gary1701 Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 Hi Gents, Nice surprise earlier today when the word was out that two AC-130Us were inbound Mildenhall out of Keflavik. I just had enough time to check the weather and decide to take a chance on it and make the 25 mile dash to the base. I remember reading that they went into Keflavik on Friday and were outbound on deployment but had completely forgotten about them. Despite some strong crosswinds they both came in on the right end for a left hand side shot and just caught some sun. Nice to see artwork on both of them. The current TDY RC-135 (which has changed since I last posted) came back from his early morning sortie and tried the approach once but with winds thirty from the left decided it was outside his limits and went to Ramstein. McConnell bird managed to get in a little while later. I've noticed previously that the RC-135 seems to reach it's crosswind limits a lot sooner than other types, anybody know why? All taken from the 29 approach 'mound' as mentioned in my photography locations post a while back. Gary Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Middleton Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 great shots Gary - perhaps the big nose and/or flat cheeks on the RC-135 are less tolerant of cross winds, just a wild guess Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stephen Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 Great pics Gary, thanks for sharing them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ST0RM Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 Our max crosswinds in the tanker 135, is 25kts. Maybe because of their antenna config on the belly, it may be lower? Nice grabs! Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gary1701 Posted October 19, 2014 Author Share Posted October 19, 2014 Thanks Gents. Thanks for that Jeff. I remember once being at Lakenheath some years back and a returning RC-135 could not get into runway 29 at Mildenhall, but was okay with 24 at Lakenheath. That option wasn't there today as Lakenheath was closed, as is normal for a weekend. A further two KC-135's went in after I left but the winds have slowed a little. Gary Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marv Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Maybe it has nothing to do with the crosswinds; they like the layover in Germany a bit better...out-of-limits might have been a convenient excuse to go elsewhere. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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