Dan's Page

15 Jun 2003. NASA's Super Guppy arrived at Randolph AFB a couple of days ago ... cargo was two Navy T-38's, loaded on a large cargo transporter, with special mounts for the aircraft that were designed just a couple of days previous to their arrival here. The two aircraft had entered a hail storm somewhere near North Carolina, and made an emergency landing at one of the Air Force Bases there. The damage was pretty extensive: leading edges of the wings, the liners inside of the air intakes, nose cone, windscreen frame, etc. My company was requested to do the repairs here at Randolph AFB, and it was determined that paying NASA to fly the two aircraft in was much less expensive than sending personnel out into the field to disassemble the two aircraft and ship them back here.

I probably won't be here (on the Flight Line) when the aircraft roll out for FCF (Test Flight), cause I'm due to be layed-off on the 4th of Aug. A lot of my co-workers have already left, and I'll be in the last group, of about 4, to bite the dust. One person had been here about 20 years. I only have 15 1/2 years under my belt. All of you nice people keep paying your taxes, so my unemployment won't get stalled-out (joke ...).

See the Super Guppy Photos by clicking on THIS.

27 May 2000. Have some brand new F-117 Stealth Fighter pictures. The aircraft was parked in the hangar I work in, getting ready for Armed Forces Day. It was about 25' from the desk I use. The Crew Chief took me inside the roped-off area, and showed me all the details of the skin & fuselage. Then we got to the cockpit. It's very high tech, and maybe a little crowded. The usable space in the cockpit is similar to an A-10 Warthog. Everything is within normal reach, and you don't necessarily have to lean forward. The following day, I was asked to help chock-walk (no brake rider in cockpit) the aircraft while it was being towed out to the flightline for refueling.

The outside shots are poor (camera movement), and the interior shots were at a very low light level. This digital camera I have is very unforgiving. There are no quick shots! It's best to use a tripod.

14 May 2000. Recently finished a two (2) week vacation. Had planned on going to Las Vegas for a week or so and then to Rachel, Nevada (adjacent to Area 51), and try to see some of the strange flying operations that go on there. That plan fell through, and we did a local vacation instead. We spent 4 days in Abilene, Tx., touring and visiting some of the former Atlas-F Nuclear Missile Bases, that were built in 1960-61. Go to This LINK. I have newspaper accounts, and photos of a couple of the missile bases. In the near future, I'll insert diagrams of the Silo and Launch Control Center (LCC), for those that are not familiar with the Atlas complexes. This will help to make sense of the photos of the bases.

4 Apr 2000. Recently, a B-2 Stealth Bomber came to fly patterns around the base, late in the afternoon. There were hundreds of people gathered near the end of the runway, and at other strategic points along the runway. I've never seen so many captivated people in my life. Myself, I was in a trance, watching that great big bird shoot low approaches, and then pour on the power and go-around. The crew made about 8 patterns, and then flew off into the wild blue yonder. It's much bigger in real life than it is in photographs. At mil power, the ground seems to rattle. I guess I'd have to say that I'd give one of my family jewels to go for a ride in one of them.

4 Apr 2000. The Air Force Base that I work on, as a civilian aircraft contractor, has F-117 Stealth Fighters that visit quite often, and spend the night. They have to be kept inside a hangar, to prevent any precipitation from getting into crevices on the aircraft skin, and then getting trapped. See the entry for 27 May (F-117).

DAN'S PAGE