F-16 Lawn Mower

How not to land a F-16 ...

F-16C 87-0296 of the 160FS, 187FW, Alabama Air Guard had a small problem on the morning of July 28, while landing at the annual EAA airshow in Oshkosh. The aircraft ran off the runway, and did its best earth mover imitation. No word on the cause, but examination of the photos leads me to believe he had brake failure, and swerved off the pavement to keep from hitting his fellow AL aviators, who had landed ahead of him.

The pilot was uninjured, except for his pride.

Photos credit Brian Leach, who was in the right place at the right time!

A Hero Comes Home

Navy LCDR William Patrick Egan returned home yesterday, after a 45 year absence.

LCDR Egan was flying A-1H BuNo 137576 while assinged to VA-215, flying off the USS Hancock. On April 29, 1966, he was shot down while on a road recon mission in Laos. His ultimate fate was not determined. (some sources show the date as April 19, but the official record shows April 29.)

In 1996, a recovery team found pieces of his aircraft, but no sign of remains. Nearby villagers indicated that Egan's body had been pulled form the wreckage and buried, but the locaiton was unknown. In 2009, a farmer turned over a couple of bone fragments he had unearthed near the crash site. DNA matching was used to identify them as Egan's remains.

LCDR Egan will be buried in Houston this weekend with full military honors.

Welcome home, sir.

Milestone Apache

AH-64D 03-5394, currently assigned to the 1/227th ATTACK, became the first Apache Longbow to surpass 10,000 flight hours. The event occurred during the unit's deployment to Afghanistan.

Info and Photo via Outlaw13.