Doctor Who [6]

Ah, the old Hercules. What a workhorse! I think they've been a major part of every humanitarian airlift since the Korean War.  

The US Forest Service used to use them to fight forest fires by swooping down on remote lakes with a scoop deployed, scooping up thousands of gallons of water, then pulling up sharply and flying their payload to drop on the fire. I can't think of another plane you would even try that with.  

They did that successfully for many years, until fatigue caught up with them. Then one day when a Hercules tried to pull up with a full load. the wings went up. The fuselage didnt...

They grounded the fleet and discontinued the program.

Edit: I just googled: It appears they're still using scoops to fill the Antonov An-2. The truss structure of a biplane is hopefully less prone to fatigue.

A workhorse indeed - never heard they were used to put out fires like that, though! How awesome

Ringdrotten wrote:While we're on the topic of American aircraft in Norway - the Norwegian army operates a number of Lockheed Martin aircraft: Hercules, P-3 Orion and F16s (soon to be F35s). Additionally, there are the Bell 412 helicopters, also from an American manufacturer I believe.

 are u allowed to say that?? or is it not classified information?




they suck because they are cold and uncomfortable and i always end up next to huge, smelly strangers.

fatigue? scoop?

Norc wrote:

Ringdrotten wrote:While we're on the topic of American aircraft in Norway - the Norwegian army operates a number of Lockheed Martin aircraft: Hercules, P-3 Orion and F16s (soon to be F35s). Additionally, there are the Bell 412 helicopters, also from an American manufacturer I believe.

 are u allowed to say that?? or is it not classified information?

That information is as open as can be

oh ok.. not that the norwegian army didn't release a video of their most high-tech missile..

Norc I think fatigue means when machine like an Aircraft that over time wears out and becomes dangerously prone to bits falling off and getting rusty. its called metal fatigue. its very dangeroud because sometimes its invisible to the naked eye, like hairline cracks, I suppose its even worse if its carried gallons of sea water what with salt and corrosion.

Correction. I'd combined two stories in my memory. The Hercules wasn't scooping water, it was spaying retardant at the time of the crash.  Here's the details:

N130HP, call sign "Tanker 130", was flying against the Cannon Fire, near Walker, California on June 17, 2002, when it experienced structural failure of the center wing section, causing both wings to fold upward and separate from the aircraft. The fuselage rolled and crashed inverted, killing the three crewmen on board.

Tanker 130 had departed the Minden, Nevada air attack base at 2:29 p.m. PDT with 3,000 US gallons (11,000 L) of retardant for its sixth drop of the day, and arrived at the fire at 2:45 p.m. The crew made an initial spotting pass over the drop zone, then flew back for the drop, which was to be a 1/2 salvo, dispensing half of the onboard retardant. The drop run required the aircraft to make a perpendicular crossing of a ridgeline and then descend into a valley. A video of the accident shows the aircraft crossing the ridge and then pitching down to begin its drop of the retardant. Near the end of the drop, the nose of the aircraft began to pitch up to level attitude as the descent was arrested. The nose continued to pitch up past level attitude, and at the end of the drop, the right wing began to fold upwards, followed less than one second later by the left wing. Two debris fields were found, one 500 feet (150 m) in length and the other 720 feet (220 m) in length. A post-impact fire in the first debris field consumed major portions of the wing and engine components; there was no fire in the second debris field, which included the fuselage and empennage.

The aircraft, serial number 56-0538, was one of the original C-130 production series and had been built by Lockheed in 1957. It was retired from military service in 1978 and stored at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base for ten years. In May 1988, the aircraft was acquired by the U.S. Forest Service from the General Services Administration, and in August 1988 the Forest Service sold the plane to Hemet Valley Flying Service along with five others it had acquired, for conversion to an airtanker. Hemet then sold the C-130 to Hawkins & Powers. At the time of the crash, the airframe had logged 21,863 flight hours.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated the crash and determined that the accident was caused by a structural failure which occurred at the wing-to-fuselage attach point, with the right wing failing just before the left one. The investigation disclosed "evidence of fatigue cracks in the right wing's lower surface skin panel, with origins beneath the forward doubler.... The origin points were determined to be in rivet holes which join the external doubler and the internal stringers to the lower skin panel. These cracks, which grew together to about a 12-inch (30 cm) length, were found to have propagated past the area where they would have been covered by the doubler and into the stringers beneath the doubler and across the lap joint between the middle skin panel and the forward skin panel."

Mrs Figg wrote:Norc I think fatigue means when machine like an Aircraft that over time wears out and becomes dangerously prone to bits falling off and getting rusty. its called metal fatigue. its very dangeroud because sometimes its invisible to the naked eye, like hairline cracks, I suppose its even worse if its carried gallons of sea water what with salt and corrosion.

D: omg ..that's scary.

Norc wrote: are u allowed to say that?? or is it not classified information?

Norway is part of NATO, so they get access to America's billion dollar goodie bag of military toys.

Eldorion wrote:

Norc wrote: are u allowed to say that?? or is it not classified information?

Norway is part of NATO, so they get access to America's billion dollar goodie bag of military toys.

Indeed we do

Ive been reading through this and interesting as it is I cant seem to find a mention of so much as a sonic screwdriver.  

That's because those are classified

 

I have Petty fatigue. cracks are beginning to show in my undercarriage.   






 

Already? But Ive loads more to give yet Mrs Figg.

Its the TV Choice awards again- and as usual Who is up for some awards- so give them your vote!

http://www.tvchoicemagazine.co.uk/awards/2013

I voted for Downtown Abbey.

i voted for call the midwives i loved that show. no srsly, i did


(no joking, ofcourse i voted who, but i was in doubt for a second  )

i dunno if i should vote top gear or embarrassing bodies.. hmm.. but since i've been to top gear live and not embarrassing bodies, i'll vote top ger.

omg.. big bang theory or game of thrones D:

Norc wrote:omg.. big bang theory or game of thrones D:

You're kidding me.

no i am not. i love both equally. and it's so boring when got wins everything..