Oops!

[robertt]

What is that aircraft going into the C-5? I recognize it and should know it... but, I'm drawing a blank. Isn't that one of the Navy's SAR choppers? Don't laugh at me for being wrong!

MH-53 PAVE LOW, it can hold up to 55 troops and this one belongs to the USAF. The Navy has their version and so do the Marines. A C-5 can carry 2 of these. They have to pull the motor or rotor head out of the top if it because it's too tall to fit otherwise. It's what they used to pull the mine sweepers back in the 80's in the Persian Gulf.

[GMAN]

I lived in Atlanta when they were building the C-5. In fact, I lived almost at the end of the main runway. I used to see C-5's coming over all the time with a T-38 or other escort. I always equated it to an ant next to a grasshopper. The C-5 was HUGE! We could hear them testing their engines all the time. When they first came out they had a very unique whine to their engines. At the time no other plane had an engine that whined like the C-5. You could hear the plane coming and knew right away what was heading your way. The C-5 was built by Lockheed Martin which is at Dobbins AFB. I had an opportunity to go inside a C-5 once. It is amazing at how big they are. They always seem to be flying so slow due to their size.

[Roadhog]

Even with all of the "safeguards" and training that the Bases have their are still runway incursions, and there is always some idiot....

pput-eeerrrrrr-put-put-errrrr
Nice place ya got rrr-RowBeartow.... do you guy's fix mufflers?
....also...I was thinking of welding on some saw blades, here & there...cuz the tree limbs are getting to be too much for me.

heh heh heh... idgit

[Roadhog]

...wha? ...what's goin' own... y'all?
What did I miss?

[Orangetxguy]

Your are correct. The #1 thing that is stressed when you have an airfield driving liscense, on a military installation anyway, is AIRPLANES COME FIRST! Whether they are being towed or they are taxiing you better get out of the way. I just know from having a liscense on an AFB, I don't know what the training or requirements are for Commercial airports are. From what I have seen in the past and heard about, they just kinda get in and drive around wherever they need to go with a pat on the head and "look out for the planes".

For us it's pretty strict training and testing. We have to know what all of the signs and markings mean on the airfield that the pilots use as well, and you have to be able to communicate on the radio too because your on the same frequency that the pilots are on. It's not just hey I'm going here or I need to do this or that, there is a very strict protocol to follow or you answer to the "Airfield Manager" or as we affectionatley refer to them as, "The Ramp Nazi". Even when I'm running engines on an aircraft we have to monitor the Ground frequency AND monitor all of your gauges and pay attention to the task at hand. It can get quite busy, especially if you have a bunch of planes doing touch and goes.

Even with all of the "safeguards" and training that the Bases have their are still runway incursions, and there is always some idiot who wants to drive behing you when you are running engines at power, but when we run we have a ground person we are communicating with so we can usally avoid anything bad, but bad things do happen every once in a while.

Yeah...My old neighborhood back in Graham WA, there was an Air Patrol officer (MP Lieutenant) next door to my house, an AF AP mechanic 2 houses down, then a C-141 / C-17 pilot....then a C-141 flight officer (non-pilot)....(she went to OKC to head up the AFB air-traffic control).....then up the hill and down the street, there were 3 F-14 pilots, a couple C-130 / C-141 pilots......and another mechanic.

There were also several Alaska mechanics and a couple pilots who worked for United, Alaska and Delta in the neighborhood. At SeaTac.....no 4-wheelers were allowed to travel between the main concourse and the inside taxi-way without a flagged escort vehicle...again...that was what I was told years ago.

[GMAN]

I delivered a load to Reagan in Washington DC last year. I was escorted the entire time. I was nearly broadsided by a Coast Guard plane. There was a lot of traffic. We had to follow a very specific route and airplanes had the right of way. I used to fly myself and I remember that I sometimes had to hurry and get out of the way when another plane was coming in. Things have gotten a bit close at times.