What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

OSH 2011 PIREPs and Photo Gallery URLs

How are the field conditions after the rains? Parking? I may come back Friday.


What happened to the F-16? Did he follow the flag man? :confused:
 
I don't know exactly but I guess he couldn't slow it down in time and ran off the end....the soft mud made the gear collapse.
 
tkatc said:
I don't know exactly but I guess he couldn't slow it down in time and ran off the end....the soft mud made the gear collapse.
Click to expand...

I haven't heard a definitive story, but several folks saw him going by them near the end of the runway going "pretty darn fast!"

I stopped by Van's tent shortly after, and there was a great deal of discussion about "those darn F-16 nose wheels and how fragile they are....someone should contact Lockheed and demand that they do a redesign....they should be able to survive anything a pilot can do to them...;)"

Some folks mentioned that there was a second incident of the fire trucks racing down the runway, about the time that the Rutan aircraft were doing their fly-by....anyone know what that was about?

Paul
 
Last edited:
Ironflight said:
Some folks mentioned that there was a second incident of the fire trucks racing down the runway, about the time that the Rutan aircraft were doing their fly-by....anyone know what that was about?

Paul
Click to expand...

I think the FJ Fury went off the end as well. Those Navy landing gear apparently served it well though - from what I could see it didn't appear much worse for the wear sitting there in the grass. It certainly looked in much better shape than the F-16.
 
Both seemed "fast" ....

Scott_F said:
I think the FJ Fury went off the end as well. Those Navy landing gear apparently served it well though - from what I could see it didn't appear much worse for the wear sitting there in the grass. It certainly looked in much better shape than the F-16.
Click to expand...

I saw the F-16 go by after landing at what seemed quite fast for the amount of runway left. Assuming was wrong with the pilot, it did not appear to have the kind of braking one might expect with so little runway left.

I looked away for a few seconds and the next thingni saw was people rushing and looking in that direction. The plane was "nose low" with the canopy now open and a little smoke coming from the tail end.

Later I saw the second jet (Fury??) go by at a fast rate for the amount of runway left. This time I did not look away. It did not slow down or seem to have the braking as one would have expected for so little runway remaining. It ran off the runway and I remember commenting to someone that the most damage was probably to the pilot's pride on that one. Unlike the F-16, it remained standing tall.

I have no idea as to what happened but from afar it LOOKED as if though both were shy of braking capacity.

James
 
315450160-28150012.jpg


284801_10150324975159766_648424765_9342500_1904245_n.jpg
 
Ouch!

That hurts just looking at the photo!

Did he land towards the high-speed turn off? It looks like #1 is taxiing on the high-speed in the background?

I feel for the pilot and hope he's ok. We landed the E-3 (707) there in '98. Even though it was dry, it was still sporty with just our brakes (no TR's)!
 
An Ending

gereed75 said:
an un-equivocable career ender.
Click to expand...

Maybe? I've been witness to guy hitting and antenna guy wire, bailing out, making two (count 'em, 2) star general and becoming the state's adjutant general (note lower case :rolleyes:). You just never know!
 
N282S said:
Maybe? I've been witness to guy hitting and antenna guy wire, bailing out, making two (count 'em, 2) star general and becoming the state's adjutant general (note lower case :rolleyes:). You just never know!
Click to expand...

Steve,
You wouldn't by chance be referring to somebody we know here on the forums, would you? :D :D
 
Maybe back in the day

when devil may care, ace of the air fighter pilots ruled the military, but now in the more proper and politically correct fighting force, I suspect this type of thing is a stake in the heart.

That airplane is gonna take a lot of fixin'.
 
Last edited:
N282S said:
Maybe? I've been witness to guy hitting and antenna guy wire, bailing out, making two (count 'em, 2) star general and becoming the state's adjutant general (note lower case :rolleyes:). You just never know!
Click to expand...

Yeah, the National Guard is a different animal in more ways than one!:rolleyes:
 
Wait and See...

dmaib said:
Yeah, the Air National Guard is a different animal in more ways than one!:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Fixed it for ya.

But seriously, we do not have the full story. Flight lead for this flyby lost his wings. Other AF pilots have continued on after some much greater accidents.

Until we know the full story (and we probably won't unless you have SIPRNET access), we can't legitimately judge or guess his fate.
 
gereed75 said:
an un-equivocable career ender.
Click to expand...

False. Even if the guy landed long and fast (looks like it given how far he was aerobraking), he'll just get some remedial training. I've heard rumors that is was a possilbe anti-skid failure which from the youtube video looks like a strong possibility... either way this will be nothing more than an embarassing story for this dude unless this is like his 5th event proven to be *******ery.

Everything at this point is just rumor and speculation though, the guy deserves a little more respect than that.

As far as the jet, they'll swap the motor, patch it up and ferry it out. It'll be back flying again before you know it.
 
Looks to be ready for static display duty, the airframe broke aft of the forward avionics bay and F-16 intakes don't repair very well.
 
We'll have gouge soon enough. It's a 187th bird, former home of a well-known VAF'er.
 
perfect-

RV6_flyer said:
It is raining.
Got this from a friend and I think it shows he true spirit of AirVenture.
REO Speedwagon @ EAA OSH - Time For Me to Fly. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Click to expand...
Great tube- . Has been a while since I camped at OSH- Was singing that tune when the sun came out on Wed. afternoon. But before that the tune was from - A river runs through it....the tent that is. Was not real comfy sloggen through the grass/mud way with a packed A model while trying to get out. I think a dorm or house is in order for next year!
 
Bama Viper

Gentlemen,

I too, was witness to my former squadron's trusty steed (F-16) departing the runway at OSH. I was working at I-Tec's "Maverick Flying Car" exhibit next to Van's when it happened. Although I could not see the mishap from my vantage point, several others have relayed to me in detail what they saw including two F-16 friends.
Before anyone throws anybody else under the bus, the field conditions were not optimum for recovering a 25,000# fighter that flies final at 160+ knots. A semi-wet runway with a quartering tailwind didn't help what initially appeared to be a high speed touchdown followed by inadequate stopping distance and a runway departure. This followed thereafter by the nose-gear collapsing and engine ingesting terra firma. Ugh.
First, the good news, no one got hurt. The bad news, the former combat machine still lies where it fell, as there was nothing initially capable to move the aircraft without damage and for safety investigation sakes, no reason to. There it still sits for all the thousands of onlookers to see.
Until the official report comes out, we shouldn't speculate, but having spoken to a high ranking squadron member, mechanical failure can't be ruled out. The anti-skid system on the Viper works well but if it fails, you have to release brake pressure, turn off the system via switch and re-apply brakes. Not easy to do when the runway is disappearing underneath you at a rapid pace.
Until the investigation is completed we will have to wait for the rest of the story...

Smokey
www.itecusa.org
 
Good Job!

Ironflight said:
Agreed Larry - tons of airplanes all around - especially compared to last yea! But the place sue seemed a lot less crowded today with the light rain - what surprised me most was that I figured that all the buildings would be packed, but some of them were fairly light - not sure whee everyone was hiding....



Well I took a bunch of them yesterday, but they were ALL of that beautiful RV-3, and all of close-up details. Of interest to those building -3's....
Click to expand...

Was wondering if someone was going to detail photo that beautiful bird. Not building one but want to one day and always good to have photo's of great work archived.

Bruce Gray
 
dadroot said:
I had on my "Steinair" shirt Monday at lunch and two gentlemen asked me where I got it. They then introduced themselves as Stien's brother and father.

Stein, enjoyed talking with your family and as I told them, people read the "We are not happy until you are broke" and always ask to see the front of my shirt. Most think it will say "IRS".

Thanks for the shirt.
Click to expand...

It was very nice to meet you also. Dad and I were very excited to see our "clown car" at OSH. We had a great time flying in with the Citabria, but look forward to bringing the RV 9 ourselves next year (Should speed up the trip from Sturgis, SD substantially)!
 
Oshkosh Photos

After arriving back home yesterday, I spent some time culling through a large number of photos from Oshkosh and uploaded to Skydrive. This year's trip took about 25 hours round trip, covering almost 3000 nautical miles over the week with the usual high winds, sun, heat, humidity, storms, and bugs! But as usual, it was a fun week for sure.
 
OSH F-16 Incident

While awaiting on 36R for departure (before the FAA figured it was easier to have us do a 180 and launch off 18L) after the airport closure, it occured to me that the Viper driver is obviously in the clear on this one... The official NOTAM clearly indicates to turn off into the grass after landing at the earliest, and follow directions to parking..:D
 
Last edited:
OSH photos

Wow Mark, great shots. Thanks for posting!
Those from the helo made me feel like I was right there, riding along. They'll be great to show "OSH wannabes" the sheer magnitude of the grounds and the event.


Doug
Seattle area
-4, wings
 
Thanks, Mark!

Great photos, AGAIN! You always take great shots. Good to see you still enjoying your plane. You still need to make it to SC. Maybe next year we will make it to OSH.... or the next. :D
 
The Sea of RVs is now a puddle. Pics as of 2pm Sunday.

fbd22a3e.jpg


The Long-EZ in the foreground flew to Oshkosh from England via the North Atlantic. Just in case you thought you had a long flight.

69fbe58c.jpg


832b6208.jpg


dd2c64dd.jpg


412701f4.jpg


One more post-airshow flush and we are done. Then off to the Wind Down Party and tomorrow, home.
 
One of the things I noticed this year were the "unarmed" soldiers at the gates. While they had their M4s and M9s, no magazines were in place. Curious, I got as close as I could to one soldier and could see the magazine follower in a magazine in a pouch on his vest i.e. the magazines were unloaded as well.

Anyone else notice this?
 
Jeff: As always, thanks for the great job with parking and with helping find a fuel truck for me. I hope to see you again next year.

Chris
 
ChiefPilot said:
One of the things I noticed this year were the "unarmed" soldiers at the gates. While they had their M4s and M9s, no magazines were in place. Curious, I got as close as I could to one soldier and could see the magazine follower in a magazine in a pouch on his vest i.e. the magazines were unloaded as well.

Anyone else notice this?
Click to expand...

By law they can't be armed. If you do a little search on the Posse Comitatus Act, you can get the scoop on it. Martial Law would have to be declared before they have any police powers. It would have to get very heinous before that would happen. After the Kent State incident, you can understand the hesitancy to arm the National Guard.
 
Mark Burns pictures

Great pictures Mark. It was fun to see you again and I enjoyed meeting Richard. Derek will be envious of you for meeting Arial, I'm sure you put in a good word for the 19 yr old pilot:D.
 
GregM said:
By law they can't be armed. If you do a little search on the Posse Comitatus Act, you can get the scoop on it. Martial Law would have to be declared before they have any police powers. It would have to get very heinous before that would happen. After the Kent State incident, you can understand the hesitancy to arm the National Guard.
Click to expand...

I'm very familiar with the PC act (and I don't think it would prevent them from being armed) - I just thought the notion of them standing around with hardware was silly.
 
ChiefPilot said:
One of the things I noticed this year were the "unarmed" soldiers at the gates. While they had their M4s and M9s, no magazines were in place. Curious, I got as close as I could to one soldier and could see the magazine follower in a magazine in a pouch on his vest i.e. the magazines were unloaded as well.

Anyone else notice this?
Click to expand...
I spoke to one of the soldiers and he said that it was a cost savings move. They could put the Guard there for less $$$ than the local Sheriffs, so that's what they did.

I also made note that all the weapons were not loaded. They are not allowed to have loaded weapons, unless marshal law is declared. This is interesting reading. Make sure to skip down to the section regarding the US laws.
 
Van's tent the day after. The usual ghost squadron.

3b2e62a2.jpg


99109bf7.jpg


BTW- once the F-16 was moved, the guard troops disappeared from the gates as well, so I suspect that was the reason they were there, not the terrorism threat that was rumored.
 
Cheap Labor

N941WR said:
I spoke to one of the soldiers and he said that it was a cost savings move. They could put the Guard there for less $$$ than the local Sheriffs, so that's what they did.
Click to expand...

When we were activated for flood duty as members of the Air National Guard,
we were paid minimum wage. Definitely cheaper than a sheriff.
 
F16

I was at the South end and watched the F16's land. Both touched down quite far South smoothly and everything looked normal. I was very surprised that one ran off.

My neighbor was an F16 pilot/instructor in the Air Force. He said that it is likely a mechanical problem. Stating the runway is far more than adequate which is proven with the many operations there of similar jets. As a side note, the Wisconsin NG F16 that was on display in the Square was his airframe when he was in the airforce!!

Regarding the FJ, he appeared to land long and too fast. I saw that one and it was a predictable outcome.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top