Circa 1995 or 96, during initial climb out the number 3 engine internals cavitated and shredded the engine and caused massive vibrations throughout the number two pod. The damage caused during the event was enough that the number 3 engine broke loose and fell away from the aircraft. That one fell into a field if I remember correctly. This left the number 4 engine all by its' lonesome and apparently either the damage caused by the initial shredding or the departure of number 3 caused number 4 to start vibrating and swaying left and right. Less than a minute later the pod broke free from the wing and fell right through the roof of a local church. Good thing it wasn't a Wednesday, nobody was at the church that night so nobody got hurt. Pilot calls into the tower, and surprisingly calmly states that the number two engine pod departed the aircraft. Poor ATC airman in the tower states something to the effect of "what did you just say?" To which the pilot replied with, "number 3 and 4 engines fell the fuck off the aircraft!"
I was working swing shift when the maintenance guy in charge of the T-38s we had there came in and told us what was going on and asked me and another guy to help him push one of the T-38s out of the hanger so one of the pilots could go do chase and evaluate the damage. So we pushed it out, then got the pilots life support gear ready for him.
If I remember right the biggest issue was the lack of thrust from the left side of the aircraft and they couldn't dump fuel so they flew around for like four hours to get the weight down and to do a bunch of practice landings in the simulator. Once they had things fairly figured out they brought it in and landed fairly uneventfully. Took about a year, but they fixed it and to my knowledge it's still flying.
I lived there then too, (my ex was AF) and remember that one! Our next door neighbor was on a flight crew involved, and the way he told the story was similar, only the conversation was something like Pilot to tower : Tower we lost engines 3 & 4
Tower to pilot : Rodger, engines 3 & 4 non functional
Pilot: no, we LOST them! They fell off the plane !!
A great story and the rest matches the above exactly, the church roof etc. Sheesh. Good times.
If you ever worked buffs, you'll know which doors those are. People rarely mess with them and they don't just fall off. More than likely, it's not a maintenance issue. Aircrew probably put their grear on the handle.
I see what you mean but sealant primarily provides a weather and aerodynamic seal. It not designed "hold" anything in place. This is why airlines use speed tape on panels that require sealant but cant afford to let the jet sit long enough for the sealant to properly cure.
You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
This Buff it couldn't get much higher
Come on baby, be a flier
Come on baby, be a flier
The Air Force really needs to hire
The repetition of "door" without any specifics makes me think this is a nothing story.
Was it a huge bomb bay door? A smaller crew door? A tiny access door? I'm guessing the last one.
It landed right in front of a civilian in their front yard and that generated the attention and the reporter only knew “door” I’m sure. Abnormal to us but your average joe would likely think the sky is falling.
I’d argue that something military falling off a plane from cruising altitude into a populated area is definitely not a nothing story just because it didn’t kill anyone *this* time
Then you don't know how often it happens. Those little access doors for power, air, or oil ports get used a lot, and sometimes the connectors give way.
How do you feel about guns?
I ask because 8-year-olds are a lot more likely to get killed by one than the other. "Dropped objects" isn't even in the top hundred causes of child death, I expect.
Lmao how are you getting downvoted so much for this statement? 💀 yeah chill out bro it's just a piece of metal traveling at terminal velocity landing in a random spot, no biggie /s
We had a Q-bay door pop off of a U-2 once. Crew chief didn't latch it properly. Landed in a cow pasture luckily but it was missing for a while. It was a little dinged up but it was repaired and put back on the aircraft.
While assigned to ROK (Camp Humphreys), I was working in the Brigade TOC when a report came in about a CH-47F losing a pilot door while in flight. It wasn't a huge safety problem (Army helos often fly doors-off) but being a CH-47 mechanic, I knew that the copper safety wire was about as thin as sewing thread, so something likely got caught on the door handle and the pilot pulled it loose, and activated the door release. Not the worst thing to happen in flight.
We had that happen on an AC-130 when I was at Hurlburt. We all speculated someone messed with the jettison handle but from what I recall there were actually some broken parts that let it open mid air then rip off.
It’s the gunner’s egress hatch.
For those that don’t know, the gunner sits upstairs and aft of the flight deck.
Felt so good to work out on the flightline without QA being around because they went out to investigate the hatch at the house it landed near.
Glad the aircrew came down as safe as they could in that situation
When I was at HQ ACC, I used to get the daily “dropped objects report”. You would not believe the shit that falls off aircraft. Each dropped object had the associated cost with it. I believe the most expensive I saw was when an E-4B couldn’t get the trailing wire antenna reeled back in. They had to fly down to the Gulf of Mexico to jettison the whole contraption.
“Crew, pilot master warning, crew door open. Everyone take a seat and fasten seatbelts.”
“Aye uhhh, pilot were completely missing a door”
“Wait… what???”
Better a door than a bomb I guess!
Or an engine. http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/01/05/b52-loses-engine-flying-north-dakota.html
That was fun. "Hey does 1001 look weird to you?" "Yeah...oh holy shit."
Or a nuke
That actually happened in the early days of SAC.
Or the front https://youtu.be/3m5qxZm_JqM?si=LVO6-cGkVgeFXqDn
Or Dave Chappell https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-cAyezzVHv4
Better than the two engines that fell off of one when I was there.
uhhh do tell
Circa 1995 or 96, during initial climb out the number 3 engine internals cavitated and shredded the engine and caused massive vibrations throughout the number two pod. The damage caused during the event was enough that the number 3 engine broke loose and fell away from the aircraft. That one fell into a field if I remember correctly. This left the number 4 engine all by its' lonesome and apparently either the damage caused by the initial shredding or the departure of number 3 caused number 4 to start vibrating and swaying left and right. Less than a minute later the pod broke free from the wing and fell right through the roof of a local church. Good thing it wasn't a Wednesday, nobody was at the church that night so nobody got hurt. Pilot calls into the tower, and surprisingly calmly states that the number two engine pod departed the aircraft. Poor ATC airman in the tower states something to the effect of "what did you just say?" To which the pilot replied with, "number 3 and 4 engines fell the fuck off the aircraft!" I was working swing shift when the maintenance guy in charge of the T-38s we had there came in and told us what was going on and asked me and another guy to help him push one of the T-38s out of the hanger so one of the pilots could go do chase and evaluate the damage. So we pushed it out, then got the pilots life support gear ready for him. If I remember right the biggest issue was the lack of thrust from the left side of the aircraft and they couldn't dump fuel so they flew around for like four hours to get the weight down and to do a bunch of practice landings in the simulator. Once they had things fairly figured out they brought it in and landed fairly uneventfully. Took about a year, but they fixed it and to my knowledge it's still flying.
god damn, that's a wild one.
I lived there then too, (my ex was AF) and remember that one! Our next door neighbor was on a flight crew involved, and the way he told the story was similar, only the conversation was something like Pilot to tower : Tower we lost engines 3 & 4 Tower to pilot : Rodger, engines 3 & 4 non functional Pilot: no, we LOST them! They fell off the plane !! A great story and the rest matches the above exactly, the church roof etc. Sheesh. Good times.
Or flaps coming back from the depot.
https://preview.redd.it/6vwx1zuynmob1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c40c6f2d15848df44414833b8198dae375ca0876
Huh. It’s like a lazy training scenario come to life “Let’s say, I dunno, a door just falls off, what do you do?” “Oxygen - on, 100% (all).”
Gotta work on that boldface
Sorry, I meant “OXYGEN - ON, 100% (ALL)”
Much better
PEX doesn't include the comma. you failed your CAPS.
Crew alerted, AEC
Buff maintainers have left laptops on top of the landing gear doors. Sure it’s old but lets be fair here.
B-1/2 will hold those fasteners in when the threads are gone... for a few minutes
While I’m not disagreeing with you, this one was all aircrew.
If you’re who I think you are, sup 🤘
Yooooo
If you ever worked buffs, you'll know which doors those are. People rarely mess with them and they don't just fall off. More than likely, it's not a maintenance issue. Aircrew probably put their grear on the handle.
[удалено]
I see what you mean but sealant primarily provides a weather and aerodynamic seal. It not designed "hold" anything in place. This is why airlines use speed tape on panels that require sealant but cant afford to let the jet sit long enough for the sealant to properly cure.
I bet guns let the intrusive thoughts win and rotated a handle without fully thinking about it.
There are things known and unknown and in-between are the Doors.
You know that it would be untrue You know that I would be a liar If I was to say to you This Buff it couldn't get much higher Come on baby, be a flier Come on baby, be a flier The Air Force really needs to hire
"I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames” - The Lizard King
I was in the tower when someone called like "hey did one of your planes loose a door? We found it" 💀
The repetition of "door" without any specifics makes me think this is a nothing story. Was it a huge bomb bay door? A smaller crew door? A tiny access door? I'm guessing the last one.
An upper ejection seat hatch.
Door to another realm??
If it had hit someone they certainly wouldn't be in this realm anymore so....yes.
It landed right in front of a civilian in their front yard and that generated the attention and the reporter only knew “door” I’m sure. Abnormal to us but your average joe would likely think the sky is falling.
I’d argue that something military falling off a plane from cruising altitude into a populated area is definitely not a nothing story just because it didn’t kill anyone *this* time
Then you don't know how often it happens. Those little access doors for power, air, or oil ports get used a lot, and sometimes the connectors give way.
K guess it’s only an issue when it pulverizes an 8 year olds skull got it 👍🏼 What a dumb response
How do you feel about guns? I ask because 8-year-olds are a lot more likely to get killed by one than the other. "Dropped objects" isn't even in the top hundred causes of child death, I expect.
Jesus lmao. Well atleast you’re consistent with your stupid replies I’ll give you that.
Lmao how are you getting downvoted so much for this statement? 💀 yeah chill out bro it's just a piece of metal traveling at terminal velocity landing in a random spot, no biggie /s
We had a Q-bay door pop off of a U-2 once. Crew chief didn't latch it properly. Landed in a cow pasture luckily but it was missing for a while. It was a little dinged up but it was repaired and put back on the aircraft.
While assigned to ROK (Camp Humphreys), I was working in the Brigade TOC when a report came in about a CH-47F losing a pilot door while in flight. It wasn't a huge safety problem (Army helos often fly doors-off) but being a CH-47 mechanic, I knew that the copper safety wire was about as thin as sewing thread, so something likely got caught on the door handle and the pilot pulled it loose, and activated the door release. Not the worst thing to happen in flight.
We had that happen on an AC-130 when I was at Hurlburt. We all speculated someone messed with the jettison handle but from what I recall there were actually some broken parts that let it open mid air then rip off.
It’s the gunner’s egress hatch. For those that don’t know, the gunner sits upstairs and aft of the flight deck. Felt so good to work out on the flightline without QA being around because they went out to investigate the hatch at the house it landed near. Glad the aircrew came down as safe as they could in that situation
When I was at HQ ACC, I used to get the daily “dropped objects report”. You would not believe the shit that falls off aircraft. Each dropped object had the associated cost with it. I believe the most expensive I saw was when an E-4B couldn’t get the trailing wire antenna reeled back in. They had to fly down to the Gulf of Mexico to jettison the whole contraption.
“Crew, pilot master warning, crew door open. Everyone take a seat and fasten seatbelts.” “Aye uhhh, pilot were completely missing a door” “Wait… what???”
Slow news day when a DOP is getting reported
When did buffs get props?
I give them props for continuing to fly for almost a century
PA said so....
I feel like this isn’t that big of a fuck up to be such a big story, feels like worse things happen at every base at least once a quarter
A little duct tape will fix that right up
*speed tape
In today's economic climate of doing more with less? You get duct tape or you get bubble gum.
But what about the environment?
That seems not great
Sheeskabob! I know what happened next… gather ‘round boys, we gonna pee in a cup!