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

Depart at night in TIBA and why wouldn’t you follow the normal SID? And or then escape route as required? Setting yourself up.

Is there a HEX code or a rego by any chance? Wanna see if it was on ADS-B exchange.

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.

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?
🤦🏻‍♂️

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.

Sorry, but something about what has been reported here doesn't sit well with me.

Totally incorrect in 2023, possibly was the norm years ago however it certainly doesn’t happen today.

The military are all over safety management these days, for all the obvious reasons!

How the heck could they miss the terrain the the south (I assume it was a R15 departure)??

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.

Military doesn't always get it right, hopefully this 1996 tragedy led to some safety protocol.
Accident Prevention August 2000 (flightsafety.org)

Is there some sort of reference to this other than rumour?

What did they want from ATC?

If it doesn’t happen today, the ADF is an even bigger woke joke these days than I’d thought.

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.

Of course it happens, the low level night stuff is a core function of airdrop and airborne ops for the transport fleet. As usual someone with NFI is making it up.

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.

For the sake of our defence capability, I'm very relieved to hear that.

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.......