USAF C17 Close Call with Terrain YBCS - No ATC Available
USAF C17 Close Call with Terrain YBCS - No ATC Available
Anyone know any details on this?
Nothing on ATSB, surprisingly
Deoarted at night supposedly, did not make the immediate left turn and was below lowest safe for quite some time before presumably a GPWS alerted escape.
Called ATC but they were TIBA
Nothing on ATSB, surprisingly
Deoarted at night supposedly, did not make the immediate left turn and was below lowest safe for quite some time before presumably a GPWS alerted escape.
Called ATC but they were TIBA
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Easy to make assumptions that the crew failed, however given the lack of ATC and possibly the crews unfamiliarity with the terrain in very close proximity to the aerodrome it’s not surprising.
Last edited by Duck Pilot; 25th Sep 2023 at 23:35.
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You know a C-17 isn’t a civilian passenger jet right?
And they’ve got the kind of gear to help them see in the dark right?
And the military does things a bit differently right?
🤦🏻♂️
And they’ve got the kind of gear to help them see in the dark right?
And the military does things a bit differently right?
🤦🏻♂️
The following 2 users liked this post by Bug Smasher Smasher:
So? Why the f*** would you fly low and close to high terrain in the middle of the night?! What kind of mission and airmanship is that?!
Errrm, a military mission maybe? Maybe practising?
You know the RAAF flies low and close to terrain occasionally, right? Even when it’s dark.
You know the RAAF flies low and close to terrain occasionally, right? Even when it’s dark.
The following 3 users liked this post by Lead Balloon:
The military are all over safety management these days, for all the obvious reasons!
ATC or no ATC they must’ve had the most basic departure charts in which every one of them says to turn hard left without delay at the runway end to avoid the high terrain to the south east??
Even an unfamiliar crew couldn’t have missed that.
What did they want from ATC?
I call BS on that anyway, I've seen RAAF Spartans departing low level at night on NVG in the last few years. However, if the crew of this USAF C-17 did get a GPWS alert or similar then asked for assistance from ATC, that points to something different.
Many years ago a USAF KC135 on a Cairns for Cairns tanking mission departed at night and were very slow on the left turn and went very close to Mt Yarrabah, despite ATC telling them to tighten up the turn, terrain ahead. Crew visited ATC next day and we had a friendly chat. They reckoned they probably missed the hill by about 200 ft.
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The following 4 users liked this post by junior.VH-LFA:
In any case if there was an incident it can join the civilian reports from the two major domestic airlines that went below safe altitude recently during arrival at Cairns. There is definitely a trend showing up around the airspace there and close calls with hills.
The following 2 users liked this post by 43Inches:
Duck Pilot: What is the basis for your assertion that it is "totally incorrect" to say that, in 2023, the RAAF flies low and close to terrain occasionally, even when it’s dark.
The Americans were probably relying on the type of ATC service they get in the USA, then got to Australia.......
