B52 Emergency UK
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B52 Emergency UK
Not wishing to be one of those OMG shock horror emergency people, just interested to see a B52 Squawk 7700 over Gloucester this evening and then head back to Fairford. Think it held at 12000 so bound to be some pictures that surface. Highly doubt we will get to know why, but you never know?......
That dreaded seven engine approach?
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Yes it was either weight restricted or buying thinking time. Not unusual I guess for such an old bird and probably a non event for the crew. Down safely anyway so well done to those involved.....not exactly a machine crammed full of technology to aid!!
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Baloo51 & 52 flew a mission from Fairford yesterday over Europe and it was planned for them to return directly to Minot AFB after being topped up by tankers from Mildenhall. The tankers couldn't take off due to the wind being out of limits at Mildenhall so they had to burn off fuel for 2 hours near Gloucester at 10,000' to get under the maximum landing weight, during that time Baloo52 had a warning light come on to say that a hatch door wasn't shut properly. Both landed safely.
Baloo51 & 52 flew a mission from Fairford yesterday over Europe and it was planned for them to return directly to Minot AFB after being topped up by tankers from Mildenhall. The tankers couldn't take off due to the wind being out of limits at Mildenhall so they had to burn off fuel for 2 hours near Gloucester at 10,000' to get under the maximum landing weight, during that time Baloo52 had a warning light come on to say that a hatch door wasn't shut properly. Both landed safely.
That would explain why the 7700 (or "770", as reported by most of the media) wasn't squawked until very late in the mission, in fact not long before it landed back at Fairford.
Could have been worse - according to one news website, "The worry is that as the bombers normally carry immense armament loads (sic) if there was a crash it would completely devastate Gloucestershire and the surrounding areas".
