osoloco at May 18, 2011 06:19 PM (dpAW/)

A few decades ago I heard about some guys who found that their workday went much faster if they ignored some of the rules. This was especially not smart, since they worked with munitions of some sort. The way the story ended, their remains had to be cleaned out of the bunker with a firehose.

Like I said, it's wasn't a good place to be cutting corners.

But anyway, I assume the nephew ought to getting the occasional awesome view of a B-2, once he's done training.

Posted by: Optimizer at May 18, 2011 06:22 PM (F56VB)

30 I remember a takeoff out of Lajes, Azores, (50' cliff at the end of the runway) in a water-injected KC-135 in '89. I was the fighter duty officer for an A-10 deployment. Every eye in the cockpit was on the 4 yellow water injection system lights because, as the PIC warned us, "if one of those lights go out, we're going in".

Posted by: Electric at May 18, 2011 06:53 PM (9IYW8)

31 ...in the air.

Glad the crew got out alive. New underwear all around.

Posted by: Rod Graves at May 18, 2011 07:09 PM (mKMj1)

32
Jet engine engineering principals easily explained:

Suck > Squeeze > Bang > Blow

Posted by: Fish the Impaler at May 18, 2011 07:09 PM (cwFVA)

33 These guys are under appreciated. It seems obvious but I think a lot of people don't realize that those cool fighter jets can't do squat, either stateside or in combat, without the flying gas stations.

Posted by: Stace at May 18, 2011 07:42 PM (DRyPH)

I had to work a 135 once on our tramp ramp at Travis AFB (shout out to the 602nd) back in 95-96 and I thought it was pretty old plane back then. Every bit as old as the C-141's I worked on. The 141's were all being reserved or sent to the boneyard in late '97 when I decided I didn't want to work on C-5's and seperated. Can't believe they are still putting hours on 135's 14 years later. They should all be in Tucson with my bird.

Posted by: John C at May 18, 2011 08:11 PM (urSXp)

35 Are we sure that this is a KC-135? It looks like an Omega Tanker B707. Here is the link to Omega's services, http://tinyurl.com/omegatanker. Examining the pictures that aircraft seems to have the same sort of paint scheme that I have seen before of Omega's Tankers

Posted by: Charles at May 18, 2011 08:13 PM (pcAU0)

36 This was NOT a KC135, But a civil B707 operated by Omega Services. They have 707s and at least 1 DC-10. They hire out to the USN and others for refueling service. A good example of the private sector doing it cheaper and better.

Posted by: Finance Joe at May 18, 2011 08:23 PM (viKAs)

37 Just a reminder for all... KC135's were all produced before 1966... aka they all are 45 years old, and won't be seeing a replacement anytime soon... and that 707 could have been younger, but probably had more flight hours than any KC135 in the fleet

Posted by: phreshone at May 18, 2011 08:27 PM (T3vCe)

38 Just checked Flight Aware and this was apparently OMEGA71. It arrived at Pt Magu yesterday after spending a month with the Aussies.

Posted by: Finance Joe at May 18, 2011 08:39 PM (viKAs)

Usually, a tanker should be a pretty safe plane to fly. The only risk factors are that it carries a lot of fuel and it flies in formation with other aircraft.

Most crashes occur at takeoff and landing, not while cruising. This is a subset of a greater law that machines fail at the transitions far more than the steady states. And that's an expression of a greater general law that most things fail at the gates from one state to another when they are stressed one way, then the other.

Posted by: Tantor at May 18, 2011 09:17 PM (nJZMk)

39 This was NOT a KC135, But a civil B707 operated by Omega Services. ...

So the article was correct. And this is not an "aerial refueler", but a tanker. Still a big mess.

Posted by: Optimizer at May 18, 2011 09:59 PM (F56VB)

41 Termite paint did it!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: SOMEASSHOLESTOLEMYPEN at May 19, 2011 05:24 AM (gOG95)

42 #38 FJ is correct on all counts. They hire out and support training ops for the Nav.

Posted by: Eddiesphagetti at May 19, 2011 06:05 AM (0lxDZ)

43 We had KC97s at Whiteman AFB in the '50s and '60s. Talk about an old timer. The air-plane, not me of course! I can also say that the folks in Honolulu were deathly afraid of the C135A models with their full loads of fuel, spare engines, and even some troops headed for 'Nam. So when the Starlizzard first hit the ramp(I was a Transient Maint c/c at Hickam at the time) the gov and a whole bunch of dignitarys requested one come to Hickam to show what it could do with a full load. The Lizzard took off, fully loaded, showed they didn't have to go downtown Waikiki like the 135A, landed and blew a main. We didn't have nitrogen to blow the struts. Didn't have an aligator jack and the bird sat on our ramp for days waiting for this stuff. Later on I was in the 602nd(docks-'65-'66) and was volunteered to go to Yuma AZ while C124 crews cross trained onto the lizzard.
We actually had to take a cannonball bird to swipe,I mean borrow, parts off of for our on birds. The 141 was so new(1965) that we couldn't even get spare parts. But, like John C, I loved that bird. John I was s/sgt Brown.

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