Originally Posted by
Out Of Trim
Hmm, I plead guilty to a bit of “off roading” in our Runway Caravan at Wattisham during a runway change. I was cleared to cross the active and proceed along the northern taxiway to the RWY 05 end. Unbeknown to me and without any warning from Local, 2 visiting F-15s taxied out of the Northern HAS site heading towards me. I had nowhere to go to get out of the way except a narrow track to a small airfield building that I decided to try and reverse along. Well, that didn’t quite work out and got stuck with rear wheels in the mud.
The F-15s departed from RWY 23 and I had to be towed out by a version of a Scorpion tank! 👀😬
And it didn't/ doesn't just happen to service drivers.
On a fair few airfields where I worked I was required to hold a local permit or licence and be briefed and tested on taxiway/ runway incursions, red lights, stop signs, the works. Met. was often on the wrong side of the tracks.
Legal, happy and confident until I was a TACEVAL evaluator at Liege. Closely pursued on a taxiway by Mirages [probably fly to survive]. The bonddhu was the only way to go. A nice RAF Rheindahlen big saloon stuck in the clag and a nasty RAF Rheindahlen evaluator slightly ill-disposed towards the hosts.