Accidents and equipments

The KC-10 Extender

A modified McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing Company) DC-10, the KC-10A entered service in 1981.

Twenty KC-10s were modified to add wing-mounted pods further enhancing their aerial refueling capabilities.

During operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1991, the KC-10 fleet provided in-flight refueling to aircraft from the US armed forces as well as those of other coalition forces. In the early stages of Operation Desert Shield, in-flight refueling was key to the rapid airlift of materiel and forces.

In March 1999, a NATO air campaign, Operation Allied Force, was launched against the government of Yugoslavia. The mobility portion of the operation began in February and was heavily tanker dependent. By early May 1999, some 150 KC-10s and KC-135s deployed to Europe where they refueled bombers, fighters and support aircraft engaged in the conflict. The KC-10 flew 409 missions throughout the entire Allied Force campaign and continued support operations in Kosovo.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, KC-10s have played a prominent role. The KC-10 has flown more than 350 missions guarding US skies as a part of Operation Noble Eagle. During operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, KC-10s flew more than 1,390 missions delivering critical air refueling support to numerous joint and coalition receiver aircraft.

The only KC-10 Extender lost by the USAF

The KC-10 Extender has been a stalwart workhorse in the United States Air Force’s fleet for decades. However, by September 2024, the US Air Force’s inventory of KC-10s will be decommissioned and gradually replaced by the new KC-46 airframe.

Taken on Sep. 17, 1987 at Barksdale Air Force Base (AFB) the photos in this post shows the only KC-10 Extender lost by the U.S. Air Force (USAF).

The aircraft, KC-10 tanker tail number 82-0190, known through most of its career as “Lady Luck,” was often in the public eye as a flying ambassador and goodwill vehicle. So much so, in fact, that in January 1987 then-Secretary of the Air Force Pete Aldridge helped rename it as “Rollin’ Out the Red,” with sporty new nose art.

The KC-10 Extender that exploded at Barksdale AFB

As reported by Shreveport Times, the airplane lost whatever luck it had just a few months later, on Sep. 17, 1987, when it exploded on the Barksdale ramp while undergoing routine maintenance after a mission. Three airmen were on the airplane when it turned into a pillar of smoke and flame. Two escaped, miraculously, but one airman, Sgt. Joseph Burgio — a former Olympic wrestling hopeful and two-time New York state wrestling champ who volunteered as a coach at Parkway High School — died.

Burgio, married and the father of a young son, had previously served at Sprangdahlem Air Base, Germany, and one year prior to his death had earned the 2nd Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and 2nd Bomb Wing Maintenance Technician of the Month awards.

It could have been much worse. Just two hours before, the plane had arrived with 17 people on board. When it exploded, it still had 63,000 pounds of fuel on board. The explosion destroyed the entire center section of the airplane, leaving only the tail intact and severing and dropping the cockpit to the ramp, according to an online report.

Design flaw

Former 2nd Bomb Wing commander Brett Dula recalled that day in a memoir for the Air Force Academy Class of 1964 alumni association.

“One day, General Jack Chain, (commander in chief of Strategic Air Command) visited and spent much of the day with the 8the Air Force commander,” he wrote. “A subsequently confirmed design flaw caused a massive fire aboard one of our KC-10s, which had just completed an afternoon mission. One man, Sgt. Joey Burgio, died of smoke inhalation and the aircraft burned to the ground with the four-star and three-star watching the whole thing. … Some really talented people came together to perform incredibly under tough circumstances.”

One of Burgio’s friends, Air Force retiree Reagan Moon, now living in Bossier City, also recalls that fateful episode.

“I remember that sad day on the KBAD ramp like it was yesterday,” he said. “I was in our squadron, the 32nd Air Refueling Squadron, and was downstairs when I just happened to look out on the ramp. Then I saw this big flame come up … I looked and saw the fire coming up. That was the first explosion.”

A second explosion

With other squadron personnel, they ran out onto the ramp and drove out to the stricken airplane as a second explosion took place. Flight engineers such as Moon and pilots were told to start the engines of other KC-10s parked wingtip to wingtip and fore and aft of the burning airplane to taxi them out of danger.

Moon saw his friend taken from the charred KC-10 and knew that Burgio was gone.

“He suffered from massive smoke inhalation, but he wasn’t burned at all,” Moon recalled.

Moon misses his friend.

“Burgio was just a super nice guy,” he said. “You wouldn’t meet a nicer person.”

The KC-10 Extender which exploded at Barksdale was not the only tanker that blew up on the ground

The cause of the incident was attributed to a fuel vapor explosion in the center fuel tank.

Investigators found that fuel had leaked, and vapors probably had been ignited by arcing from a battery near the pump area for the tank.

Shortly after the incident, the USAF ordered checks of all KC-10s and found a dozen similar leaks.

Noteworthy this was not the only time we tell the story of a tanker that blew up on the ground: CLICK HERE to read our article about a KC-135 Stratotanker that exploded after a failed pressure test.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

Uncertainty about the return of the V-22 tiltrotor

Air Boss Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, the head of US naval aviation, said in a panel at the WEST 2024 conference, co-hosted by the US Naval Institute and AFCEA on Feb. 13, 2024, that the US Navy could rethink its plans on how it resupplies its fleet of aircraft carriers in the short term with more uncertainty in the long term given the uncertainty of the return of the V-22 tiltrotor to full operations.

As reported by USNI News, the service initially planned to retire its remaining 15 remaining C-2A Greyhound carrier onboard delivery (COD) aircraft over the next two years and replace them with a total of 38 CMV-22B Ospreys.

The C-2A Greyhound COD aircraft is still available

“Lucky for the Navy the C-2A Greyhound is still available,” Cheever said. “Limited operational impacts at this point but there are still operational impacts. And as you look into the future, significant operational impacts.”

The US Navy stopped training new C-2 pilots and has begun to wind down spares and logistic support for the 60-year-old design as part of the planned retirement for the Greyhounds.

Because of the crash of an Air Force Special Operations CV-22 off the coast of Japan late in 2023, that transition, completed on the West Coast, is now stalled with the grounding of the V-22 across the Marines, Navy and Air Force.

V-22 Ospreys out of operation

As of Feb. 13, the Ospreys have been out of operation for 69 days with no indication how long the grounding could continue.

The grounding force the Navy to swap out the V-22s aboard West Coast carriers USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN- 71) with C-2As the East Coast “Rawhides” of Fleet Logistics Support (VRC) 40.

“VRC-40 is currently surging to meet the [COD] mission for deployed aircraft carriers in U.S. 5th and 7th Fleets,” reads a statement from Naval Air Forces provided to USNI News this week.

“There has been no change on the planned 2026 sundown of the C-2A.”

No change in plan for the C-2A Greyhound COD aircraft yet

While there is no change in plan for the C-2s yet, there is little indication from any of the services how long the V-22s could remain out of service.

For the US Marine Corps (USMC) the situation is more dire. Operations for the Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, the 26th MEU deployed on the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group and the 15th MEU preparing to deploy aboard the Boxer ARG have seen dramatic impacts.

Marine officials have told USNI News that Marines are allowed to use Ospreys deployed aboard the Bataan ARG in specific emergency situations.

The USMC risks losing proficiency with the aircraft the longer their grounded.

The CMV-22B Osprey

The US Navy will use the CMV-22B to replace the C-2A Greyhound COD (carrier onboard delivery) aircraft for transporting personnel, mail, supplies and high-priority cargo from shore bases to aircraft carriers at sea. The CMV-22B carries up to 6,000 pounds of cargo and combines the vertical takeoff, hover and landing (VTOL) qualities of a helicopter with the long-range, fuel efficiency and speed characteristics of a turboprop aircraft.

Bell Boeing designed the Navy variant to have the expanded range needed for fleet operations. Two additional 60-gallon tanks and redesigned forward sponson tanks can cover more than 1,150 nautical miles. The mission flexibility of the Osprey will increase operational capabilities and readiness, in addition to ferrying major components of the F-35 engine.

Photo by Seaman Kevin T. Murray Jr. / U.S. Navy

The U-2

Built in complete secrecy by Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed Skunk Works, the original U-2A first flew in August 1955. Early flights over the Soviet Union in the late 1950s provided the president and other US decision makers with key intelligence on Soviet military capability. In October 1962, the U-2 photographed the buildup of Soviet offensive nuclear missiles in Cuba, touching off the Cuban Missile Crisis. In more recent times, the U-2 Dragon Lady has provided intelligence during operations in Korea, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq. When requested, the U-2 also provides peacetime reconnaissance in support of disaster relief from floods, earthquakes, and forest fires as well as search and rescue operations.

The U-2R, first flown in 1967, was 40 percent larger and more capable than the original aircraft. A tactical reconnaissance version, the TR-1A, first flew in August 1981 and was structurally identical to the U-2R. The last U-2 and TR-1 aircraft were delivered in October 1989; in 1992 all TR-1s and U-2s were designated as U-2Rs. Since 1994, $1.7 billion has been invested to modernize the U-2 airframe and sensors. These upgrades also included the transition to the GE F118-101 engine which resulted in the re-designation of all Air Force U-2 aircraft to the U-2S.

U-2 pilots breathe pure oxygen for as much as 14 hours straight

Despite all these upgrades, one thing that hasn’t changed much at all over the years is oxygen.

‘[U-2 pilots] breathe pure oxygen for as much as 14 hours straight,’ Damien Leimbach, former USAF Avionics Technician on U-2 aircraft, says on Quora.

‘The plane flies at extreme altitudes (above 70K ft) which many people know. What most people don’t know is that the cockpit is not a pressure vessel. Look at the three panels under the windscreen in this photo.

‘Opening any of those up would allow a maintainer to look directly into the cockpit. The only thing holding the air inside is a thin smear of sealant, and some screws for the panel. As a result, the cockpit is only pressurized to the equivalent of about 29k ft, which for reference is roughly equal to standing at the top of Everest.

‘Why? To save weight. Putting a pilot in a space suit weighs less than building a pressure vessel into the plane.

U-2 pilots pre-breathing pure oxygen

‘You see that suitcase close to them? Yeah, that’s not their spare underwear and a toothbrush. It’s a liquid oxygen supply. They just spent an hour or more like this,

‘pre-breathing pure oxygen to purge his system of nitrogen.’

As highlighted above, one thing that hasn’t changed much at all over the years is oxygen: in fact, pre-breathing took place in the 1950s just like it takes place today.

Leimbach explains;

‘Just like scuba divers, rapid decompression in an emergency could cause the bends. So, the pilot will spend an hour or two before a mission taking a nap and breathing pure oxygen, then hooking up to the LOX case for the ride out to the jet, where PSD (physiological support division) will then connect him to the liquid oxygen supply on the jet. Then they get to spend the next 8–12 hours continuing to breathe pure oxygen during the mission. They do NOT mix the pure oxygen with air. That would defeat the purpose of the nitrogen purge. Anyone suggesting that this is somehow harmful or fatal to pilots needs to stop relying so much on bots so write her answers.

‘Here is a crew chief servicing the LOX tanks on the U-2.’

Photo by Staff Sgt. Kenny Holston, Airman 1st Class Luis A. Ruiz-Vazquez, Senior Airman Colville McFee, SrA Andrew Buchanan 9th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs / U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin

The A-10 Warthog

The A-10 is the Air Force’s premier close air support aircraft, providing invaluable protection to troops on the ground.

The A-10 offers excellent maneuverability at low airspeeds and altitude while maintaining a highly accurate weapons-delivery platform. It can loiter near battle areas for extended periods of time, is capable of austere landings and operate under 1,000-foot ceilings (303.3 meters) with 1.5-mile (2.4 kilometers) visibility.

The aircraft can survive direct hits from armor-piercing and high explosive projectiles up to 23mm. Their self-sealing fuel cells are protected by internal and external foam. Manual systems back up their redundant hydraulic flight-control systems. This permits pilots to fly and land when hydraulic power is lost.

A-10 Vs MANPADS

But how does the A-10 stack up against MANPADS?

Lynn Taylor, former A-10 Warthog pilot, says on Quora;

‘MANPADS s**k.

‘They’re Gollum… and you’re Frodo, flying around in The One Ring.

‘Still, the A-10 has proven quite survivable against MANPADS that get close enough to do damage.

The Good

‘On the upside, most MANPADS have IR seekers, which means they chase heat. The A-10’s engines are designed to get most of their (limited) thrust from bypass air, so they run a lot cooler than other jets, making it harder to lock on to, especially at longer ranges.

‘Also, the way the A-10’s exhaust is shielded by the twin tails helps make it difficult for those pesky MANPADS to get a good lock on the Hawg from the side.
‘If someone shoots a MANPAD at you nose-on… well… you can imagine how that’s going to go for the launcher. You pop flares, maneuver some to get out of the way of the missile while it chases the flares, then adjust your nose to settle your gun reticle on the launch point. A little half second BRRRRTTTTT to say “how ya’ doin’?” and press on (extracting your seat cushion from your fourth point of contact as able).

MANPADS don’t give off radar warnings

The Bad

‘Of course, you’re probably going to have a MANPAD looking up your hot tailpipe at some point (like when you’re coming off target), or some other strange angle where they can see your exhaust, which is when they have a really good chance of ruining your day. That’s what flares are for, and is why you usually want to pop flares during your entire attack run, beginning to end.

‘Compounding your troubles is that getting shot at from behind is often harder to notice. Since MANPADS don’t give off radar warnings, you may not even know you’re being shot at until there’s this strange “thump” and warning lights flash on in the cockpit.

A-10 losses due to MANPADS

The Ugly

‘I don’t know the exact tally of A-10 losses due to MANPADS, but we have lost some. At least, we think we have.

‘2951 CLSS A-10 Warthog Combat Losses in Desert Storm is a great recounting of A-10 losses in Desert Storm. Of the six listed, most losses are from bigger SAMs (SA-9 and SA-13) or AAA (57mm S-60 most likely). None are from a confirmed MANPAD, though there’s a “maybe” there.

‘It’s more common that MANPAD damage really messed up the jet, but resulted in a great photo op for the pilot. See 2951 CLSS ABDR Photos for some of these.’

MANPADS hits on A-10s that made it home

Taylor continues;

‘Here are a few MANPAD hits on A-10s that made it home to tell about it:

31 Jan 1991, Tail # 540

‘SAM hit. Lost hydraulics. Flew back. Landed.

‘Sat out the rest of the war due to lack of parts.

6 Feb 1991, Tail # 664

‘Okay, this may not be SAM damage. I couldn’t find out for sure. But, IIRC, this is the jet that had two of three wing spars broken and still made it home safely. Impressive! (IMNSHO)

15 Feb 1991, Tail # 186

‘SA-16 hit referred to as “300 holes.” Jet was flying again 7 days later.

22 Feb 1991, Tail # 181

‘Unspecified SAM hit. This landing is legendary: no-hydraulics, wheels-up. They cannibalized the jet for parts and buried the bones. It never flew again.

27 Feb 1991, Tail # 197

‘Sad Story. Perhaps encouraged by the successful landing of tail # 181 five days earlier (see immediately above), this guy took a SAM hit, flew back home, and tried to land it (single engine, bad weather). It flipped. He died.’

There’s MORE

Taylor continues;

‘But WAIT! There’s MORE!

‘Battle Creek Guard A-10. (Sorry, not much detail on this one, but it’s cool.)

‘EDIT: Additional information courtesy of David Myers on Quora:

‘Battle Creek jet was A/C 80–0258 flown by Major Gary Wolfe, 110th FW, 172ndFS. We waited for a week or so for a new nacelle from depot, but had it back in the fight in a week or so! Now (still) flying for the Michigan Air National Guard out of Selfridge ANGB, 127ath Wing, 107th FS Red Devils.

7 Apr 2003, Tail # Unknown

‘Over Baghdad. Suspected SA-16, IIRC? Lost all hydraulics, but both engines were still running. Flew back. Landed.

‘And the pilot, Capt Kim Campbell, Hawgdriver.’

Photo by U.S. Air Force

Fighter pilots

While the life of a fighter pilot might seem very adventurous and full of fun, a lot of planning and preparation goes into being a fighter pilot. As the old saying goes, not everything is as it seems and Hollywood has certainly not helped.

According to USAMM.com, 90 percent of the job is preparation. They show up at their units and prepare for the flight by studying or examining mission boards so every fighter pilot is on the same sheet of music.

The mission will get briefed about two-and-a-half hours prior to takeoff. Mission briefs can take about an hour to complete depending on the complexity of the mission.

A fighter pilot then will go to the aircrew flight equipment room to put on their gear.

F/A-18 Hornet pilots cut the fingertips off their gloves

Fighter pilots, like motorcyclists, “dress for the slide, not the ride.” As explained by Popular Mechanics, their gear is meant for frost, flotation and… flames like the fire-resistant gloves they wear under the Nomex flight suit. The jumpsuit’s Velcro cuffs help creates a tight seal.

However, some F/A-18 Hornet pilots cut the fingertips off their gloves. Why?

‘I didn’t cut the tips from my fingers in the A-6, but in the F/A-18C, I cut off the tips of the thumbs and index fingers [of GS/FRP-2 gloves],’ Tim Hibbetts, former US Navy A-6E Intruder and F/A-18C Hornet pilot, tells on Quora.

F/A-18 Hornet pilots naked fingertips

‘In the image above, you can see the upper-center console with the number pad. That’s how you programmed a great many things when I was flying it. You still do, but far less than before. Most people would lay their four fingers along the left side and type with the left thumb. Most of the gloves didn’t fit well enough to keep from missing that definite, unerring key stroke. The right thumb was useful for typing at times, too (you could use your knees to nudge the stick, ala the ’72 Nova on those desert highways).

‘You can also see that many of the knobs and switches are shaped differently than those around them. This is designed for blind cockpit use. You should be able to deftly grab a switch or knob and know its function by feel and approximate location. The naked fingertips help.’

Naked fingertips help

Hibbetts continues;

‘The primary reason for the right index finger is this little dude:

‘At night, you can tap the front and it acts as a little flashlight. It’s perfect for writing and a multitude of other uses (like indicating to the deck crew that your jet is up as you’re taxiing out of the landing area after you’ve landed; you tap it “on” and wave it in a circle). Strapping it around the glove just gave it too much wobble for me.’

The downside

Hibbetts concludes;

‘The obvious downside is fire, but, being young and fireproof (and immortal), most of us decided being able to feel well (vice feel good) was worth it. We were very conscientious about making sure our sleeves were rolled down and tight around the gloves, though. Protect the arm hair!’

As explained by Popular Mechanics, US Naval Aviators now can also fly with Wiley X Aries flight gloves. These feature an exposed thumb, middle, and index finger for greater digital precision.

Photo by U.S. Navy and Jamcib via Wikipedia