Low flying plane in Austin today, all white, no windows. (images)

Zaphod58
reply to post by derfreebie

 

They tend to like Austin. This is the third time I've seen a thread with them doing touch and gos there.

We lost the best EC-135 we had (after they consolidated them and it left our base), to a pilot that screwed up a wet runway landing. Full crew on board, he was shooting touch and gos with an occasional full stop, in the rain. The last full stop, he floated it, touched down about halfway down the runway, and attempted to stop.

Went off the end of the runway, hit a hill that ripped the gear off, the plane slams to the ground, and breaks the backbone.

I remember that. That would have been 62-3584, a J model out of Hickam that we received at the 55th a short time before the crash. Yep, the pilot blew it and that crew was damn lucky the jet didn't go up in flames.

Sad that the EC fleet at Offutt had such unglamorous ending. I went to a green flag at Nellis about two years later as an expediter and we brought along an EC with us (kind of like having your kid brother along that no one wants to play with). They were trying to invent a mission to sell to the other services. Unfortunately, they spent the whole exercise on the ground with a fuel cell problem. Typical of their final years. But getting back to 584, yeah, it was a nice aircraft that didn't deserve the fate it received.

Vince

reply to post by vinceg


We used to love that bird. Didn't matter what the mission was she was always ready to fly. I think I can count on one hand the number of times she broke when it was time for a mission.

We had 8055 too. She flew great until PDM got to her. They put the wings back on wrong and she never flew the same again. They even sent her back and rejigged them, but after that PDM she was never the same.

We had 8055, 8056, 8057, and 584.