Disaster narrowly averted at Offutt (Air Force Base) with plane fire, but major questions remain

[Omaha Steve]

An April fire aboard an RC-135 caused $62 million in damages to the plane. The resulting Air Force investigation revealed the problems went far beyond just one plane.




Twenty-seven airmen aboard this 51-year-old RC-135 jet escaped after an oxygen-fueled fire broke out in the plane, left, and the takeoff was aborted on April 30. In an Air Force report The World-Herald obtained, investigators found that only one of 11 nuts on the jet’s oxygen system had been properly tightened by a Texas contractor.

http://www.omaha.com/news/military/disaster-narrowly-averted-at-offutt-with-plane-fire-but-major/article_41bfc96a-8b03-510b-b0f1-7d7d8633cd26.html

POSTED: MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2015 12:00 AM | UPDATED: 12:47 PM, MON AUG 24, 2015.
By Steve Liewer / World-Herald staff writer

The stench of stale urine lingered in the air as 27 airmen from Offutt Air Force Base’s 55th Wing climbed aboard the RC-135V Rivet Joint jet late in the afternoon of April 30, 2015.

Most of the crew sat at consoles in the rear of the aircraft — call sign “Snoop 71” — trying to ignore the odor.

Soon they would have bigger problems than a broken toilet.

As the plane began to accelerate down the runway, flames erupted like a blowtorch near the ceiling in the aft galley. Excited shouts of “Fire! Fire!” filled the crew’s headsets.

FULL story at link.

[NuclearDem]

1. L3, you motherfuckers!

Not usually this angry over something like this, but the RJ was my plane, and I still have friends in the 343rd.

This is fucking insane.

[Lee-Lee]

2. This is what happens when contractors replace DOD civilians doing things like depot level work

Coupled with trying to keep airplanes in the air long past when they should have been retired. Everyone else but airlines in The Congo and Iran gave up keeping 707's in service long ago- well them an John Travolta.

[enlightenment]

4. Exactly.

This would never have happened if SAC were still in charge.

[pansypoo53219]

3. penny pinching, pound foolish. haliburton shit for brains.

[burrowowl]

5. K&R