5th Sept 2017 Nevada crash

a reply to: face23785

That's one of the fun things about spotting at Nellis. If you go down the road that the Las Vegas Motorspeedway is on, and stop on the side of the road that the base fence is on, and take pictures, they'll be out there in about five minutes and make you erase everything you took. If you cross the street, to the side of the road that the track is on, and take the same pictures, they can't say a word.

Gotta love the rules they put in place.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: face23785

That's one of the fun things about spotting at Nellis. If you go down the road that the Las Vegas Motorspeedway is on, and stop on the side of the road that the base fence is on, and take pictures, they'll be out there in about five minutes and make you erase everything you took. If you cross the street, to the side of the road that the track is on, and take the same pictures, they can't say a word.

I haven't taken pics around Nellis in a long time (10 years) other than being at the airshows. They used to not really care (Did speak to a friendly MP once who asked me and stayed close but did not ask much else or tell me to stop). The only place I have ever been hassled is around Plant 42

a reply to: FredT

We weren't really hassled, they were really nice about it. They just asked that we delete our pics. They were going to just stop there but one of their higher ups told them to take our info. They filled out the form, told is with a wink that the other side of the road was fine, and left.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I will always regret I never got to go out there on Active Duty either to be stationed or just on TDY. I've heard it's crazy busy at times but a lot of fun.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Lol. I'll bet both of my vehicles are on a "troublemaker" registry somewhere.

a reply to: Sammamishman

I know I personally am. Bell got all my info, and Nellis got all my info. I'm working on more.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Both of us will.

a reply to: Sammamishman

I wonder if we can get on a list at Mojave. I know we can at Plant 42 and Edwards, but Mojave would just be one of those "what the hell" lists.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Lets see how good the cafeteria services are at the Stratolaunch facility.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Sammamishman

I wonder if we can get on a list at Mojave. I know we can at Plant 42 and Edwards, but Mojave would just be one of those "what the hell" lists.

What do you mean by list? If you mean tour the facility, no problem. I did this a number of years ago. The tour ended up with my only self-censor for national security situation. We saw a FedEx jet with a pod. It turned out to be anti-manpad technology for flying into the sand box. Eventually it was revealed as a Raytheon product.

a reply to: gariac

No. We were joking about the places we've had security take our information down for being in the wrong area.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: gariac

No. We were joking about the places we've had security take our information down for being in the wrong area.

I've never been bothered at Plant 42. For the periods when the had commercial service, I parked in the lot facing the runway. I just made sure I wasn't parked close to one of those no photography signs. Other times I park by the sod farm. I'm not fond of the Sierra Highway spotm

Nellis is another story. I was covertly investigated twice. Obviously not very covert since I detected their snooping. Once a guy with a camcorder held at waist height approached my car. This was when parked at the speedway. After passing my car, he pointed the camera backwards. Easy to see in the rearview mirror.

The second Nellis investigate was a bit more covert. There is/was this good looking woman security officer at Nellis. I spotted her once chasing out some guy parked by the fence. As you know, park by the fence and you will get a visit.

So there I am parked by the speedway and a good looking blond approaches me on bicycle. She was in the usual Lycra biker pants that well, get my attention. And she looks like the security woman I've seen before. So she stops to talk to me. "Oh is that a radio." "Yes and I'm listening to Nellis!" She also noticed my "radar" (ADSB). As she was getting back on her bicycle, I offered her a bottle of water "because she must be thirsty after biking all day." (Yeah, like from across the street.)

No problem at Groom. Base Camp...well I rather not say. Back in the day security chased me away from Indian Springs when I was videotaping (yes on tape; mini DV) the Thunderbirds. I was incredulous. As you know, the USAF bought the casino and prevented civilians from being by the base.

a reply to: gariac

I got followed back from my Dayton air Force museums "behind the scenes" tour to our hotel. These sweet old women who were leading the tour had NDAs ready(just in case, we never had to sign them) when we checked in to visit the restoration hangars. after we left the air Force museums parking lot we had a silver Ford truck going the same way we were. When we got back to our hotel, we went straight to the bar, which had a window looking into the parking lot. The occupants of the ford that followed us back watched us eating and drinking for a while, then left. They probably tagged our rental car. Luckily, my girlfriend rented it
A few other times some crazy things happened especially around Alamo and Beatty. But that's probably just me being paranoid.

a reply to: mightmight

Thanks. Still, I think going from stating that the technology is already on flying aircraft or variants of existing aircraft, to acknowledging that LRS-B has a demonstrator which crashed is a big step. Maybe, if it actually was LRS-B demonstrator which crashed, then perhaps we could expect an announcement to avoid political fallout?

Additionally, I thought LRS-B was going to be conducted in a substantially different way to previous (white) projects and will involve significantly more Air Force involvement, rather than contractor employment. I know this was one of the recommendations that Gen. Bogdan made when discussing JSF. I mean, F-35 SDD was conducted with the same pilot...

Also does my avatar crack anyone else up? I laugh at it every time I look at it.

Eric Schultz Memorial Family Fund

USAF pilot and Annapolis native Lt Col Eric E. Schultz, age 44, tragically lost his life on Tuesday 05 September 2017 in the line of duty. Eric passed from this world doing what he loved most, leaving behind a treasured legacy of faithful service, devotion and loving kindness to his family, friends, brothers-in-arms, and country.

The sudden and heartbreaking loss of Eric is a tremendous blow to his family and friends. We are all deeply saddened by this loss. Any donation you can provide to his family during this difficult time would be greatly appreciated. On behalf of Eric's family, we thank you for your care and support as his family deals with the tragic impact of losing a loving husband and proud father of five children. He will be sorely missed.

www.youcaring.com...

Note that the crash was on 5th September (Tuesday). Apparently the normal amount of Janet flights is 25-30 per day.

Apparently on Tuesday there was only 13 flights. And on Wednesday there was only 3 flights.

Reminds me of the Columbia Disaster. "lock the doors".

Now, as Engelauf relayed Austin’s emotional report to Cain, the flight director slowly shook his head, composed himself, and turned to the silent control room to declare an emergency. At 9:12 a.m., he instructed Ground Control Officer Bill Foster to “lock the doors”—a de facto admission that all hope was gone—and ordered flight controllers not to leave the building, but to begin preserving their data and writing up their logbook notes for use in the subsequent investigation. After checking with Jones that no further tracking had been acquired, Cain referred his team to their contingency plans … the plans that they and the STS-107 crew had worked in training, but which they hoped fervently would never be needed.

Columbia roars into orbit for the 28th and final time on 16 January 2003. Eighty-two seconds into the ascent, a chunk of foam from her External Tank would spell disaster for the outcome of STS-107. Photo Credit: NASA
Columbia roars into orbit for the 28th and final time on 16 January 2003. Eighty-two seconds into the ascent, a chunk of foam from her External Tank would spell disaster for the outcome of STS-107. Photo Credit: NASA
“OK,” Cain began, “all flight controllers on the Flight loop, we need to kick off the FCOH [Flight Control Operations Handbook] contingency plan procedure, FCOH checklist, page 2.8-5.” He then proceeded to talk them through the required actions: preserving logbook entries and display printouts, communicating only on the Flight loop, and restricting outside telephone calls and transmissions. “No phone calls, no data, in or out,” he told them.

www.americaspace.com...

I'm also wondering if the crash occurred in the close vicinity of the airport, whether this could cause the same affect. Perhaps someone can see the Janet log to see if flights only started at the end of Wednesday or were scattered throughout the day.

Alternatively it was a coincidence.

EDIT:


Source: flightaware.com...

Note:
origin=KLAS (Vegas, baby)
destination=KTNX (Tonopah Test Range Airport).

I'm wondering if the "result unknown" means it went to Groom, Arrived meant it actually went to KTNX.

... and I am now on a list.

a reply to: C0bzz

If it was a new project, it's probably grounded until they figure out what went wrong, which means, depending on size and related projects, a bunch of people that world normally be out working the project on those flights, don't need to be, or need to be elsewhere.

originally posted by: C0bzz
a reply to: mightmight

Thanks. Still, I think going from stating that the technology is already on flying aircraft or variants of existing aircraft, to acknowledging that LRS-B has a demonstrator which crashed is a big step. Maybe, if it actually was LRS-B demonstrator which crashed, then perhaps we could expect an announcement to avoid political fallout?

I never said an LRSB related craft crashed. In fact i agree with you, it would be a very risky move politically to sweep it under the rug.

Also, why would a test pilot associated with the Lockheeds JSF program suddenly fly a test vehicle for Nothrops strategic bomber? And why only one pilot?

a reply to: C0bzz

Groom flights use altitude 14k/15kft. There are other ways to differentiate the TTR flights from Groom, but altitude is the easiest.

I watched the flights on FR24 archive. Nothing very odd with the Janet trails. I thought they might divert a flight to eyeball the situation on the ground, but it is much more likely that the test article had a chase plane, so the last moments of the test article are not a mystery.

a reply to: mightmight

IF there was another crew member with him, there's at least a chance they survived, depending on if it a ejection related injuries that caused his death. If they survived, there's no reason for anyone to mention they were there.