Finally, something exciting!
Well, I finally have something interesting to talk about. Although I guess those who read this have probably already through other forums and stuff I'm in...anyway, here it is:
On the 18th of July, there was an incident involving an F-111 jet at RAAF base Amberley. The last of a group of 5 aircraft lost its rear left wheel on take-off, something that has never happened in 34 years of the RAAF flying F-111s. While this is interesting in itself, the more exciting part is that I was working on the airfield at the time, and I saw the whole thing with my own eyes! :)
I don't know what the odds are of me being there on the one day that this happened, but they must be pretty slim!
I was there to work on the lighting regulators for some of the approach lighting, and we were waiting (and watching) for the 5 F-111s to take off before I turned off the lights to start working on the regulators. We were a little surprised (to say the least!) to see the wheel come off and go hurtling down the runway, across some grass and then behind some buildings. The pilot was informed straight away, and declared mayday.
Our schedule for the day was disrupted as the whole base went into lockdown. I was able to finish that part of my work (it only took about 30mins), but we were stuck out on the airfield for a couple of hours while the aircraft circled overhead. Eventually we were instructed to vacate the airfield, and went down to the control tower (where I had to work on some more lighting regulators).
From the base of the tower, we were able to see the aircraft safely complete an emergency landing (with no landing gear). They used the arrester hook & cable to bring him down. It was quite spectacular. The pilot did an incredible job keeping the rear of the aircraft only a few feet off the ground for quite some time as he approached and snagged the cable.
Here's the aircraft still sliding on the ground after catching the cable:
So, all in all, it was a much more dramatic day than I had been expecting when I woke up!
On the 18th of July, there was an incident involving an F-111 jet at RAAF base Amberley. The last of a group of 5 aircraft lost its rear left wheel on take-off, something that has never happened in 34 years of the RAAF flying F-111s. While this is interesting in itself, the more exciting part is that I was working on the airfield at the time, and I saw the whole thing with my own eyes! :)
I don't know what the odds are of me being there on the one day that this happened, but they must be pretty slim!
I was there to work on the lighting regulators for some of the approach lighting, and we were waiting (and watching) for the 5 F-111s to take off before I turned off the lights to start working on the regulators. We were a little surprised (to say the least!) to see the wheel come off and go hurtling down the runway, across some grass and then behind some buildings. The pilot was informed straight away, and declared mayday.
Our schedule for the day was disrupted as the whole base went into lockdown. I was able to finish that part of my work (it only took about 30mins), but we were stuck out on the airfield for a couple of hours while the aircraft circled overhead. Eventually we were instructed to vacate the airfield, and went down to the control tower (where I had to work on some more lighting regulators).
From the base of the tower, we were able to see the aircraft safely complete an emergency landing (with no landing gear). They used the arrester hook & cable to bring him down. It was quite spectacular. The pilot did an incredible job keeping the rear of the aircraft only a few feet off the ground for quite some time as he approached and snagged the cable.
Here's the aircraft still sliding on the ground after catching the cable:
So, all in all, it was a much more dramatic day than I had been expecting when I woke up!
posted by Rob at 7/20/2006 10:40:00 pm
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