747-100 (for USAF) blind over Germany

[railwaysengineer]

German media reporting about a Boeing 747-100 with "military freight" onboard, which lost nearly all of the navigational aids shortly after t/o from Ramstein. It was about the same time the SWISS SAAB 2000 landed unscheduled in Werneuchen near Berlin with that wall on the tarmac, causing loss of the undercarriage at rollout. The 747 was escorted then by two fighter-jets to Frankfurt (approach from the east via Würzburg) for emergency landing. Unfortunately the wx became worse in Frankfurt, but better over Ramstein, so the 747 was vectored and escorted back to Ramstein, where the Freighter landed safely, thanks to heaven and to all involved.
Just to mention this incident; media reports, the freight was very delicat military freight; it was reported, the pilot refused every info about his load . . .
Here a report (in german):
http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,205145,00.html

[BRISTOLRE]

Do we know whos a/c this was, EV PO or 5Y????
I assume it was EV.
Bad situation, good that it was turned around and a/c landed safely.:rolleyes:

[Midnight Blue]

It was an Polar Air Cargo B 747-100. Load was apparently rockets with liquid and solid fuel, lots of explosives.
It is forbidden (at least) in Germany by law to haul this kind of load in civil airplanes.
Would be smart, to prohibit the flight of military planes with such dangerous load in times of peace also.
In case of an accident the result on the ground is the same...

[PaperTiger]

It is forbidden (at least) in Germany by law to haul this kind of load in civil airplanes. Apparently not, unless this aircraft was given a temporary USAF serial (like the old RAF 'trooping' flights).

[Midnight Blue]

In fact this aircraft was given a temporary USAF serial for this purpose. The Captain denied any information about his cargo to Frankfurt Tower "due to military reasons" while he was approaching the airport (EDDF).

[canberra]

its common for the yanks(both civvy and military) to refuse to tell you what theyve got on board. and as for banning all flights with this type of cargo on board, well how on earth will we win wars?

[Midnight Blue]

Do it with seavessels? Okay, it needs longer, but you can bring larger quantities for less money. And if you organize the supply long enough before a (necessary?) war far off your country, it will be there, just in time.
I think, it might work in these days, as it worked in WW II.
You have to carry the military goods from the airport by trucks to the destination, as you have to do it from a seaport anyway.

I of course admit, that I have no big knowledge about succesfull military operations, but I just do not like the idea of tons of dangerous goods lurking around in the sky of a country, where the people do not want to be directly be involved in any war.

[trolleydollylover]

Why is thie you didnt mind giving some of this cargo to London for free in 1939/1940. Needless to say we didnt say thanks in a polite way.

[BEagle]

Which, you utter ar$e, is probably why they don't want to do so again! Or to let anyone else do so..........

Not too much sympathy for Spams around at the moment; greedy corporate thieves have wrecked the savings plans of many by causing the stock exchanges to plummet - and all we hear is that the dimwitted simple Texan wants to 'go kick some Iraqi butt' for reasons that don't seem to have much substance in international law.

And don't just cite 9/11 - prove a link between Al Q'aeda and Saddam first!

[brit bus driver]

Portfolio taken a tumble then BEags...........;)

[atakacs]

Folks,

Sorry to come back on topic, but...

German media reporting about a Boeing 747-100 with "military freight" onboard, which lost nearly all of the navigational aids shortly after t/o from Ramstein. Any idea of what happened ? Seems preety unusual...

--alex

[Midnight Blue]

I can imagine, that a lightning strike can cause a lot of problems to any airplane. There were a lot of thunderstorms in the area that day.
But this is only speculation. Since nobody was hurt (fortunately - good job by the crew!), the German media are probably no longer interested in this case...
Additionally they might get no futher information, due to the military purpose of the flight.

[sweeper]

anybody got info on the reason nav capability lost?
used to work elderly 100 series B747,s.
nav was not the bit you worried about losing.

[Check 6]

Avionics went kaput. The failure was caused by water trapped on a tarp covering palletized cargo. The water escaped from the tarp and ended up in avionics bay.

Two USAF F-16's joined up with the 747 and escorted them back into Ramstein AB.

Now you know the rest of the story.

:D :D

[Taildragger67]

Check 6,

Glass cockpit in a Classic??

[Check 6]

Taildragger67 you caught me good. I corrected my post. I did not realize it was a "classic," and made some assumptions. We all know how to spell A-S-S-U-M-E.

Cheers,

:o