Flight/Planes

Stopping a runaway golf cart from hitting a plane at OHare.

 
My mood tonight, this to one of my favourite lady's. I've sung this song many times.

 
US Navy's 'Doomsday' plane taken out by a bird - Unexplained Mysteries

An aircraft designed to survive a nuclear apocalypse recently suffered a rather unfortunate mishap.
Designed to function as a mobile command-and-control center for US forces in the event of a nuclear war, the Boeing E-6 Mercury is equipped with systems that can withstand the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear warhead exploding directly below it.

Sadly though, it's defensive capabilities against threats of an avian variety leave a lot to be desired.

In what has been officially described as a "Class A mishap", an E-6B Mercury was forced to make an emergency landing on October 2nd after a collision with a bird took out one of its engines.

The incident, which occurred near the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, caused over $2 million worth of damage.

"The engine has been replaced, and the aircraft has been returned to service," said Tim Boulay, a spokesman for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division.

While bird strikes are not uncommon, the fact that an aircraft designed to survive a nuclear war can be brought down so easily by one is not exactly encouraging.

This isn't the first 'mishap' to befall the E-6B Mercury in recent months either - back in February a separate aircraft sustained damage after snagging a hangar at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.

Let's hope there won't actually be any need for a doomsday-proof plane anytime soon.
 
US Navy's 'Doomsday' plane taken out by a bird - Unexplained Mysteries

An aircraft designed to survive a nuclear apocalypse recently suffered a rather unfortunate mishap.
Designed to function as a mobile command-and-control center for US forces in the event of a nuclear war, the Boeing E-6 Mercury is equipped with systems that can withstand the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear warhead exploding directly below it.

Sadly though, it's defensive capabilities against threats of an avian variety leave a lot to be desired.

In what has been officially described as a "Class A mishap", an E-6B Mercury was forced to make an emergency landing on October 2nd after a collision with a bird took out one of its engines.

The incident, which occurred near the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, caused over $2 million worth of damage.

"The engine has been replaced, and the aircraft has been returned to service," said Tim Boulay, a spokesman for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division.

While bird strikes are not uncommon, the fact that an aircraft designed to survive a nuclear war can be brought down so easily by one is not exactly encouraging.

This isn't the first 'mishap' to befall the E-6B Mercury in recent months either - back in February a separate aircraft sustained damage after snagging a hangar at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.

Let's hope there won't actually be any need for a doomsday-proof plane anytime soon.

1995 Alaska Boeing E-3 Sentry accident - Wikipedia

Birds can be extremely dangerous. Back in 1995 the USAF lost an E-3 AWACS, an aircraft based on the same 707 airframe as the E-6 in the story above, on take-off in Alaska after flying through a flock of birds. All twenty-four aboard were killed.
 
I can't remember if I posted this before. I had Christie's verify that it is genuine as there are fake copies around.

ap13.jpg
 
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I can't remember if I posted this before. I had Christie's verify that it is genuine as there are fake copies around.

ap13.jpg

Very cool, especially considering Apollo 13 and the coins almost didn't make it back.

Somewhere I have a small US flag that was flown on the first B-2 flight, and a certificate carried on the first flight of the JSF. I gave away most of that kind of stuff when I retired, but I think I still have those.
 
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