Planetfurry BBS

The Silver Coyote · Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:38 pm Post subject:

Always proud to be part of the honor guard, Anthony, if only in spirit.

Thanks.

SC

anthony · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 3:41 pm Post subject:

Military aviation buffs probably already know...

On Thursday afternoon(about 15:00) one of the 4 C-130J belonging to the RNoAF, and being part of the winter eercise 'Cold Response 2012', crashed into the Kebnekaise muntain in Sweden. The latest news(as of 19:00 today) is that the wreckage has been reached by ground based search teams(the FSK, Norwegian and Swedish Jaegers mostly) and that they have found body parts. There's no longer any real hope to find anyone still alive.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the plane ws travelling at least 1000' lower than the planned altitude, but there's no clue yet as to why. The remaining 3 C-130J planes have been grounded until further notice.

The 5 aboard the aircraft were:
(Pilot) Captain Ståle Garberg (42) has been stationed on Gardermoen since 1993(except for a period in 2009 - 2010 when he was in Denmark in a NATO exchange program) and is generally considered the best pilot on these machines in Norway.
(Squadronleader) Lieutenant Colonel Truls Ørpen (46) was first a pilot for the Orion surveillance planes frlying from Andøya, later a Hercules(both new and old models) pilot with years of experience.
(Loadmanager) Captain Siw Robertsen (45) was originally a mechanic on the old C-130 planes phased out in 2008, reschooled as a cargomanager with the introduction of the J model.
(Loadmanager) Captain Bjørn Haug (40) served with the UN peacekeeping forces in Bosnia in the mid 90s, and was a mechanic for SeaKing rescue choppers from 1997 to 2001 before starting to work on the Hercules in 2001.
(Flight Safety Officer) Steinar Utne (35) was the only non-crew aboard the plane. He used to fly Lynx choppers from Bardufoss airbase before transferring to Rygge airbase and his current position.

May their spirits fly on.

The Silver Coyote · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:22 am Post subject:

Sorry I'm just now seeing this, Anthony. Has the investigation turned up a probable cause for the crash yet?

Seems like many aviators are leaving us these days. At least they are in good company. Keep 'em flying ...

SC

Aslaug · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 4:53 am Post subject:

I read in the news yesterday, that two of the casualties from the crash in Norway have been identified at last. Let's hope it gives their families a bit of closure.

anthony · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:37 am Post subject:

All five have now been identified.

About 10Tons of the aircraft has been recovered, but as of yet, none of the 'black boxes'. There's no indication of a mechanical malfunction in the remains.
One guess is that the pilots were doing 'tactical flying' (it's quite common for RNoAF pilots to do this at the end of a longer flight, especially if they don't have fragile passengers. Shakes out the dust and cobwebs, you know... ), and that they may have been surprised by a sudden change in the weather. (The weather turned really nasty soon after which made the search so difficult.)

Tactical Flying = Flying evasively, usually low down below radar coverage to avoid enemy aircraft and ground-based AA fire.
And yes, they do that with the C-130.
(They did it even with the TwinOtter back in the days)

mwalimu · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:34 am Post subject:

TwinOtter? Are we talking de Havilland Twin Otters? A commuter airline I used to fly on regularly had several of those in their fleet. Those were fun and interesting flights - the runways they used were only about a half mile long, and I don't think they needed even half of that to get airborne on takeoff.

anthony · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 6:37 pm Post subject:

None other.

The RNoAF had a few of these which they usually used to transport military personnell. (As I understand it, soldiers stationed up north clamored for any vacant seat in it when travelling south on leave... A much more comfortable ride than the C-130... )

Since they trained on inserting special command troops into possibly hostile territory with those planes it was necessary for them to also train on how to get in and out of those areas.

One joke about the is that it was supposedly able to land ACROSS a normal runway...
Maybe... in a strong storm...

I do know, though, that someone once landed a Saab Safari(single-engine trainer) on top of a hangar building here in Norway...

The Silver Coyote · Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 6:52 pm Post subject:

Y'know, as fond as I have always been of the old twin-Otter, I now wonder why I've never written one into any story? I've certainly got reference material on them, thanks to a couple of old story-telling pilots my dad used to know. <thinks> Thanks, gentlefurs, for giving my muse something to turn over in her paws for a while.

While she's divining her devious way of driving me towards my next project, what became of the C-130 on Kebnekaise, Anthony? Did they ever find the black boxes?

SC

anthony · Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 4:45 pm Post subject:

I'm not certain if they found the boxes.
(They had to stop searching for a while as the weather was too bad and the snow too unstable)

There's a pretty decent writeup here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Norwegian_C-130_crash

Kellan Meig'h · Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 11:42 am Post subject:

*resists urge to scribble something in the dust*

Well, I read "Dark Secrets" the other night, after you posted a link to that chapter. Good work!

We get to know how the coyote came to fly for his current employer, Intermountain Charter.

The Silver Coyote · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 1:27 am Post subject:

Thank you for reading, sir Kellan.

An awful lot of things were revealed in that chapter. I hope it wasn't too much to take in. A lot of groundwork for future chapters may have been laid in "Dark Secrets."

Or not ... <winks>

SC

The Silver Coyote · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 11:00 pm Post subject:

Good news, my friends.

In three days it will be exactly six years since I last posted a chapter to The B Team.

That's not good news. The good news is that tonight I have begun BT33. It'll be complicated, so it'll take a while, but hey. I'M WRITING AGAIN!

Things could be worse, right?

Stay tuned ...

SC