The Oxford Dictionary declared the word of the year to be Selfie. That just says it all. It shows how self-centered we have become as a society. Otherwise, the word would not have made it into the Oxford under the rules of usage.
Yesterday, another small airport fooled a pilot and he landed his very big plane. Recall a day in July in 2012, when two Florida runways on the same heading fooled another pilot and he too, sat his very big military aircraft down on a very small and short runway. Or many years ago when a commercial pilot landed on a short and narrow taxiway at the old Denver Stapleton . So if I can remember three such situations in 40 years, there must be more, maybe ( don't always believe everything you read). But here's a run down on this latest one.
Once upon a time, a giant cargo plane named Atlas Air 4241, also known in aviation parlance as GTI4241.Giant, departed an airfield (LIBG) in the heel of Italy known as Grottaglie/Taranto headed to JFK in New York. It is a modified Boeing 747-400 Quad. It's a little more than a 10 hour flight. Upon leaving New York, at 07:26 PM EST, it was heading west to McConnell AFB, Kansas.
McConnell, (KIAB) is a very large facility. To the north end of the airfield is also Cessna Aircraft facility. To the west side of McConnell is attached the Boeing Aircraft Company facility (Spirit) where the Boeing 787 is assembled. Atlas Air is also known as Boeing's Dream lifter that hauls huge sections of fuselage pieces from Italy to the Kansas facility. These three facilities are snuggled in the curve of the Kansas Turnpike which is also Interstate Highway 35 from the first exit in Kansas
Atlas Air 4241 Giant landed in Kansas at 09:26 PM CST last night and quickly found out it wasn't Kansas anymore. A nightmare was what it was. The craft had landed at Colonel James Jabara airport(KAAO) in error. It is 9 miles north of McConnell and it gets worse. The runway is in the 6100 feet length range while the Giant needs 9100 feet to become airborne with a full load of cargo and fuel. The plane sat on the runway overnight.
Finally, after watching two guys, one in bright yellow top and the other in a full suit bright yellow, wait under the nose wheel while the engineers give the go-ahead. The men finally clear the runway and get out of jet blast range, the Giant heads down the runway at Col. Jabara's Airport. And finally, without eating up the 6100 foot runway and who knows how much grass.......while still on the runway, she lifted skyward to the relief of many people. Earlier a few cargo containers were trailered to be land delivered to McConnell. It was 13:16 PM CST , the craft made a longer than scheduled journey south and then brought her inward to an approach at McConnell. It could have been a bad day but people tend to pull together when times get tough.
There was another Giant in Charleston, S.C. at Charleston AFB scheduled to McConnell around 3:10 this afternoon, but the flight plans disappeared and the departure board showed no sign of the flight.
While the fleet did have a couple of flights over the Atlantic from Belgium and from Brazil, nothing else was showing.
With Selfie being the world of the year, wonder how many Selfies are made in the cockpits?
Yesterday, another small airport fooled a pilot and he landed his very big plane. Recall a day in July in 2012, when two Florida runways on the same heading fooled another pilot and he too, sat his very big military aircraft down on a very small and short runway. Or many years ago when a commercial pilot landed on a short and narrow taxiway at the old Denver Stapleton . So if I can remember three such situations in 40 years, there must be more, maybe ( don't always believe everything you read). But here's a run down on this latest one.
Once upon a time, a giant cargo plane named Atlas Air 4241, also known in aviation parlance as GTI4241.Giant, departed an airfield (LIBG) in the heel of Italy known as Grottaglie/Taranto headed to JFK in New York. It is a modified Boeing 747-400 Quad. It's a little more than a 10 hour flight. Upon leaving New York, at 07:26 PM EST, it was heading west to McConnell AFB, Kansas.
McConnell, (KIAB) is a very large facility. To the north end of the airfield is also Cessna Aircraft facility. To the west side of McConnell is attached the Boeing Aircraft Company facility (Spirit) where the Boeing 787 is assembled. Atlas Air is also known as Boeing's Dream lifter that hauls huge sections of fuselage pieces from Italy to the Kansas facility. These three facilities are snuggled in the curve of the Kansas Turnpike which is also Interstate Highway 35 from the first exit in Kansas
Atlas Air 4241 Giant landed in Kansas at 09:26 PM CST last night and quickly found out it wasn't Kansas anymore. A nightmare was what it was. The craft had landed at Colonel James Jabara airport(KAAO) in error. It is 9 miles north of McConnell and it gets worse. The runway is in the 6100 feet length range while the Giant needs 9100 feet to become airborne with a full load of cargo and fuel. The plane sat on the runway overnight.
Finally, after watching two guys, one in bright yellow top and the other in a full suit bright yellow, wait under the nose wheel while the engineers give the go-ahead. The men finally clear the runway and get out of jet blast range, the Giant heads down the runway at Col. Jabara's Airport. And finally, without eating up the 6100 foot runway and who knows how much grass.......while still on the runway, she lifted skyward to the relief of many people. Earlier a few cargo containers were trailered to be land delivered to McConnell. It was 13:16 PM CST , the craft made a longer than scheduled journey south and then brought her inward to an approach at McConnell. It could have been a bad day but people tend to pull together when times get tough.
There was another Giant in Charleston, S.C. at Charleston AFB scheduled to McConnell around 3:10 this afternoon, but the flight plans disappeared and the departure board showed no sign of the flight.
While the fleet did have a couple of flights over the Atlantic from Belgium and from Brazil, nothing else was showing.
With Selfie being the world of the year, wonder how many Selfies are made in the cockpits?
