Tony D Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 That may have been what it was. The Radome on the F15's I was familiar to seeing was a much lighter color, almost transparent, but it darned looked like plywood! I'd say it was a good 2 feet in diameter, right near the bulkhead at the front of the aircraft. The pilots likely needed to change pants aftger the flight. The door was closed when I got out, they had not shown themselves at that point! I hate to say it but it was a 'non starter' for me. I wish I'd taken photos now. But it was by no means 'my worst flight'... Oooooh no, not by a loooooong shot! Commercial Aviation is the lap of luxury when you're strapped into the web seat of a C130 going into a Typhoon over the Pacific west of Guam... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PalmettoZ Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 That may have been what it was. The Radome on the F15's I was familiar to seeing was a much lighter color, almost transparent, but it darned looked like plywood!I'd say it was a good 2 feet in diameter, right near the bulkhead at the front of the aircraft. The pilots likely needed to change pants aftger the flight. The door was closed when I got out, they had not shown themselves at that point! I hate to say it but it was a 'non starter' for me. I wish I'd taken photos now. But it was by no means 'my worst flight'... Oooooh no, not by a loooooong shot! Commercial Aviation is the lap of luxury when you're strapped into the web seat of a C130 going into a Typhoon over the Pacific west of Guam... I was flying to Acension island on the C141 in the Air Force in a bad thunderstorm once when we got a lightning strike on the windshield frame. Sounded like someone took a sledgehammer and wacked it. After 2 missed approaches we got blitzed again, this time on the radome. I was really scared at this point, since we were down to our 3rd approach and no alternate airfield. The bad part is that we were straining looking out of the window to find the approach lights while this was happening. None of us were talking in the cockpit, and the female co-pilot was in tears after she got off of the plane. I thought I would see pieces of the radome everywhere when I did my walkaround inspection, but it was only small pinholes with burn marks. A real eye opener, never forgot it. I know what you mean about those stoms in the pacific, very nasty, especially in a C130. Bumpy Bumpy. On C141's we use to do air drops with paratroopers. Standard procedure was to pass out barf bags when they boarded the plane. Once one guy chucked the whole group started to puke. Smelling lovely at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 I know what you mean about those stoms in the pacific, very nasty, especially in a C130. Bumpy Bumpy. On C141's we use to do air drops with paratroopers. Standard procedure was to pass out barf bags when they boarded the plane. Once one guy chucked the whole group started to puke. Smelling lovely at that point. There is that... I know what you mean about the terrain following flights. I had to go FOL in Korea and got loaded on a blacked out something that smelled inside like...er 'garlic and fermented rice'. Loadmaster came to me with a minimaglite hands me three bags, tells me to 'stay put no matter what' and makes sure by lap harness is really secure. Apparently I had no 'need to know' this was a jump flight for a joint US-ROK special forces mission... I can distinctly remember what I thought when the light came on after the back door started going down in flight: "God, please don't let one of these gung-ho morons think I'm freezing and drag me out of the back of the plane without a parachute!" Yeah...that was another interesting flight... I used to have a 'never say never' in a signature line. It referred to my last 141 Flight out of Kadena to Osan. As I got off, it was 'Well I'm never flying on one of these damn things again...' 10 years later, as a civilian sitting backwards looking at the passenger emergency information card on a 141 leaving Johnston Atoll that line came to me and stuck... Same thing goes for having an AK47 issued to me... That's now like 21 years after the fact... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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