USMC Mid-Air - F-35/KC-130
From this close up it certainly looks like the F-35B had an overtake and may have gone between the #3 and #4 engines - look at the damaged underwing tank hanging off that appears to have been sliced !
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Sycamore-from my short time in AAR I remember that ATP56 (or whatever it is called these days) allows boom receivers to join direct astern (although not from 70 miles!) It also strongly advises against such a procedure for probe and drogue. If the USMC don't follow said document, now might be a good time to start!
Also imagine the Marines will need to "buy the farm". Bet the (strawberry?) farmer gets a nice check to cover the crop loss associated with the incident, investigation and eventual recovery. Wonder how JP-5 tastes on strawberries.....
It is impossible to say that, even from the photo. The underwing could have been hit by hose whiplash, prop blade or associated shrapnel, internal mechanical failure or indeed by an impact from the receiver aircraft. Same goes for the prop damage - when you start to shed a prop then anything around it is fair game. The metal-bladed Herc demonstrated a number of times the ease in which a shed blade from one side could take out an engine on the opposite side of the airframe. Prop blades don't find fuselage structure as an impediment to their energetic travels.
https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publ...section_3.html
https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publ...section_1.html
https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publ...section_3.html
Distress and Urgency Communications
- A pilot who encounters a distress or urgency condition can obtain assistance simply by contacting the air traffic facility or other agency in whose area of responsibility the aircraft is operating, stating the nature of the difficulty, pilot's intentions and assistance desired. Distress and urgency communications procedures are prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), however, and have decided advantages over the informal procedure described above.
- Distress and urgency communications procedures discussed in the following paragraphs relate to the use of air ground voice communications.
- The initial communication, and if considered necessary, any subsequent transmissions by an aircraft in distress should begin with the signal MAYDAY, preferably repeated three times. The signal PAN-PAN should be used in the same manner for an urgency condition.
- Distress communications have absolute priority over all other communications, and the word MAYDAY commands radio silence on the frequency in use. Urgency communications have priority over all other communications except distress, and the word PAN-PAN warns other stations not to interfere with urgency transmissions.
H-Q,and Vasco, it all depended on the relative weights and heights of both tanker and receiver,not so much on stallspeed for `tobobogggganning`,or if there was weather ahead on the route,or `lo-speed/high speed` drogues...
We could t/o at 188k ,op .necessity,but it was a painful climb`,darn Sarf,limited by Vno3 and internal fuel transfer/usage.Only used it once for tanking from `IceStation Kilo` to refuel a `brown weather balloon`somewhere N of ` a North place`....Not so much of a problem for fast jets....
To this incident,intrigues me how you get a F-35 under/through the props/tanks without hitting the tailplane,or did it go over the wing ,hit the props,and they took out the stbd tank,but the stbd refuelling pod appears undamaged......maybe an ex-Blue Angel...?
We could t/o at 188k ,op .necessity,but it was a painful climb`,darn Sarf,limited by Vno3 and internal fuel transfer/usage.Only used it once for tanking from `IceStation Kilo` to refuel a `brown weather balloon`somewhere N of ` a North place`....Not so much of a problem for fast jets....
To this incident,intrigues me how you get a F-35 under/through the props/tanks without hitting the tailplane,or did it go over the wing ,hit the props,and they took out the stbd tank,but the stbd refuelling pod appears undamaged......maybe an ex-Blue Angel...?
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Besides the MAYDAY/PAN thing, another difference I have noted between the US and other nations is the stage at which tanker crews issue the clearance astern. The old and bold AAR mafia on here will be gratified to know that European tanker crews are still uniformly rigorous in waiting for joiners to be stabilised in the echelon position before issuing clearance astern. US tanker crews, not so much... my personal record (set within the last couple of years) is being cleared astern a KC-135 on first radio contact at 70 miles, with the crew seeming surprised when I asked whether I could join through echelon instead. Time and the investigation will tell whether the custom may have contributed in this case (noting the greater risk of misjudging closure on the slow KC-130) but regardless, it’s a cheese-hole that should be closed.
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Distress Calls
In the 70s, as an ATCO at Eastern Radar, I was tasked with giving lectures to new USAF crews in the UK at LKH, BTW and UPH. I thing I still have the slides! Part of the emphasis was on using the proper terms (MAYDAY or PAN), explaining the UK D&D organisation and reassuring them there was no fee. Interesting to see that 50 years later US Mil continues to plough its own furrow (literally), regardless. 
Perhaps my best/worst case was in ‘68, with a TF-100 pilot who had ejected ... and while floating down into the North Sea east of Strubby used his PLB to transmit on 243.0 and say “This is Wiggins, anybody there?”. He was triangulated and recovered by SAR from Coltishall ... sadly his colleague was never found.
Perhaps my best/worst case was in ‘68, with a TF-100 pilot who had ejected ... and while floating down into the North Sea east of Strubby used his PLB to transmit on 243.0 and say “This is Wiggins, anybody there?”. He was triangulated and recovered by SAR from Coltishall ... sadly his colleague was never found.
Besides the MAYDAY/PAN thing, another difference I have noted between the US and other nations is the stage at which tanker crews issue the clearance astern. The old and bold AAR mafia on here will be gratified to know that European tanker crews are still uniformly rigorous in waiting for joiners to be stabilised in the echelon position before issuing clearance astern. US tanker crews, not so much... my personal record (set within the last couple of years) is being cleared astern a KC-135 on first radio contact at 70 miles, with the crew seeming surprised when I asked whether I could join through echelon instead. Time and the investigation will tell whether the custom may have contributed in this case (noting the greater risk of misjudging closure on the slow KC-130) but regardless, it’s a cheese-hole that should be closed.
It may also turn out that this accident is not pilot error. A bad basket or ruptured hose could sends hundreds of lbs of fuel down the intake. I have no idea how a F35 engine would react to that but it has created serious issues in other aircraft types. The probe on the F35 is in a bad location relative to the intake.
Bob Viking - ROFL
I agree Bob V, funny and spot on.
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Originally Posted by [email protected]
Bob Viking - ROFL
Seriously?
https://www.hkatc.gov.hk/HK_AIP/aic/AIC21-12.pdf