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Blue Angels Runway drive ends in arrest

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Like a scene out of the movie "Top Gun," a Chevrolet Corvette sped across an airport runway in Hancock County last week. Aboard was a uniformed ground crew member who was assisting the Blue Angels. But the ending wasn't as heroic. The Vette got towed, and the driver got arrested. (www.indystar.com) More...

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8literbeater
8literbeater 1
The thing is, the guy probably said he was working on the arresting gear on a plane, but he was probably hitching a ride to the support plane to get a bolt or a wrench or something. Through the cop and the media, I'm surprised they don't have him working on the "water wings".
Anyway, the uniforms they wear are credentials enough for me. So his car didnt have the proper credentials? Eat shit.
pfp217
pfp217 0
Arresting gear on a C-130?
preacher1
preacher1 0
Most military aircraft have a tail hook. Very seldom used but even USAF has them on land based aircraft.Most military runways have 2-3 cables strecthed across them at various points but are recessed in a small groove. In the event of a flame out or other Emergency, they are activated and raised about 4" over the runway and the inbound will drop that arrestor and hopefully catch one. I never saw one used. That's just what I was told by a Tower chief at Davis-Monthan in Tuscon one day.
Pecolaguy
Pecolaguy 0
Fat Albert doesn't have any aresting gear. the C-130 wasn't made with that even remotely in mind.
TTail
TTail 0
shades of patty wagstaff at oshkosh a few years ago?? hmm. i am curious, if he is on the aircrew for the blue angels that doesnt give him a pass on the airfield??
conmanflyer
conmanflyer 0
well hell, it was a BLUE ANGELS corvette! i thnk that alone gives it a pass
wyo7011
wyo7011 0
I did EAF while I was in the Marine Corps and arresting gear was my specialty.

The Blue Angels use Marine Corps M-31 arresting gear while at air shows. I forget what the max weight is, but a C-130 would rip it right out of the ground, haha. It's the expeditionary system used for Navy/Marine Corps Aircraft. The Air Force uses their own, which is BOC gear and is stationary on site. We trapped mostly F-18s which would have a landing weight of around 36k lbs, but the M-31s can trap most aircraft with a tailhook.

The E-28 arresting gear is the emergency systems that are armed whenever the field is active. If the pilot knows he will take a trap, the M-31 is preferred, but last resort is the E-28s.
thunderland2
al fredericks 0
did the vette go thru security an padded down, scanned, right color blue?
preacher1
preacher1 0
Eric: lol and thanks for the info. I like your last line about"if the poliot knows he will take a trap, the M-31 is preferred". Personally if it comes to that, being able to grab anything to stop or slow down is a blessing.lol It is noteworthy that these are all on military aircraft and at military fields, and have been for years, yet on the civilian side they are just now getting around to testing various materials for overrun sinks to stop an airliner, but it is just in the testing stages and no mandate from anybody yet on size, type, or whatever.
chalet
chalet -1
preacher1 can you name one, just one USAF land based aircraft having a tail hook. Where did you get this. The Air Force has only land based aircraft and NONE of them have a tail hook, why should they. They operated the S-16 Grumman rescue plane (amphibian) until the sixties and it never landed on air carriers hence no tail hook either.
preacher1
preacher1 0
Been awhile and I don't know about now, but all the F-4's based with the Fighter Training Wing at Davis Monthan in 1969 had them. I was on the rescue chopper there working out of the FS office and noticed them. I was good friends with one of the Tower chiefs there and asked about them one day and he was telling me about them and the recessed cables on the runway; even showed me the switch in the tower to raise them. He said the cables would only come up 3-4", not enough to impede a landing and that the hooks would drop by gravity and hopefully they'ed catch one. I do remember him saying that he had been there a little over 2 years and never had to use them for an actual emergency but that the cables got tested and inspected weekly. All I know.
chalet
chalet -1
OK, a few of the USAF F-4s had tailhooks whereas all of the Navy's Phantoms had them and were strong enough to engage the arresting cables on the carriers' decks day in and day out.
wksracing
Paul Cline 0
This entire deal should have been a non-issue and should never made the news....damn cops trying to hero out and double-damned media for even writing about it...everybody needs a job I guess!
preacher1
preacher1 0
Chalet: you seem a little irritated that you were wrong, which is one sign of immaturity, which tells me you are a young man, and while I don't mind being corrected if wrong, I really don't like it in the manner that you came across. As far as you begrudgingly admitting a few F-4's had them, what I failed to mention was that everything I saw in 'Nam in 1971, which was 40 years ago, had them and they were land based, not carrier swaps. Now kiss my butt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PROPAIRE2
A number of land based military aircraft have tailhooks for use with emergency arresting gear, e.g. the F-15 and the F-16. I can walk from my office at Boeing down to the F-15 production line and see the F-15's hook first hand. Here's a link to a video showing an F-16 making an emergency arrested landing - the tailhook is clearly visible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBu2RrLXJJQ

Live and learn Chalet.
preacher1
preacher1 0
Thank You William, Wayne
flybuoy
flybuoy 0
how interesting - posted the same story 10 min before you and now the post is gone - hmm, wondering about this coincidence. What do you think?
stevet5808
steve tummers 0
The Blue Angels require a runway with an arresting cable within 50 miles of the airshow. A temporary system was brouht in for the weekend.
crfarrow
crfarrow 0
Chalet: all USA Air Force fighter aircraft have had tailhooks since the 1950's. That includes F100, F101, F102, F106, F4, F15, F16, F22 &F35. And they do use them in emergencies where stopping them in needed.
don73sd
don73sd 0
Lambert St. Louis has 2 runways with arresting wires. I have fueled F-15s. They have tailhooks. Boeings Hedgehog does the daily checks on the wires. Runway 30left and Runway 6 unless they decommissioned that wire.
fdohmann
fdohmann 0
The ground crew of the Blue Angels has an armada of private cars sitting next to the parked Blue Angels jets. I doubt the article was worth to be published other than for grabbing attention to the show. Here are my recent videos of the Blue Angels during the Beaufort Air Show on May 1st 2011 at the Marine Corps Airstation Beaufort, South Carolina:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmcxyksw2Y
Part 1 http://youtu.be/vzajAGLNmJM
Part 2 http://youtu.be/42BlvThvBlA

bjanell
Ben Anello 0
On the question of tailhooks, here is a better video of an F16 during an exercise. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j96E4zCcW84&NR=1
dlittle
dlittle 0
Did anyone notice the part where "Boevers, a sergeant in Marine Wing Support Squadron 471, was in a flight suit."

Scott(The detective) asked Boevers whether he'd been drinking, and he said he had, according to the report. Boevers was not arrested.

Seems to me like it would be against any military rule to be drinking in uniform especially a flight suit.
scscuba1
scscuba1 0
That is two young men that will disappear quietly and sent back to the fleet.
preacher1
preacher1 0
Sad part of this whole thing is, that as Paul said here in an earlier comment, that this whole thing was a total non event other than an over zealous cop and bored news reporter and since it was blown so far out of proportion, as scscuba1 says here, these 2 youg men will "disappear quietly and sent back to the fleet."
padgettrea
Ronald Padgett 0
dlittle, we have/had enough rules. Don't need you coming along and adding any more. Said he had been drinking, didn't say he was in uniform or not. Didn't say whether he was drunk or not. Perhaps we shouldn't wear uniforms at all... might keep us from getting our asses shot at as much. (Sorry for the 'tude... it's been a long week and your last sentence hit a nerve.)
scscuba1
scscuba1 0
As a matter of fact there is no rule to my knowledge about drinking in uniform. Well not during my 30 year tenure in the USN.
Ltcwheatex
Glenna Wheatley -1
@pfp217. Lol. At least one of us readers got your humor. That is the trouble of trying to tell jokes to geeks. They get all technical and it goes woosh over their heads.
:D
Ltcwheatex
Glenna Wheatley -1
Oops. Disregard previous. Neglected to read entire article and thought you were making a joke about the perp's arrest. My bad. Altho it WAS funnier. Way.
biggerfoot
biggerfoot 0
Here are a couple of NOTAMS from KSPI [Springfield, IL]

!SPI 12/147 SPI RWY 22 BAK 14 MILITARY ARRESTING CABLE OTS
!SPI 12/146 SPI RWY 4 BAK 14 MILITARY ARRESTING CABLE OTS WEF 1012271419

I think they moved the Air Guard unit that was based there.
pfp217
pfp217 0
WHOHOO! Biggerfoot that's my home field! You're right we lost the flying unit but there is still a base.I have seen first hand both F-4s and F-16s use the cable. I agree with those who said all USAF fighter aircraft included arresting gear.
Im still not sure about the C-130. To those who said the C-130 included a tailhook, where was it?
PROPAIRE2
Thanks for your military service, Wayne.

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