Fighter Pilot Runs Out of Fuel Over Downtown
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- Опубликовано: 3 фев 2025
- You don't often have fighter pilots running out of fuel over a very populated area but there aren't many options when that combines with bad weather.
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My wife must have been a fighter pilot in a previous life, her car is always on E, with low fuel light on. Drives me nuts.
must be a girls' thing, same with my wife... 😂😂
😂😂😂
If you ask, "Honey, what's your fuel status (with the LFL beaming)?" and she replies, "Master Caution", you know it's true.
Same. So annoying. No matter how much i hassle her about it, never changes.
I tell the women in my life that half a tank is Empty for them. They do not want to be on a freeway run out of fuel as a female……
He probabky went to 10,000' to be ready for a flame out landing. It's called high key and leads to a steep spiral descent to maintain enough lift to fly without an engine. As a retired fighter pilot I really appreciate the video, brought back a few butt cheek clenching flights.
It is actually a bingo profile. Best climb, short cruise, followed by idle descent. I don’t know of other fighters that can do a flameout approach other than the F-16. Also, high key/low key require visual with the field.
just speculating here. Could his emergency checklist require it because of a possible ejection?
@@jonathanblubaugh5049 I believe modern US ejection systems can eject sitting on the ground without adding injury to the pilot. Of course, ejecting is violent and likely to cause injury in itself.
😊🥺😳
@ no, when it is time to eject, the pilot will convert any excess airspeed into altitude. While there is a “safe” ejection envelope, most modern ejection seats are considered zero/zero (altitude/airspeed). The limiting factor is a descent rate. The higher the descent rate at initiation the lower the probability of a safe ejection even at relatively high altitudes. For example, the A-4 had a mandatory ejection altitude of 10k’ if in out of controlled flight due to the high descent rate.
My husband, a retired pilot, never told me about any touchy situations until after he retired. Wise man!😳🙏❤️
Sounds me like a man that loves you 👍
Yeah I plan not to tell my wife about any “touchy” situations until after I retire either, wink wink
@@stevebalt5234 heh heh
I'm a pilot and found myself in a hair raising situation recently, I realized after telling my wife, what a mistake it was to tell her.
@@אתהברטון And you're a barbarian! What's your point?! 😃
Hey, ATC Controller here from the area. There was a slight mistake at 21:36. In the part where it reads "ARTCC- See you soon." That is actually STL TRACON and the controller is giving his operating initials A Z, albeit he is not clear when he says it. It's standard procedure to issue operating initials to end a call between facilities in ATC. Operating initials is unique to each controller in a facility and the procedure is to issue them in phonetics, in this case he should have said "Alpha Zulu" to end the call but in practice many experienced controllers quickly say their initials as letters, like we see here.
I've never met A Z in person but I work with him often over inter-facility lines which is why I could decode his slurred initials. He and his crew did great work here under this stressful situation.
My hat’s off to you. Gotta be a rough job at times.
This is, by far and away, the best analysis you've done. The level of competence demonstrated by both the pilot and controller is absolutely commendable.
He asserted that the "pilot runs out of fuel". That's a blatant lie.
You might want to reevaluate your standards for a 'best analysis'.
As for this pilot demonstrating competence, you have total control over not putting yourself into a low fuel state to begin with. And if you do make that mistake... to declare Min Fuel, let alone Emer Fuel, you fly the approach down to mins and then land. You don't botch the approach and go missed approach.
If your jet breaks and you have fuel leak, then you can maintain competence while dealing with a fuel emergency. Not if you paint yourself into a corner. This pilot made several major errors.
@@dahawk8574 In all fairness you have no idea why the pilot was low on fuel. There could be a systems failure that lead to this situation.
@@GodzillaGoesGaga It could have been a logistics failure with millatary landings being down or not accessable... We don't got information on why this accident happened.
@@GodzillaGoesGaga: " In all fairness you have no idea why the pilot was low on fuel."
There are the probable reasons. And then there are the highly improbable reasons.
Even the best pilots screw up. Look at all the fame and adoration given to, say, the Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon. Do you hear anyone tell stories of the times they did major screwups? The vast majority of the focus is on glory. Not lessons learned from huge mistakes they made which nearly killed them.
Most pertinent to this story here is the second person to do a Moon landing, Pete Conrad...
That one time when he had to do a weather divert. He cut it way too close. And then while shooting his approach to Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas, he actually ran out of fuel and had to eject from his T-38.
A story no one tells. Yet it happened.
We all make mistakes. Even the very best of us.
And I doubt Kelsey will see this, but Pete's case is one where the pilot actually DID run out of fuel. Not clickbait.
@@GodzillaGoesGaga: "In all fairness you have no idea why the pilot was low on fuel."
There are the probable reasons. And then there are the highly improbable reasons.
Even the best pilots screw up. Look at all the fame and adoration given to, say, the Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon. Do you hear anyone tell stories of the times they did major screwups? The vast majority of the focus is on glory. Not lessons learned from huge mistakes they made which nearly killed them.
Most pertinent to this story here is the second person to do a Moon landing, Pete Conrad...
That one time when he had to do a weather divert. He cut it way too close. And then while shooting his approach to Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas, he actually ran out of fuel and had to eject from his T-38.
A story no one tells. Yet it happened. Roughly around June of 1970, about half a year after he got back from the Moon. Talk about being humbled. We all make mistakes. Even the very best of us.
Now I doubt Kelsey will see this, but Pete's case is one where the pilot actually DID run out of fuel. Not clickbait.
Give that controller credit - calm and composed. Great teamwork all around.
He doesn't have to eject.
@@SusanPearce_H try being responsible for other people’s lives and let us know how chill you are
@@SusanPearce_H The action of ejection itself isn't zero risk. However it is a reasonably low physical risk situation, particularly when the plane isn't doing some wild loopy crap because you've lost flight control or is in the process of disassembly because it was hit by missile.
The two core troubles with ejection, one alluded to in the video, is your plane becomes a missile out of your control that can injury or kill others, and the other is the AF is going to give the pilot a metaphorical proctological exam to assess whether this was the correct decision to make. They get really uptight about landings that cost $80 million in plane.
So, frankly, these two were on roughly similar footing that way.
@SusanPearce_H You do realize he's not only controlling that emergency but other aircraft at the same time? You wouldn't be able to make a helicopter hold position, let alone vector aircraft.
@ I have been.
101% CHILL. Any other questions that don't insult me?
That is the clearest radio comm that I've ever heard on these videos.
I guess fighter jets cost a billion dollars for a reason
I'm gonna guess it's a combination of the fact that it's the ATC recordings and the fact that military ATC comms have the option to use UHF for communication (225-400 MHz) where there is not as much radio noise and interference.
@ Also, they enunciate. Most ATC comms sound to me like drunken slurring until you get used to the way they talk. I'm sure that when you do it all day, every day you get used to hearing it. As someone not in that ecosystem I often rely on the onscreen captions to figure out what they're saying.
TRUE
Imagine if it was Kennedy …..
Oh my goodness I’m a 76 year-old woman. I’m listening to your and watching and I am on the edge of my seat between the pilot and the tower. The conversation is awesome and he’s gonna land. Oh my goodness no fuel wow I’m impressed. God bless you.
I always find it very annoying, rude, offensive, and inappropriate for people that are not among the people they know, like their friends and family, to constantly try to push or throw at other people their religious beliefs.
Yes, I am talking about the OP’s “God bless you” at the end of her comment. There is absolutely no reason for it to be written. You have no idea whether the video maker or other people reading your comment even believe in God. You certainly don’t want to hear my opinion of my beliefs. I am also sure you wouldn’t want your teenagers reading some of my own propaganda throw in at the end of my comments.
It’s not like people can avoid reading about your differing belief because a person doesn’t know what they are going to be reading until it’s already entered your mind. That also goes for all those times in public when you “God blessed” strangers. Once it’s hear it’s already in your mind. Just like I wouldn’t write down something that would expose you or your children to a belief system that is very personal to each person.
I don’t want to be blessed by some God (if he really existed). For argument sake let’s say your God does exist. There is absolutely zero chance that I would want any part of some being that is so cruel, disgusting, flawed, mean and does nothing good enough to ever make up for the horrifying world he has created. Why in the world would you worship something that created a world in which in order for every living thing to maintain life means that they must eat something else that is in the process of living. For the animal kingdom, it is designed so that basically just about 100% of animals get to go through the painful experience of being eaten alive. Why create a worm that can only reproduce if it burrows into children’s eyes sitting near the riverbank that leaves them blind for life. The bible is nonstop horror stories of God killing people over and over again just because he didn’t like what they were doing. Even when God seems to like you, his way of treating you is to make you believe and start to go through with killing your own son to prove your loyalty to him. Where is feels is a great plan to send down a man that feels everything and having him nailed down to a cross and then lifted up (i’m sure gravities tension from the nails felt fun) in order to forgive people who are living that were not even guilty of the accused sin of eating a fruit. And this is how he treats his son. To demand that people sacrifice innocent lambs that do indeed also feel pain. It’s all a head game for this God you bless random people with. It’s all based on fear and guilt. You can’t even take my points I just made into your mind because you will undoubtable feel immediate fear that he can read your mind and knows you are even considering analyzing whether he is nice or evil. Then the guilt. God could throw all your children in a horrific car accident, mane all of them of all there limbs, make them blind and in nonstop pain for the rest of all their lives and YOU would be singing God’s praising because he spared your children from death. Meanwhile, everything bad that happens is not his fault at all. You must just have faith. You don’t think it’s very convenient that you are promised all your rewards after you are dead? So if it’s all a lie, you can’t even complain about it or warn others. In the meantime you spent your entire life living with fear, guilt, and being restricted of certain harmless and enjoyable things along with spending so much of your time worshipping someone who wouldn’t hesitate to drown you in a great flood just because you broke a rule.
Isn’t much more likely that sometime thousands of years ago when it was more common for you to be born a slave because of what position you were economically born into than not. Slaves of all races and colors outnumbered the wealthy people by a huge amount. Don’t you think it could just be possible that the people who wanted the numerous poor people to stay in line and not rebel? I can think of a great way to keep a huge number of people to live a miserable life and not step out of line. Just convince them that their is a God that will do horrible things to them and that they were being watched at all times and should never doubt his existence even though there doesn’t seem to be a single concrete piece of evidence of this God that is there to tell you how to act. But why would people even want to believe that? Oh, I know. Let’s tell them that their great reward will come when they are dead. That’s very convenient for the people in power as I’ve already pointed out that once you’re dead you can’t say a word. You don’t think that a concept that was so strong and is passed down to the believers children the moment they are born. The irony. It’s the parents that ingrain this belief so strongly into their children and wire their brains so tight to the concept that it just passes on and on generation after generation. HaHa… I bet you didn’t even read this whole thing and not just because it’s so long and probably a bit boring but instead just because you don’t have the free will that you think you do. You’re not allowed to think about alternatives.
Now, if you had just kept your religious beliefs to yourself and only among your family, friends and church members you wouldn’t be even having me right all this. If you “God bless” someone who doesn’t believe in God or your God. That is offensive. Just like I am very sure how offense you think what I wrote was offensive. You certainly wouldn’t want your teenage kids reading my points, if you had teenage kids or kids at all and if they are already adults it wouldn’t matter because their minds are already set. You telling people God bless may seem harmless because your intent is good but it’s not any different than if I ended all my sentences to people I don’t know and threw something at them that they don’t want to be associated with. I don’t want my kids to be reading all about your vile God. just like it goes the other way round. Am I over reacting. I’m sure you think I am and others will think that too but that’s just because they too are guilty of inappropriately throwing their religious beliefs at people and are just as arrogant as you to believe that your belief is the only way to be and that everyone else is wrong. There’s lots of things people should keep private because the world is full of all sort of different beliefs on all sorts of subjects. I’m bored as hell and my fingers are tired of typing. It won’t change anyone mind and nor am I trying to change anyone mind. I am simply trying to not have to listen and think about how gullible I think you are but it is understandable. Take Care. Now that’s last line is neutral and doesn’t offend anybody. Try that next time instead of trying to shove your beliefs to as many people as you can. I guarantee you that you are a Christian. The pushiest of them all. At least the more south you go.
@@katiekat4457God bless you.
@roseann - I think it's cool that at 76 you're finding Kelsey on RUclips and getting engaged in the aviation action. You can say God bless you to me any time you want. :-) Just keep being you.
(she must have that dissertation ready for a copy paste... I can't imagine anyone saying anything that would offend me enough to type all of that. If I am offended I keep scrolling... That's just me.)
@@katiekat4457 You call somebody out for pushing their beliefs on others without being asked, because of three simple, harmless words. Then proceed to type out the New Atheist Manifesto, without anybody asking you to do so? "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3. God bless you, sister Katie
@@katiekat4457 TLDR 😂😂😂
That teamwork between controller and pilot was impressive as hell. Well Done!!
That's what I took from this. I could hear the stress in the Pilot's voice. The ATC was a virtual co-pilot. Fighter Pilots have unbelievable skill in their aircraft but even they need some help
Controllers got awards for their efforts
"In April 2012, an F-18 piloted by Brandon Gasser was initially diverted to Scott Air Force Base due to severe weather while en route to Spirit of St. Louis Airport. When weather conditions worsened, the jet was diverted again to Lambert International Airport. Dangerously low on fuel, Gasser considered ditching the aircraft in the Mississippi River. ATC controllers Kevin Cook and Steve Clark quickly cleared airspace and guided the jet to a safe landing at Lambert with only five minutes of fuel remaining. They were honored at the 9th Annual Archie League Medal of Safety Awards in Las Vegas for their swift action.
This was probably the most compelling RUclips video I have seen. These two men, the pilot and the controller, really are the best of the best. I confess to a small sob when the fighter landed safely. Thank you Kelsey for this excellent presentation.
My wallet was happy there was no taxpayer impact.
@@deepzone31 Probably was actually.... I'm sure there was a dry cleaning bill for a flight suit and replacement controller chair that had the covering sucked off and firmly lodged where it was never intended to be.
@ This is true. You got me. Although I'll take that $150 over $55M 🤑
This brings back memories, thank you! In 1986 I was flying a Piper Turbo arrow through heavy turbulence from Houston to Dallas love field. While reading pre-landing checklist turbulence jolted my JEP charts into the backseat baggage area of the plane. I told the approach controller about my situation. He advised me not to try to retrieve them and they would bring me in on a ASR approach to one runway 13 left at Dallas Field. I was truly amazed I was never experienced with ASR. But the controllers did a terrific job. I landed and subsequently went to lunch with a controller and we became good friends.
Great story. Good on them for guiding you safely to the runway, good on you for refraining from doing a Stupid Human Trick like trying to grab that chart. I think we all know someone in our lives who, if faced with a similar situation, might have impulsively tried such a thing. And that someone might be ourselves! 😅
@ Thank you, I am still a flight instructor, I often relate the story to my students. I’ll tell them to try to communicate difficult situations to air traffic control while also being succinct as possible.
@@MarkPoullos-v4f my daughter is learning to drive, and is extremely nervous. We will pay for a second set of professional in car lesson. I'm already practicing the phrase "drive the car, navigate, communicate."
When I learned, dad told me several stories about coworkers who crashed because they didn't remember the priorities.
Yikes! 117.4? Not TACAN.....be careful....
Lemme tell you about the time I flamed out in my 1966 Cadillac and had to dead power steering wheel that ship.....okay, never mind.
I don't know why but the 'hes on the ground we got him' kinda made me emotional. The teamwork in this was just really great and beautiful to witness.
Same. I can only image their emotions once it was all over. I'd be a mess.
It was the Thank The Good Lord that triggered the emotion.
I know right, such a huge relief to hear those words.
The professionalism between these two men, impressed me so much and also gave me chills at the same time.
You can hear the relief in the controller's voice when he said "thank the good lord" at the end. Gave me goosebumps. These two are truly good examples for all controller's and pilots. That's what I call airmanship.
Lol. Weird cultist crap. Nowadays there are roughly 3000 gods in our planet's cultures. All of them are made up. All of them.
Yeah, he stayed super calm and professional but by that reaction you could tell he was panicking on the inside, that relief must have felt so good
Right? I was listening to this video in the background to reconfiguring my laptop/Windows, which I had to reload overnight, and when I heard that line, I had goosebumps and had to switch to the video immediately. Great video with a very happy ending!
A Good pilot would not have put himself, the ATC guy, or the F-in city, in such a spot. He shouldn't be allowed in the air again... period.
He knew Who to thank!
I LOVE the professionalism and courtesy of the pilot and ATC person. What amazing work.
The level of details you give is exactly why I watch your channel.
Most people don't understand that one simple concept that Kelsey mentioned. In the interest of safety, you can violate as many FAA regulations you need to have a safe outcome. You may have some questions to answer, but as long as the outcome was positive and nobody and nothing was injured or killed, you're golden.
I was pondering as the controller was doing the off-the-cuff surveillance approach whether that technically was breaking any rules. But yeah, ain't nobody getting dinged for that when the alternative is a fighter pilot punches out somewhere over the St Louis metro area.
"(a) The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft.
"(b) In an in-flight emergency requiring immediate action, the pilot in command may deviate from any rule of this part to the extent required to meet that emergency.
"(c) Each pilot in command who deviates from a rule under paragraph (b) of this section shall, upon the request of the Administrator, send a written report of that deviation to the Administrator."
agreed. and who knows, the violations he made might help get better ones.
amen go bucks
even if people die and you break shit, you have the right to attempt to live
The fine line between hero or idiot xD
Walk towards a gas fire to try and extinguish it. Manage to do so? "Wow, he's a hero, prevented it from getting worse!"
It blows up and you die? "What an idiot, should've stayed away"
Incredible! The pilot and traffic controller worked together brilliantly. Thank you.
Only just noticed someone got promoted! Congrats Captain.
I didn’t notice.. is that 3 to 4 bars? That’s badass 👏👏🇺🇸
@ First officer to Captain.
5 bars is Admiral.
@@RetiredEE Not a pilot or military. In civilian aviation do they even have Admirals?
@musicloverme3993 no, it was a tongue-in-cheek reference to Star Trek, although Kelsey would certainly be deserving. 🚀🖖
Hey 74, I'm no pilot but I do love all things aviation. Found your video's over a year ago, seen many of them, love em all. Thanks for bringing us into your world.
Some insight as a former Super Hornet pilot.
At max endurance, we plan to burn about 1300lbs every 15 minutes. So with 1700lbs, he was looking at roughly 20 minutes. Rough.
What he did at the end is what’s known in the community as the ‘HORNET ONE’ arrival. You won’t find it printed anywhere. It’s a last ditch procedure spread entirely by word of mouth. You use coordinates for the airfield to get your radar (in air to ground mode) to paint the runways. You carefully designate the end of the landing runway, which provides an accurate 3D position for the numbers. You then extend a course line from that point out along the extended runway centerline, and descend to that point at a 3-3.5° angle (depending on terrain).
It’s an entirely self contained approach, and entirely illegal…BUT it works. I know guys who have had to use it. It can get you down on the ground in near zero zero conditions.
I had to do it twice in an A model hornet, no gps to keep the ins perfect. And of course its happens at the end of a long flight so the ins errors are pretty big. So the trick was to be angling to the runway less than 10 miles from the field so you could get that last tgt designation with the radar which updated the ins. Both times though by the time I broke out the aiming diamond had drifted off the runway in bad vis and I had to look for the cement to the left or right. But I worked.
The trusty self contained works great as a backup to the PAR in LeMas when the Tulare fog is down to mins. Glad I never had to solely rely on it like this bubba. BZ to these guys.
This is like a mechanic hooking a hot wire from the battery to the coil, and then jumping the solenoid with a screwdriver. No key, might not be able to steer real well, but you can get the engine runnin.
It should never have gotten to that point if I was the controller I would have declared an emergency with respect to that pilot he didn't declare it but he should have done he should have did this vectoring in immediately he saw that the the seriousness you can hear it in the pilot's voice he was overloaded
@@rafdecc hindsight is always 20/20...
BLUE ANGELS, GET THIS MAN A RIDE ALONG!!
Well depends how he got into the mess.
Better be specific. Blue Angels have Fat Albert too 😝
I wish you could pay for a chance to fly with the blue angels. Kelesy has a chance though, get him a ride!
I think a trip in a U-2 would be the ultimate plane ride (spacecraft don't count!) though I would even take that over a flight in a fighter. Would you do a video for us from a U-2 if you could get a ride in one of those?
😅@@MrFoxlik
@@Phoenix-Cloudultimate? Oh, I think a ride in the SR71 would be the ULTIMATE!
The level of composure and professionalism of these two individuals is extraordinary. As the saying goes, don't give up; keep trying until you find something that works. Thank you for another excellent video, Kelsey. Wishing you a great week.
A professional does put NOT himself, the ATC guy, or the F-in city, in such a spot
I wondered how he got into that situation, and what the consequences were, I mean, beyond this hair-raising landing!
I'm a retired military pilot (C-130). Great analysis Kelsey. CRM extends beyond your cockpit. I know in Australia the fighter guys use Squadron Ops for help in bad situations. An F-111 lost a wheel on take off (no joke). They called Squadron ops as the guys on the ground could go through the flight manual etc.
It can't have been fun for the pilot to descend below MDA while IMC, but hey, as you said, the alternative is far worse.
BTW, love the "Peace out, I'm out" joke. LOL. My daughter asked why we don't have ejection seats in the C-130. I told her "Well, the army passengers in the back would kind of be a bit upset if we said "BYE!" and ejected.
P.S. Interesting side note - Australian Super Hornets have ILS.
I really loved this one Kelsey, great story telling, great production value, great explanation of what was happening for those of us who aren't pilots. Great work!!!
I love your videos! I was a nervous flyer until I started watching your channel.
One time about 2 years ago, in a flight we heard a very loud bang, people started screaming and my son saw me quiet and cool, and he said, dad what is it and I said, “I saw a video with a similar bang, it is a compressor stall, no big deal”. He went back to his headset, flight went back to Miami, and 2 hours later we were on our way to Tx in a different plane.
I knew about it because of Captain Kelsey! Thank you!!!
Awesome!
Fantastic
Compressor stall is that bad or good?
Compressor stalls aren't great, but as far as things that can go bang on a plane, they're not all that bad. Definitely not good to have happen.
The look on Kelsey's face when the fighter pilot said he had 10 minutes of fuel left was priceless. This whole episode was intense. I'm sure the pilot was already running worst case scenarios through his head while the pucker factor was increasing the whole time.
That was probably the look on the controller's face too
I honestly thought he watched the videos beforehand then reacted for RUclips but I was clearly wrong 😂
You have to consider the fuel load of most fighters. There are plenty of fighters (primarily high speed interceptors) out there which have a max flight time of only 10-20 minutes
Intense? Man you need to get out more.
@@neglectfulsausage7689 Man your empathy is a quart low.
Having had a career of 37 years in the cabin flying mostly international, the communication between the cockpit and cabin was critical, particularly after 9/11. This video was amazing showing how teamwork works and how critical it is to a successful completion. Having been on the second aircraft out of Bejiing after 9/11, all curtains had to be open, all stemware and metal concealed and timely walk throughs in the cabin because we didn't know what we were dealing with. this video was so uplifting!!!!
C.W. Lemoine did a video about this incident. His commentary as a former F18 pilot is intriguing to understand things from the pilots perspective! His video is titled "Controllers save the day again." Great video! It's cool to hear from both perspectives.
Thank you! Going to that one now.
I would love to see that episode but am having trouble finding it. Any suggestion would be really appreciated. Thanks.
@@peterdurand3098just search for "controllers save the day again" it came up for me as the first item.
@@peterdurand3098search “lemoine save the day” and you’ll see it
T Y V M 👍🏼
I hope that pilot and controller were able to get together and each buy one another a drink or two! Well Done!
Great presentation. My dad was a 30 yr FAA ATC radar tech and I was a radar specialist in the USAF. Well done.
Wanted to go to 10,000 asap for "PFL" or "High Key" but also doing math, 28nm at 3000ft may burn 1900lbs of fuel, at 10,000ft 1200 lbs of fuel plus 400lb penalty for the climb, drag is exponential not linear, I'm pretty sure if I did the drag calculations at those altitudes that would probably be the result. EDIT:(Just did the math and even taking into account the "Climb Penalty" the aircraft would in fact save fuel over time by climbing to 10,000ft and maintaining for the 20nm remaining over just staying at 3,000 ft for the entire trip) not counting the descent.
you fly real jets too?
All that went straight over my head😂
@@ForsakenWar lol
Standard procedure to climb like that, in fighters, in an emergency fuel situation. They have a quick reference guide to determine exact altitude to climb to, for max efficiency.
@pauljones6321 that's good info, initially I was going to comment "fuel computer", we don't know exactly what aircraft he was flying or what variant. But your probably right
@22:05 Crew resource management: Beyond flight attendants, even passengers can help occasionally. About 15 years ago I was a passenger watching the ground crew out my window as we prepared to depart Chicago. I noticed the ground crew left, but an inboard engine cowl fastener remained unlatched. I figured someone would be back to latch it, but after several minutes nobody came. When the captain announced we were about to push back, I got up (which immediately got the attention of a flight attendant since everyone had been belted in for several minutes) and told her to tell the captain the number two engine had an open cowl latch. She did, someone came back and closed it, and we took off. Later the flight attendant came back and said the captain told her to thank me. I don't know how an engine cowling would fare in flight with one open latch, but I wasn't interested in finding out by experience.
Left engine is the number one. Two is starboard (or three and four on a jumbo/380). Well done speaking up, better look dumb than sorry in aviation
Thank you. Truly, if you see something, say something.
@@airportrooms5123As you say, better look dumb than dead!
I am trying to do something similar. I always take the window seat near the wings so I can watch them during takeoff and landing because that stuff is really neat. The track fairing closest to me looked to be shaking more than I thought should happen. When departing I got off the plane and put my stuff down at the console used to drive the jet bridge just so I wasn't in anyone's way. I tried to step back onto the plane so I could tell the cockpit what I saw so someone could just give it a shake, but I was turned away because passengers can't go back onto the plane once departed (I did know this, but I assumed it was more for not going back into the jet bridge once in the airport proper instead of being a few feet out the door). I tried describing my concern to a flight attendant, but I was unsure if the message was able to go through as I had to shout it from outside of the plain and I didn't know the proper terminology. I ended up sending the video I took as well as all other flight details to the FAA, so I am hoping someone was able to take a look. I know that is not critical for flight, but it would still suck to have it fall off.
@@airportrooms5123 Agreed about better looking dumb than sorry. In my case I happened to know how engines are numbered, but that's not a prerequisite for reporting potential problems. I could have just said, "the right-hand engine." I'll add that I had to climb past middle and aisle-seat passengers and move towards the front where the flight attendant quickly met me halfway. I was afraid they would think I was rushing the cockpit. Maybe they did.
I love your use of air quotes when you said, _"Apparently, adding missiles to a 747 isn't safe."_ LMAO 😂
@andyroid5028 I havent reached that point in vid, but yoir comment made me Lol
Kelsey does have great sarcasm & coupled w/ hus facial expression cracks me up!
@@RightToFreedomGirlThe RAF added sidewinders to the four engined Nimrod aircraft making it the largest fighter ever built.
[Citation needed]
I guarantee you, if there was ever a 747 with missiles on it; Kelsey would be behind the yoke 😅
I was an Air Intercept Controller in the Navy. One of my jobs was to remind pilots to check their fuel state when they were doing that pilot stuff in a dogfight.
Him or his crew chief "maybe both" prefight checklist..He hear that teasing long time.🇺🇲😎
can you see it too?
I might have stayed with the first airport. Slowest airspeed as possible and minimum rate of decent on the approach. Controlled crash on airport property is the worst case scenario. In an emergency the regs go out the window.
Outstanding! This actually brought tears to me eyes when he was finally on the ground. Excellent explanations Kelsey! Really enjoyed this one! 💕✈
These F/A-18 pilots just don't get rattled. The training for these guys is insane and if they can't keep calm at all times they washout fast. The test pilots I worked with were at an even higher level, one discovered a bug that brought down both computers, threw noise on the bus impacting the flight control systems, he calmly turned off both computers while the aircraft was unresponsive to any inputs, recovered and landed. We got that bug report in under 12 hours instead of the weekly test summary.
How quickly was the bug fixed?
Bad enough to drop the computers, but to hash the bus, that's doubleplus ungood.
And a bit off for RTOS systems, which don't usually try to go that far off the wire, compared to time sharing, which can do weird things like that if there's a hiccup or hang when switching tasks.
When you're prepared go into your job each morning knowing a lot of bad dudes might be launching missles at you, a little range anxiety is no biggie.
Really cool! I love stories like that, thank you for sharing 🤍🙏🕊
@@spvillano That was a hard bug to find. We couldn't easily reproduce it at first, then when we saw it on the simulator we couldn't trace it back as it cleared the stack. I spent days modifying the emulator to catch it while still running in real-time. Once I finally got the software modified we found it within 2 hours. We tested the he'll out of that fix before they flew with it again. It turned out the bug was lurking in the code for years, we were looking at our changes but it wasn't related it. Many sleepless nights that week.
i mean he could have punched out if shit REALLY hit the fan, but thats not good either.
My heart was beating so fast listening to the controller and pilot! Having you explain things to “lay people” is so cool! Thank you!
Scary stuff. Our military pilots are in a whole different aviation world. When we were in the Air Force, I remember seeing a c-130 bird strike come in. There were civilian planes everywhere in the sky above the field. Then there were none. The only plane we saw was that 130 on final. I can only imagine what the tower at the base and the tower at the civilian airport just 4 miles away were doing to move everyone out of the way.
Thank GOD he made it! This brought tears to my eyes, very stressful!!!
Oh my gosh, that was amazing, I’m sitting here in my comfortable living room and I was so on edge. That pilot and that air traffic control controller were amazing. I only wish everybody was like that.
In 1979, I was taking flying lessons while stationed at Spangdahlem AB in Germany. One lesson was under the hood. I remember almost becoming disoriented while trying to scan the instruments when I suddenly got the picture. It was an amazing feeling for the next 45 minutes of flying. The best part was what we called a precision approach. The controller was giving me vectors to final, and then the ‘on course/on glidepath’ instructions. Suddenly my instructor took the hood off and I was perfectly lined up for landing! What an incredible experience!
Good lord? Are we living in medieval times?
Stretch out with your feelings. Use the Force.
@@rollotomasi9403 In the 21st century as a flight instructor, I took my students to a local Air Force base to do PAR approaches as part of their training. When almost everything but the radio goes blank having little outside influence can make the difference to a safe landing.
@@AzimuthAviation I’m not sure how that pertains to my comment.
@ There's nothing medieval of understanding that there's another option when the screens of your SR22 go black and you're stuck in the clouds on the backup instruments and a peanut gyro. I'm former military and a PAR approach wasn't part of the instrument training syllabus at the part 141 school where I taught.
A great example of two experts in their field working together
expert pill popper making videos from home
Hello Kelsey, always on point with your videos man, just wanted to stop by and say thank you. You are the reason I started my aviation career now going into my instrument rating, thank you for the inspiration. Love everything you do.
Holy cow this is one of the best videos you’ve done, 21:38 this video had me holding my breath and gave me sweaty palms lol good job all the way around you them everyone
This one definitely my favorite!
I was the comm maintenance officer at an Air Force base in Idaho from 1968 to '71. When you said VORTAC I thought wait a minute - that's TACAN capable. I didn't know about the frequency thing. Good story - takes me back. I guess TACAN has been around a long time.
So a VORTAC transceiver (the technology bit) DOES allow VOR OR TACAN approaches to be designed for it--but the approaches themselves are going to be different (different accuracy thresholds for the VOR portion and the TACAN portions of the combined transceiver).
IF Lambert had a TACAN approach based off of the XXX VORTAC Navaid, the TACAN approach would indicate the TACAN channel of the VORTAC, and could be flown by the fighter.
However, if there was NOT a published TACAN approach, and only a VOR approach published, he could not fly it--not because he couldn't get the signals from the navaid (he could, by dialing in the TACAN channel assigned to the VORTAC), but because there wasn't an approach designed for that technology at that airfield.
tldr:
VORTAC -- navaid that can support VOR, VOR/DME, or TACAN approaches -- has TWO frequencies: VOR freq, and TACAN channel
TACAN Approach -- approach that only uses the TACAN portion of a VORTAC navaid
VOR (or VOR/DME): approaches that can be supported by a VORTAC, but cannot be flown by a TACAN only aircraft.
Two professionals beating the odds! This had my heart racing..."thank the good Lord" indeed. Outstanding presentation, Kelsey!
The ATC is certainly a pro. But who is the second in your version in this story? Certainly not the half wit that put himself, the ATC guy, or the F-in city, in such a spot
@@noahbody-atall Not a pilot, but off the top of my head I can think of 2 things that could lead to this emergency that aren't the pilot's fault: faulty fuel gauge, or leaking fuel tank. We don't know how the fuel emergency came about, Bottom line is, two professionals calmly and clearly worked together to make the best possible outcome.
I think its amazing when people can come together like this. Love your videos!
I'm retired f 18 pilot and im loving this ATC dude im feeling the stress but gotta keep your shit togwtherv
T-MAC. Did you serve in the US Navy? VA 195 Dambusters early 1980 ? I was an airframes trouble shooter with you back then..
@@robertslowiak2303 hey shipmate I was
Love u brother hope life need good for u
@@T-mac69 Retired. Doing ok. Thanks
I'm a fucking AF Flight Nurse and he said 10 minutes fuel and I was like, well fuck man. Bit of a pickle you're in.
Every aviation channel I watch (I started with yours!) says two things - 1) Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. This is a brilliant example of that - the pilot did the aviating and communicating, the tower did the navgating and communicating. It's almost like ATC was the copilot. 2) Everything is a learning experience - I doubt this comes up every day, but now there's a great example of how to handle this kind of emergency. Thanks for another amazing video!
My daughter is a very nervous new driver. We will pay for a second set of professional in car lessons, but eventually she'll have to be in the car with s supervising. I'm already practicing to say Drive, navigate, communicate.
Holy Sh**! I was on the edge of my seat! Glad there was a happy ending. Loved to see the change of expression on your face as things got messy Kelsey! High five to all!
Thanks!
Rule #1 when I was in the USAF: Sound Cool on the Radios. Having been in an emergency situation, working to sound calm, does help you be calm.
I was intel. 1N0. I could never be a pilot not for skill but communication . I’m too slow even taking down 9-lines confused Me. Took me a min to get used to MISREPS. Especially when they write nothing down and drop 18 muns lol. Strike eagles
@@Rollacoastertycoon Might be a sign of ADHD. There are many forms of ADHD, some of which don't even involve hyperactivity, like mine. I seem to be doing just fine but at other times have hard time keeping attention making even comprehensive reading difficult. I have enough trouble reading a book but once my focus clicks, I nary notice a thing going on around me. I only ever got a suspicion I have ADHD was when I talked to someone who had it confirmed with diagnosis and they described it to me. I didn't just see signs, their experience was complete identical to mine except I had never realized something might be different for me from other people.
@Laerei That definitely a symptom of ADHD.
@@Laerei Regular-ass ADD does that. I've been dealing with that my whole life.
AF Flight Nurse here and there are times I'm cool as a cucumber on the surface but inside I'm like, well fuck man. Lol
What an amazing display of teamwork and composure. Obviously they were under more duress than almost anyone here could imagine, and I’m sure this is probably a once in a lifetime experience, but everything worked out and everyone went home safely.
A good family friend was a F/A-18 carrier pilot and he explained that being min fuel was a pucker factor that he'd only had to experience once and never wanted to happen again. This pucker factor gave me uncontrollable shivers. I can only imagine the amount of buttermilk was sucked up.
Very good video. With everything going on right now, and two major aviation accidents this past week, hearing success stories like this gives me just a little more faith in the aviation system we have in this country. Very good video and excellent explanation. Keep up the excellent work.
In a case like this the controller needs to be recognized for his good work.
They were awarded, see CW Lemoine coverage
Two extremely good professionals working together here, had either of them not been completely on their game this could easily have ended differently. The controller was perfect, the pilot's execution was also excellent. The most impressive thing for me was that the controller rememberd what Kelsey said and broke the rules to get the plane down, in the modern world with everyone scared of litigation etc. that's remarkable he could easily have copped out and had the pilot divert to eject somewhere.... Great work I hope the controller gets a medal or at least some recognition from the Navy for a job well done.
Kelsey I think you really tapped into your supportive story telling in this video and you created an appreciation and connection to what was happening without being dramatic. Your eyes and language conveyed the relief that everyone worked together really well to avoid a potentially tragic outcome. Nice work and think about leaning into this more in the future.
Kelsey
My bad, thank you, corrected.
@@fl3shgordon All good.
I absolutely LOVED this episode. I enjoyed learning some of the military v civilian commercial aircraft operations. You're so right on how good of teamwork they had and their resource management. I got chills when the ATC said "thank the good lord" when the other ATC told him "Empire 11's on the ground we got him." All people involved in this landing deserve awards lol.
I was never a pilot at your level, Sir, but I was privileged enough to fly a little and, in doing so, to appreciate the extreme professionalism of ATC. The one time I declared a PAN: "Golf-golf-mike, trucks are rolling should you need them, if able, turn left now 130. Cleared to land any runway, your discretion, all other traffic break-break." What a comfort. All questions can wait until the deck is reached. One can only express one's awe and gratitude...
Goose bumps on my neck, back and the back of my arms. Wow. Great cooperation of flight control and pilot. I wonder what the debrief of that pilot was like.
Absolutely a great example of well trained people operating calmly and highly efficiently to achieve a key objective in an emergency. Fine narration, Kelsey. Thank you.
Nice team work! Casey, great video man. Thank you for walking us through, I’m glad he got home safe!
Good morning to you, Captain Kelsey from Chicago. I hope your day finds you well and happy, BROTHER!🫡🇺🇲
KEEP THE BLUE SIDE UP ✈️🫡
Loved the video and especially the insight you provided into it. Imagine the relief of that fighter pilot when the wheels hit the tarmac and he didn’t hurt anyone or write off a multi million dollar fighter jet 😮
As a retired 30 year FAA air traffic controller (ending at SAV tower/approach control) I have worked many military fighters, cargo, etc. This brings back many memories... Usually not fun ones. The freq was a UHF one. Controller did an excellent job.
Kudos the ATC who stayed with the pilot till the end
Kelsey flying a 747 with missiles but out of snacks. Nightmare situation.
Or even inappropriate, less tasty snacks. All that's left is a veggie tray?! No ranch!!? Lock that targeting radar onto the nearest, biggest shiny object. Somebody's gonna get it, lol.
Internationale incident
The Air Force DID at one point consider using 747's to carry an insane amount of air launched cruise missiles (ALCM) and also as a possible launcher of air launched ballistic missiles. Fortunately it never got past the drawings/proposal stage.
I just started laughing when I read this comment. I ove it.
Shows lots of respect for Kelsey.
I am going to petition the Blue Angels to give Kelsey a joy ride. Cheers all!
@@Joecarnut And a whole boatload(politically correct terminology) of tasty snacks! Indeed a nightmarish situation to be in. Fantastic example of ATC helping out a pilot in need.
I like how Kelsey emphasizes just how much everyone is focusing, and how it's understandable that even skilled, focused professionals will make tiny mistakes. I'm sure several groups pulled those mistakes apart to learn how to avoid them in future, but in the moment the emphasis was on moving forward safely, not getting upset at mistakes.
This is the positive, encouraging video style I love.
You just keep delivering and improving. I am so proud of where this channel has gone.
Keep it up!!!
Kelsey, that's great story-telling. Your narrative kept me on the edge of my seat for the whole video.
Good explanation of the different forms of navigation tools available to civil and military flyers. Cudos to the controllers.
That was a pleasure to listen to two professionals bringing their A game to this situation.
Would love to think these guys got together and had a beer.
Storytelling,especially true stories is an art. You got it sir. The pacing, the detail, the build-up, and delivery were excellent.
Fantastic video. Great team work between Pilot and controller and calm heads geez I think they super calm heads. What a situation to be in.
RUclips seems finally loosening their grip on my recommendations again and shows me my normal, preferred content again. I've not gotten a video from you recommended for over 2 months now. Not only with your channel, RUclips just decided, aviation shouldn't be one of my interests and recommended 3d printed sock knitting machines instead. Glad to be back. At least I got some socks out of it.
Why don't you subscribe and then you get notified of every video
@@MattyEngland I am subscribed, I don't like the bell and I rarely search my subscritions by hand. I just take, what's in my recommendations, that used to be a mix of subscribed content, similiar content and some new stuff. But ever since filling out a survey, on the homepage youtube thought they should try something new with me.
I had the same thing happening less than year ago, but I got recommendations for a toddler. It was all cartoons and colorful thumbnails. Im nearly 50, Id rather take a look at those knitting machines.. it took weeks to turn it back to something more sane.
Windsocks, too?
Bad strategy to rely on yourube recommendations. Use your feed...
I love listening to how stressed you get reporting this! Seems like your empathy is alive well! 👍
I sent this to a retired fighter pilot 83 years old. I know he got a kick out of this. Sure kept me on pins and needles. Bravo!!!!! Great team work!
I've taken my students to Quantico several times for ASR, PAR, no gyro approaches. They train military controllers, so they all welcomed our practice. The verbal approaches are actuall fun to fly.
This is one of the scariest ones I've seen on your channel. I'm glad you made it down safe, but that is a crazy low amount of fuel. Also major props to that ATC guy!
The team work between these two highly skilled professionals, speaks volumes to the standard of training they have, and the sheer determination to land the aircraft come hell or high water!!! Well done to both party’s. They saved a pilot and a fighter jet, along with the pilot’s determination that potentially saved many lives on the ground. Bravo to both!
Awesome, nerves of steel for pilot and awesomeness for air traffic controllers, GOD bless both of you
Small point; the Lat Long in the subtitles was DMS, ATC gave the decimal degree format. When I was on board a destroyer and our Helo had an emergency one of our SOP if they were far enough away was to actually steam towards them and cut down the distance. One of the advantage of having a mobile Airfield.
Seconds of latt and long are not super important IMO, since the airport runway is likely to be more than 1nm long.
@gordonrichardson2972 It would be important not to have a half mile lateral offset as you're trying to descend through the ceiling and acquire the runway.
The most unambiguous format is "NNN decimal NNNN", it can only mean one thing. The controller actually gave the last numerals as "seconds". Sounds like the pilot might have had to adjust the F-18’s Up Front Controller to accept DMS inputs as he needed to hear the numbers a second time.
@@Br549-x3b I just realized both the "seconds" values are above 60. So maybe he's misreading the decimal minutes?
@@Br549-x3b Decimal minutes are the standard format for the Viper and Hornet (according to DCS anyway).
That ATC controller took control of that situation flawlessly.
not flawlessly, he gave a critical part of navigational aid incorrectly to the fighter pilot which caused massive confusion in a time when seconds matter. He said VORTAC interchangeable with TACAN which are two separate animals. Then he gave a VOR frequency instead of a TACAN channel. That's a HUGE mistake. The legacy F-18 can't use VOR frequencies. They are equipped with TACAN. The controller did good overall but it was far from flawless.
@@AquariusTurtle The TACAN approach uses a VORTAC in this instance. He wasn't wrong to call it a TACAN approach and the STL VORTAC. It's how it's published. However your latter half is correct.
@@Kerikeron Yes but you don't call it a "VORTAC approach".
@@AquariusTurtle He did not. He said it'll be a TACAN approach and then, presumably, the IAF is STL VORTAC which he (mistakenly) gave the VHF/VOR frequency to tune to. This should have been a UHF/CH instead. But like I said, the latter half of your comment was correct. Had ATC issued the appropriate information here, a lot of this manual effort probably could've been avoided. Even with the mistake, it was great that both remained calm and in control. My favorite part was ATC's use of his frequency. Holding his key up so that no other aircraft could disrupt the pilots concentration with useless noise.
I’m a retired AF crew chief on F-4’s and we had a jet run out of fuel after landing during taxi back to spot. Also have seen fuel quantities very low after parking.
I’m a retired C17 Flying crew Chief. Once we landed under and emergency situation with less than 2800 pounds in a C17. Lol.
Not sure why I watch these but I did find it interesting. Thanks for sharing
Thx Kelsey and crew . be safe all
That was way too close for comfort! Initiative saved the day, and thank heavens for that!
Close? there was still 5 minutes,
I never saw in the movies a bomb clock, or anything similar an something else but 1 second. ;)
What a story, I really like the quick but indepth explanation of the situation. Good job had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.
Way back in my Air Force days we had a sign on the wall in the Flight Ops that said : “No Excuses Are Accepted for These Two Types Of Accidents 1) Running Out of Fuel, and 2) Running Into the Ground…!” I am wondering how come this competent pilot run so short on fuel…? Great job, great skills, and great video for all who were involved. Thank you.
yep because they may get basically no notice it's a requirement to have fuel in Australia. If a naval ship in Australia returns with less than a specified amount of fuel (depending on if they are in tropics or not) they can be court martialled becasue they may receive orders any moment.
Yeah bad weather would be an excuse. You always plan on bad weather even when conditions are CAVU. When I was in F18’s the bird never took off without a full fuel load so unless ground personnel shorted him or he had a leak (neither seem to be the issue) this comes down to poor preflight planning and trying to stretch the legs a little too far.
He’ll have some questions to answer when he gets back to his command.
Something could break on the plane that couldn't be detected during the pre flight check.
Guess you never have a tanker around when you need one, eh?
Great video, Kelsey! At time of posting there are 989 comments so perhaps someone already mentioned this…TACAN approach = VOR/DME approach. VOR radial for azimuth, DME for MDA step-down. At least in “steam driven” instruments that I flew with, the TACAN combines the azimuth and DME in the same instrument. It was called a DRMI - Distance Radio Magnetic Indicator. The difference is a needle pointing to/from the station (picture ADF presentation of NDB) instead of a track bar as with a VOR, with a DME display integrated. Lastly, TACANs use channels rather than VHF frequencies.
Just curious over here if the VORTAC uses the TACAN channels in conjunction with the VOR frequencies. Was there was just a misunderstanding between both parties of whether or not that approach could have actually been shot. IE, if input channel 126X or otherwise instead of 117.90 would have worked in this situation? My understanding is that even a civil aircraft with DME can use a TACAN paired frequency to use DME information through an ILS/VOR receiver but I've never tried this. Does a VORTAC not contain a full functioning TACAN?
@@mechalchuk TL:DR: Most likely. It should be noted there is no such beast as a VORTAC approach. A VORTAC is a navaid installation that is comprised of a VOR and a TACAN.The approach plate would be titled "TACAN OR VOR/DME RWY##", the "OR" being an important word (as opposed to "AND"). The frequency box for the VORTAC in the plan view would have a VHF frequency (in this case 117.9) and a channel (was 126X in the video somewhere? Don't recall). If the a/c is equipped with a TACAN receiver as this F/A-18 was, only the channel would be required for the TACAN since it's 2-in-1 system. If not, i.e. a civilian a/c, the VOR frequency would be selected for the VOR and the CH for the DME box. Unfortunately the conversation didn't get that far as the pilot was understandably quick to give him an "unable". We'll never know if the controller was going to get to it. Thankfully the outcome was the desired one. Great team work on the fly. The spontaneous GCA with surveillance radar was something else! Hopefully I answered your question without blasting you with a bunch of stuff you already knew.
@@mechalchuk 117.4 is a radio frequency, and its the radio frequency that the tacan would be broadcasting on, but it isn't a channel that the TACAN can be tuned too in the fighter jet. They can only select a "tacan channel" which is two bands of frequencies and use channel numbers such as 54X or 54Y.
So if he had given him the channel, he could have used that, but he can't tune to the radio frequency.
@@ddalzell509 This. Said exactly the same in a different comment, but you described it better than I did.
I spent 8 years working on USAF fighters and two comments about the fuel. First is that he had roughly 10% of his fuel which is definitely low and a concern. Second is that it really depends on the calibration if he will run out at 0 or 600 or -800. It is slightly possible the pilot had 1000 or less when he thought he had 1700. And on top of that, not all fuel is useable, some will always be left in the cells. Good job getting a nasty situation resolved in a positive way.
Not certain about the regs in the military, but in civil aircraft the only time that the fuel gauge has to be accurate is when it hits empty. It can be entirely inaccurate with any quantity of fuel in it, but has to read empty when the tank is. My plane has two interconnected wing tanks that will cross feed into each other if you're not perfectly coordinated at all times, or if one of the fuel vent tubes is slightly out of alignment from the other, and if you uncover the fuel pickup for just a moment, you'll likely get a flameout unless you're quick with the boost pump and ignitors. There have been a lot of pilots in that specific aircraft with forced landings and crashes with 1/4 tank of fuel in one side and empty on the other...the problem is, that last 1/8th of a tank to empty happens within a few minutes...you have a fuel reading, and then two minutes later your engine flames out. It is for that reason that I don't trust any fuel gauge in aircraft unless I can physically see the fuel in a tube. The only way you can really know for certain about your fuel level with a sensor based fuel gauge is with a fuel flow meter that tracks how much fuel you've used used in tandem with it. My guess is that the hornet's fuel gauge is probably referenced from fuel flow rather than a sensor in the tank. Input x lbs of fuel and it subtracts from that number as you burn fuel. In that regard, I'd say his fuel reading was probably accurate. Now, how he got into that predicament, well that's another story...
Had me on the edge of my seat. I have a big affinity for the Blues. They practiced over my house 2X a week in Pensacola, FL. Native gal here. We love our Blues!!
I used a TARIS to bring back a small airplane into SBBI, although I had no training to do so. The pilot had disregarded my previous warning that the field was about to go under IMC and he decided to take off anyway for a local flight. I enhanced the zoom in the screen to the maximum and it worked perfectly: the pilot's voice was trembling as he informed: "I managed to land! "
Now, in order to understand anything you wrote, we just need to know what TARIS, SBBI and IMC are.
Lesson: No matter how cool you want to sound, never try to speak above your reader's heads.
Signed: Instructor.
@toweri_li You're right! Sorry everyone: SBBI is Bacacheri Tower in Curitiba, Brazil. IMC stands for instrument meteorological conditions.
@toweri_li You're right! TARIS -terminal radar de informação sintética, SBBI is the ICAO code for Bacacheri Tower in Curitiba, Brazil and IMC stands for meteorological conditions.
@@toweri_li AF Flight Nurse and I explain everything I'm doing to patients in the simplest of terms, even our pilots have gotten a little quickie on what goes on nursing wise when they're flying so they have an idea
Really interesting
I just subscribed. My nephew flew the F16, and his wife flew the F15 and she just retired 1.5 yrs ago. A 2 star general. Craig, full bird colonel..retired i think 5 yrs ago...maybe 6 yrs ago. Both Air Force. I'm just the proud auntie. I'll be watching....I love learning and at 71 I try to retain current things. No problem with stuff 50 years ago, but ❤ usually a problem with all of us. Hugs. Oh, we were able to attend the change of commanded at Nellis when she became the commander. What an exciting privilege that was!
Alternative action in action
Love that for them. Current AF Flight Nurse. Loving every minute. Retire in 7 years with 25 in. Best decision I made after getting my BSN.
I love this video, love the way they worked together, loved Kasey's analysis of the situation. It's this kind of professionalism that makes the World we live in. I'm a truck driver - a much easier task - but this kind of thing is an encouragement to me to be as professional and safe as I can be in my job.
I am a retired FAA VORTAC technician, having worked on TACAN going back to 1971. I retired in 2007 and at that time the FAA was changing some VORTAC sites to only a DME and the accompanying VOR equipment. The reasoning I was told is that the military is using GPS as their primary NAV and the TACAN antenna system is an old, heavy, rotating reflector system that develops the azimuth signal as well as the DME information and can be a maintenance problem when the motor or bearings need replacing. With the non-rotating TACAN antenna, the system is good for DME only and no azimuth information. Military transport aircraft such as C-130 and C-19's have VOR capability as well as TACAN, but fighter aircraft only have TACAN. Things may have changed in the last 15 years but that is how I remember it.
USAF jets are also capable of using ILS for guidance, but Navy jets like the Hornet only have it for carrier landings (ICLS/ACLS)
The mechanically rotating antennas for ground based systems were replaced with electrically scanned antennas. So even though they don't rotate mechanically the signal does rotate in space. This is achieved through an antenna array of 36 antennas inside the TACAN radome. The antennas are fed the signals through a bunch of phase shifters. The end result is the scalloped cardioid pattern rotates in space even though the antenna is stationary. So it does work for both azimuth and distance.
@@FamilyHomeTheater When I retired there were a few of those that were in place but probably because of funding it was not widely implemented by the time I retired. I know of several VORTAC sites that went to VORDME only and it is probably a function of military usage at those sites. From what I am hearing there is a move on to decommission quite a few VOR's in the coming years and I don't know if the TACAN sites will be also decommissioned as well. The military I am sure will have input, since it is them who primarily use the azimuth portion of TACAN.
A few years back, a USAF Thunderbird (F-16) ran out of fuel after performing at the USAF Academy graduation. Pilot declared "bingo" fuel was enroute back to the shared Colorado Springs Airport/Peterson AFB. He didn't quite make it, and ended up doing a belly landing in a field a very short distance from the runway. Fortunately, the pilot was uninjured, and the F-16 sustained minimal damage.
That’s crazy that he didn’t eject
@@CramcrumBrewbringer From what I understand, ejecting is a last ditch kind of circumstance. It's potentially deadly in itself, and the g-forces literally compress your spine and can make you shorter. Probably safer to touch down in a field.
@@Vykk_Draygo I don't know about the F-16, in the T-6A the Air Force taught us to eject rather than make a landing on an unprepared surface. If we weren't going to make the runway, it would be a zoom to eject. The T-6A also has a MUCH better glide ratio and wider landing gear. The F-16 would come down much harder and very likely flip over if not done perfectly or on a flat enough surface.
Of course, in the scenario Hiking Bob presented, this decision was the better than ejecting, but without hindsight, I feel like it shouldn't have been done.
The Thunderbirds are also just built different, so they probably knew it would be safe.
Spinal compression fractures aren't fun.
@@Vykk_Draygo Ejection is last ditch only because the jet is no longer flyable. One attempts to land the jet on a runway, then, if unable, as a last ditch, ejects. You would not land off airport - rather you would eject. I ejected in 1984 and I am the same 5' 10" now as I was before ejection. It is possible to have spine compression, but not likely if you get into the proper ejection position.