USAF KC135 Divert To LHR
 

Now at ten miles finals, there's a KC135 Quid30 inbound to Heathrow on a Mayday with hydraulic problems.

That'll get the stop the war protestors up in arms.

Down safely! Needed 11000ft and MLD not long enough.

Pleased that they made it OK. I wonder who fixed the hydraulic problem? Also, did the crew carry theior baggage in clear plastic bags?

63-8033 was the serial, not sure if it's still in

WNC

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Brize have 11000ft?

Jordan

Brize couldn't accept 'em at the time. Could be a multitude of reasons why - cross winds, runway condition, work in progress at BZN, weather etc...

Many thanks for the swift answer.

Jordan

Why not Fairford or Macrahanish? They're both 11,000ft+ & FFA is or was a USAFE tanker base.

But why not Heathrow? What does it really matter?

Apparently it had a hydraulic problem and was short of fuel, or so I read on an egroup.

No big deal - Heathrow was a diversion for V-bombers when I was there....

How ironic. I thought containers carrying liquids were now forbidden at LHR:ok:

Brize, Fairford, Campbelltown (NOT Macrihanish) all 10,000ft, Stansted also.

Remember too that some of these airfields are only activated by NOTAM nowadays.

Er, guys - it was (apparantly) a MAYDAY. Remember that hydraulic failures (more often than not a loss of hyd oil) can affect the flying controls, so a diversion would be made to the nearest suitable runway. There may not be time to fly to Brize, and certainly not all the way to Scotland!
As to who fixed it, they would carry a / some engineer(s) on board who might be able to do a fix, otherwise it'd be a case of someone going to Hethrow with the required tools and spares.
Hope this clears up your questions / thoughts:)

Never heard of it ... unless you mean Campbeltown :p

Ahhh Machrihanish. On good nights couldn't you see the Aurora from there?

HD, I take it you mean the pretty lights and not the fabled UAV?

<<Er, guys - it was (apparantly) a MAYDAY. Remember that hydraulic failures (more often than not a loss of hyd oil) can affect the flying controls, so a diversion would be made to the nearest suitable runway. There may not be time to fly to Brize, and certainly not all the way to Scotland!<<

Unless the KC is vastly different from civil 707's - I seem to recall that the 707 didn't have much in the way of hydraulic flight controls other than the rudder boost and the flaps, and they were no trouble to extend on the electrical system, the rudder boost was only a problem if one had lost an engine.Dutch roll was hardly a problem at low levels.

The only speed increment I could find when quickly looking through my old flight manual was a 15kt increase in Vref if the LE flaps hadnt extended - and that was on a 320B/C with full span LE flaps - most of those old KC's I've seen only have the LE flap/slat between the engines. Providing the reversers work stopping was not a problem.

Which brings us back to the original question - why LHR? - unless of course the P1 was an AF reserve pilot and in his other life was more familiar with LHR than other UK airfields.

arem.. The only person who could answer you question would be the aircraft commander. I don't know why there should be a query about the use of Heathrow - the commander made that decision and as it was a Mayday call ATC would have offered him the closest airport, which might just have been Hounslow International. End of story so far as I see it...

and a nice picture of said beast up at Mildenhall (based on the serial number give above!)

pic from airliners - http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1029906/M/

http://p.airliners.net/photos/middle/6/0/9/1029906.jpg