C-17 crash in Texas- Rumored

A USAF C-17 has been reported downed in Texas. Witnesses say it was flying a low level flight, and impacted the ground. It was flying about 130 miles West of Dallas at the time of the crash.

No word on survivors or any other details.

A spokesperson at Shepard AFB hasn't confirmed a crash, but an extensive search is underway. The area is described as heavily wooded and a lot of canyons, but nothing has been found yet.

[edit on 3/23/2009 by Zaphod58]

[edit on 3/23/2009 by Zaphod58]

Search has been called off. The Air Force says that reports were incorrect.

They much have been flying insanely low for people to be reporting that they crashed.

as bad things happen in threes, and two plane crashes have been reported in the last two days, I thought this was the third. Glad to hear it is not. Have there been and accidents with the C17 yet? I don't remember hearing about any. I almost stayed in and transfered to Charleston SC to work on those, but decided to take the zero and bail. My heart still belongs to the 130.

There have been one or two but no actual crashes yet. I know at least one landed with a nose gear issue in Afghanistan, and had to be lifted back up with a crane.

There's still a lot of confusion about this one. Initial reports said that an Air Force spokesman at Shepard AFB said it DID crash, then later said they couldn't confirm it. There was a huge search on the property of a rancher that owns the land in the area, but then they called it off.

Nothing to see here....
Move along....

Officials: C-17 crash report not true.

An Air Force C-17 did not crash Monday morning in Olney, Texas, contrary to a CNN report, according to Mike Kucharek, an Air Force spokesman at North American Aerospace Defense Command.

A C-17 out of Altus Air Force Base, Okla., was flying over Olney, which is about 130 miles west of Dallas, during a training mission, but the crew returned safely, said service spokesman Ed Gulick.

www.airforcetimes.com...

Originally posted by NotTooHappy


Nothing to see here....
Move along....

This one took in a LOT of people. I found 9 or 10 pages that were all talking about it.

Ah well, what can you do.

it is pretty simple, I have 10 planes assigned to my squadron. 9 planes are on the ground. The one flying either answers the radio check or does not answer. Flying low levels are the most fun you can have with your pants on. There is no roller coaster that compares. I just hope it is typical miscommunication between USAF and media.

An Air Force spokesperson confirmed that there WAS a C-17 in the area, flying a Nap of the Earth profile, but it landed safely at Altus AFB Oklahoma. NOE would explain why they thought it was crashing. Personally I think you'd have to be insane to fly a C-17 NOE, but hey, if it works.......

NOE is used to minimise detection by hostile aircraft, by AWACS surveillance and control systems, by ground-based radar or by the actual targets of the attack (such as when setting up a helicopter strike against an armored force).[1]

A high-flying aircraft would be detected by defense systems at long range, allowing an air defense system time to react, alert SAM and AAA systems and scramble fighter (Air Defence) aircraft. Using NOE flight, the approach may be undetected, the aircraft "pops up" to attack the target and then turns to escape before the enemy can respond. Doppler radar has the potential to detect NOE flight but the incoming aircraft has to be within radar range in the first place and low flying minimises this possibility.

Heights Above Ground Level (AGL) in NOE and low flying generally vary with the aircraft speed, aircraft maneuverability and the ruggedness of the terrain. Helicopters are capable of flying down to a few feet below the skids or wheels. Fast jets are more constrained and at a typical low-flying speed of 450 knots (800 km/h), 200 feet (60 m) is not unusual and 50 feet (15 m) is possible in relatively flat terrain. Power wires are a danger to all aircraft flying at low level and 'wire strikes' are not uncommon. Special maps are produced that plot the routes of these wires but these are difficult to keep up-to-date, especially for foreign/enemy countries. Pilots are trained to scan for the pylons or power-poles that support these wires, because they can be seen at a distance where the wires themselves cannot.

en.wikipedia.org...

Ya, there was no crash. The c-17 in question was back safely before any of these preliminary news reports were reported. Some silly civilian who had no clue what was going on mistook low-level maneuvers for a crash.

Also, noone in the c-17 world refers to anything as NOE, we refer to them as low levels, or low level maneuvers.

[edit on 23-3-2009 by germloucks]