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(Navy) Plane Crashes at Point Mugu Naval Air Station (CA)

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Viva_La_Revolution Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-18-11 09:23 PM
Original message
(Navy) Plane Crashes at Point Mugu Naval Air Station (CA)
Source: NBCLA

A military aircraft crashed at Point Mugu Naval Air Station in Ventura County Wednesday afternoon.

A Boeing 707 fuel tanker carrying nearly 150,000 pounds of jet fuel crashed and was engulfed in flames shortly after take-off.

3 people were reported onboard. All were able to escape with minor injuries, according to Teri Reid, a Air Station spokesperson.

Read more: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Plane-Crashes-at-Point-Mugu-Naval-Air-Station-122201479.html
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Blue_Tires Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-18-11 09:56 PM
Response to Original message
1. a shame to see the loss of another 707
those things are flying historical monuments to the birth of the jet age...Less and less 707s and DC-8s are still airworthy...

glad to see everyone got out safe
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Yon_Yonson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-18-11 10:15 PM
Response to Original message
2. Glad the crew was able to get out of the inferno
How many bake sales will the Navy folks have to hold to replace the aircraft? Our schools are being forced to hold fund raisers to maintain their teaching staff. Only fair the military should do the same!
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KT2000 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-18-11 10:28 PM
Response to Original message
3. this was a contractor
not actually a military aircraft. They, Omega Refueling, are hired by the military and they use converted civilian aircraft, such as the 707 rather than the KC-135.
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KeepItReal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 08:23 AM
Response to Reply #3
16. Yeah, can you call it a "military aircraft"?
Flown by mercs?

What is up with that?
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KT2000 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 12:45 PM
Response to Reply #16
18. IMHO - No
It was not constructed to be a refueler and it was not maintained by the military who are extremely diligent in taking care of their planes. I imagine there are KC-135 crews that are steamed having the public believe it was their plane.
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yurbud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-18-11 11:51 PM
Response to Original message
4. geeze I drive by there twice a week, but missed it today.
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AndiMer Donating Member (164 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 02:03 AM
Response to Original message
5. Military plane crashes in Southern California
Source: CNN

(CNN) -- A tanker plane crashed during takeoff at Point Mugu naval air base in Southern California Wednesday evening, but the three people aboard escaped with minor injuries, a U.S. Navy spokesman said.

The plane crashed at 5:25 p.m. PT, base spokesman Vance Vasques said in a statement. The resulting fire was extinguished about three and a half hours later.

The Boeing 707, operated by Omega Air Refueling, went down near the beach, spewing large plumes of black smoke, CNN affiliate KABC reported.

The Ventura County Fire Department sent a full response team, including a helicopter and three fire engines, spokesman Ron Oatman said.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/18/california.military.crash/index.html?hpt=T2
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tabatha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 02:03 AM
Response to Reply #5
6. A lot of fuel is burning.
Edited on Thu May-19-11 01:22 AM by tabatha


http://www.keyt.com/news/local/Plane-Crash-122202079.html

The tanker was carrying thousands of pounds of fuel when it crashed and burned on takeoff, sending a huge plume of wind-swept smoke into the early evening sky that was visible from miles away.



Three crew members escaped from a civilian refueling aircraft that exploded into flames Wednesday evening during an attempted takeoff at Point Mugu Naval Air Station.

The Boeing 707 aircraft was nearly filled to capacity with 150,000 pounds of fuel that stoked intense flames and thick clouds of dark smoke that billowed for miles as firefighters tried to control the blaze, officials said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0519-plane-crash-20110519,0,4803565.story
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 02:03 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. Ok silly question... when did we outsource
refueling?
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tabatha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 02:14 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. I guess there is a fine line
Edited on Thu May-19-11 02:26 AM by tabatha
between outsourcing and subcontracting.
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 02:25 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. This was a private plane
taking off from a military facility.

These were... mercs.

The USAF uses KC -35 planes to do mid air refueling. So even if these guys were into just transporting jet fuel... this is one more example of mercs ... I mean contractors...
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tabatha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 02:28 AM
Response to Reply #9
11. Yep, I just retyped my answer.
I think the military has subcontracted some stuff for a long time - but not actual fighting personnel until Bush.

I guess this is another step in the march toward privatization.

I wonder if that will eventually be shown to be less efficient.
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 02:30 AM
Response to Reply #11
12. It is far less efficient
and more expensive.

When we are involved in a real war that will require a draft (think WW II level)... that will go so fast it's not even funny.
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tabatha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 02:32 AM
Response to Reply #12
14. Yep, maybe they were cutting corners
to pay salaries - and used a 707 which is not suitable. We are all going to go to hell in a hand basket with privatization.
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KT2000 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 02:27 AM
Response to Reply #8
10. this was not military plane
Edited on Thu May-19-11 02:29 AM by KT2000
it was owned by a civilian contractor that was hired by the Navy. The 707 that crashed was a civilian airliner that was modified to become a refueler. The 707 was not built to be a refueler, its sister plane the KC-135 plane was built specifically to be a refueler tanker and is a military plane, maintained by the military.
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tabatha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 02:30 AM
Response to Reply #10
13. Then the privatized contractor
screwed up and proved that privatization is not always the best choice.
Thanks for info.
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denbot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 03:21 AM
Response to Original message
15. Holy-shit that must of been one scary emergency exit.
Going down on a plane filled with cargo fuel is one notch above slamming in to a mountain side, of the least survivable aircraft events. Regardless of what you think of the crews job, imagine what went through those people's minds as they plowed through the ground, and then scrambled from the burning wreckage.

I'm glad they survived.
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Hassin Bin Sober Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-19-11 08:41 AM
Response to Reply #15
17. Yep. I remember an Illinois Air National Guard KC-135 blowing up in-flight.
That was 30 plus years ago.

When I heard one of these re-fuelers went down, I was sure the crew were goners.
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petronius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-20-11 10:25 AM
Response to Reply #15
19. Truly - I'm realy glad they made it and it's not the outcome I expected
Not sure what I'd consider a minimum safe distance if I was running from a crashed and burning tanker, but it would be a long ways for sure.

This article says that it was originally a Pan Am jet, which is also kind of sad to me (another little lost bit of aviation history)...

http://www.bradenton.com/2011/05/19/3209837/ntsb-sends-team-to-probe-calif.html
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