Air Force captain lands A-10 with no canopy, no gear

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Air Force captain lands A-10 with no canopy, no gear

Posted: 8/15/2017 9:11:16 PM EST

Apparently, the gun kaboomed bigly.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-military/2017/08/15/air-force-capt-lands-a-10-with-no-canopy-no-gear/

WASHINGTON Capt. Brett DeVries was 150 feet off the ground on a strafing run when the 30 mm gun of his A-10 misfired at the same moment the entire canopy of his aircraft blew off.

DeVries, a pilot with the 107th Fighter Squadron of the Michigan Air National Guard was training July 20 with wingman Maj. Shannon Vickers and two other A-10s over Michigans Grayling Air Gunnery Range. DeVries was in the middle of his second run when a donut of gas enveloped DeVries gun and aircraft.

Posted: 8/15/2017 9:17:49 PM EST

[#1]

I bet that was exciting!

Posted: 8/15/2017 9:19:19 PM EST

[#2]

Shit.. We don't have that many left

Posted: 8/15/2017 9:23:11 PM EST

[#3]

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Shit.. We don't have that many left

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She'll probably fly again

Posted: 8/15/2017 9:31:56 PM EST

[#4]

His Thirdy Glok misfired

Tough ass plane...... glad he put it down ok.....

Posted: 8/15/2017 9:32:31 PM EST

[#5]

Reloads.

Posted: 8/15/2017 9:45:02 PM EST

[#6]

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I bet that was exciting!

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Yeah, you ain't kidding.

What's the landing speed of those things? I bet it was pretty damned windy.

Posted: 8/15/2017 9:49:01 PM EST

[#7]

In before the "Glock makes A-10s now?" joke.

Edit. Too late.

Posted: 8/15/2017 9:54:40 PM EST

[#8]

I'm wondering how it blew off the canopy without blowing his ear drums. Maybe it set off the charge that blows it?

Posted: 8/16/2017 8:01:22 AM EST

[#9]

The external canopy jettison handle is adjacent to the gun drum area. I suspect when the gun system malfunctioned it took out the hot gas initiator as well. Only logical explanation to me. First I have heard of it ever happening. I suspect there will be a TCTO in the near future to keep that from happening again.

Posted: 8/16/2017 8:04:19 AM EST

[#10]

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I'm wondering how it blew off the canopy without blowing his ear drums. Maybe it set off the charge that blows it?

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How effective are the helmets at hearing protection?
Honest question not rhetorical or sarcastic.

Posted: 8/16/2017 8:24:00 AM EST

[#11]

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How effective are the helmets at hearing protection?
Honest question not rhetorical or sarcastic.

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I don't believe the helmets deal anyplace other than the mask. While it probably had ear seals I doubt they provide an protections from aircraft pressurization.

As far as passive noise reduction, I'm sure they do a fine job judging by the hearing of every fighter pilot I know. ??

Posted: 8/16/2017 8:56:03 AM EST

[#12]

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Quoted:

How effective are the helmets at hearing protection?
Honest question not rhetorical or sarcastic.

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I never thought the helmets were all that great for hearing protection, when I was in the Navy, so I always used the foam earplugs, too.

Pressurization isn't a problem at 150 feet. I lost pressurization a couple of times at 25K+ feet (pretty rapid, but not explosive), and didn't have any problems with my ears.

We had plane lose a canopy during a PMCF flight, once. I think they were in the upper teens, or lower 20's when it happened. They brought it back for a normal landing (I was sitting at the hold short line), but they said they couldn't hear shit on the radios, because of the wind noise.

Posted: 8/16/2017 9:11:38 AM EST

[#13]

Fire Sale on freedom munitions 30mm

Posted: 8/16/2017 10:36:52 AM EST

[#14]

They can have that bird flying in no time. Flying tank is tough yo!

Posted: 8/16/2017 11:05:10 AM EST

[#15]

open cockpit flying is best flying

Posted: 8/16/2017 11:32:03 AM EST

[#16]

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open cockpit flying is best flying

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We used to fly with the canopy open in the T-28, sometimes. Summer in south Texas could be hot as hell, and the cockpit was like a green house. Best way to get some air in there was to open it up.

Posted: 8/16/2017 12:18:43 PM EST

[#17]

That will buff out no problem..............

Damn A10 is a tank!

Posted: 8/16/2017 8:07:08 PM EST

[#18]

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She'll probably fly again

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It will most likely become a parts bird, looks totaled to me.

Posted: 8/16/2017 8:17:05 PM EST

[#19]

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She'll probably fly again

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Probably will... those things can really take a beating.

Posted: 8/16/2017 10:19:26 PM EST

[#20]

Looks like someone forgot to remove some flags.

Posted: 8/17/2017 12:00:30 AM EST

[#21]

The old timers used to fly the KC-135 around in the pattern with the windows open on hot summer days.

Posted: 8/17/2017 12:23:05 AM EST

[#22]

It sounds like the equipment on the aircraft was poorly maintained, and not inspected properly

Posted: 8/17/2017 1:38:58 AM EST

[#23]

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It sounds like the equipment on the aircraft was poorly maintained, and not inspected properly

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That's a bit of a leap. Sometimes stuff breaks. It could have been a bad round, or any of probably 20 other things.

Posted: 8/17/2017 4:27:19 AM EST

[#24]

Ho Lee Fuk !!!!

Posted: 8/17/2017 8:59:43 AM EST

[#25]

Quote History

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That's a bit of a leap. Sometimes stuff breaks. It could have been a bad round, or any of probably 20 other things.

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Quoted:

Quoted:
It sounds like the equipment on the aircraft was poorly maintained, and not inspected properly

That's a bit of a leap. Sometimes stuff breaks. It could have been a bad round, or any of probably 20 other things.

A-10 gun systems are meticulously maintained. They have a strict maintenance schedule. By its very nature the GAU-8 is controlled chaos. Considering it fires at 3,900 rounds per minute and is powered by two 3,000 PSI hydraulic systems its amazing that it doesn't self destruct more often than it does. Sometimes shit happens, mechanical stuff breaks. In this case it was dramatic and it took out a few other systems in the process (Nose gear and the canopy jettison system). I remember as a young airman, an A-10 came back from a training sortie with a gun light indicating a failure. The weapons load crew popped open one of the quick release panels and about a dozen unfired rounds dropped out and bounced on the ramp (one of the feed chutes had ruptured). People scattered, and for good reason. The 30mm is percussion and electrically primed unlike the Vulcan 20mm rounds which are electrically primed only. I have seen my fair share of "learning" experiences that can be attributed to the A-10 gun system. Some caused no grief, one was seriously gruesome. A weapons loader lost all the fingers on one hand when they got in the way of the feed system during an ops check. That's how Warnings, Cautions and Notes make it in the Technical Orders.

Posted: 8/18/2017 9:34:25 PM EST

[#26]

No, sir, I have NO idea where the seat is, but I do feel a bit bloated.

Posted: 8/19/2017 12:24:55 PM EST

[#27]

Quote History

Quoted:
The old timers used to fly the KC-135 around in the pattern with the windows open on hot summer days.

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Winning.

Posted: 8/20/2017 8:44:07 AM EST

[#28]

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She'll probably fly again

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For sure. If you look at one with the gear up, you will notice that roughly the bottom third of the tires are exposed. It was designed for a gear up landing.

Posted: 8/20/2017 9:05:28 AM EST

[#29]

That was an exciting ride.

Posted: 8/20/2017 9:35:09 AM EST

[#30]

Waiting on Pilot Error

Posted: 8/20/2017 10:06:56 AM EST

[#31]

And that is why the A10 is just awesome.

Posted: 8/21/2017 7:13:47 AM EST

[#32]

I bet the cockpit smelled really bad.

Posted: 8/23/2017 10:29:52 PM EST

[#33]

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I bet the cockpit smelled really bad.

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That's a shitty thing to say.

Posted: 8/23/2017 10:31:13 PM EST

[#34]

Wonder if he hit IDENT on his IFF when he lost the canopy?

Posted: 9/2/2017 4:40:04 PM EST

[#35]

Gonna need a new seat cushion, they couldn't find the old one.

Posted: 9/8/2017 8:16:41 PM EST

[#36]

its been a couple of days. did they fix it yet?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Air Force captain lands A-10 with no canopy, no gear

General » Aviation

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