Marine F-35B and KC-130J Collide. All Safe

[fubar57]

Marine F-35B Crashes After Collision With KC-130 Over California; All Aircrew Recovered Safely - USNI News

 

[fubar57]

 

[Airframes]

Good to know the crews are OK.

 

[Peter Gunn]

Thoughtful of the USMC to help that farmer irrigate his field with the port wing tank...

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I read somewhere that the -130 was already moved back to its base. Anyone else hear this?

 

[fubar57]

Could they have fixed the damage that quickly? The right and left propellers don't look right to me

 

[cvairwerks]

Seriously doubt it was moved that quick. Accident was around 1600 WST. It would take at least 12 hours to gather up and move onsite a crane large enough to handle the aircraft. As that is a plowed field, it would take probably 10-12 hours just to set enough crane mats to move into position.
When we lost a bird at work, it was 24 hours before we could even touch the wreckage beyond removing human remains.

 

[soulezoo]

It'll buff out...

I too am glad the crews are ok.

Any word on cause? Was this a refueling mishap?

 

[Gnomey]

Glad everyone's ok!

 

[vikingBerserker]

I'd think they'd need to drain the fuel out of it first before they could even think of moving it.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Could they have fixed the damage that quickly? The right and left propellers don't look right to me

They would truck it out

Seriously doubt it was moved that quick. Accident was around 1600 WST. It would take at least 12 hours to gather up and move onsite a crane large enough to handle the aircraft. As that is a plowed field, it would take probably 10-12 hours just to set enough crane mats to move into position.
When we lost a bird at work, it was 24 hours before we could even touch the wreckage beyond removing human remains.

Agree - that's why I thought that report was funny. I've done large aircraft recovery, sometimes it's taken days just to acquire the equipment.

 

[GrauGeist]

The KC-130 did set down near Highway 86 and not far from Interstate 10, so the recovery equipment has quick access to the site.

 

[cvairwerks]

Quick is relative....a large enough crane is still going to need a crane mat road to the aircraft. Your talking about taking a 50+ ton piece of equipment into a plowed field with about the same total contact area as a sheet of plywood. Even a crawler crane is going to have a problem with that field.

 

[GrauGeist]

Read: "quick access to the site".
(In other words, there are places out there in the desert where no roads exist)

How they retrieve it from that point, is a different matter entirely.

 

[vikingBerserker]

I wonder if you could take it apart enough to fly it out with Sikorsky Sky Cranes

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I wonder if you could take it apart enough to fly it out with Sikorsky Sky Cranes

That is possible and it might have been done before. The 130 wing (L/R) attaches to a center box and IIRC is actually removed during overhaul and TCTO compliance.

 

[dick56]

I visited the site today. There were a lot of "suits" scratching their head. It is less than 1/2 mile from the Thermal Airport. One thought was to airbag it up and drop the gear. Then tow it to Thermal where it would be easier to repair and fly away or easier to take it apart on a hardstand. Below is a good video for this incident. We couldn't get close enough to get good pictures because of the security. But the below video shows it all. Dick Welsh