NavList:

   

Reply

Robert,
the corporate memory has it that the plane returned to its CONUS
  base - probably March.  But a pilot would certainly opt to land at the
first suitable landfall, with a peace-time casualty aboard, and a
defective airframe, for an inspection and perhaps temporary repair.

  One fact *is* certain: only one KC-135 aircraft was
ever involved in the death of a celestial observer, in this way.
If you are confident it was a KC-135 that landed at Frobisher,
then this would be the one. Sorry I could not further solidify the
story.

Brian

At 07:55 PM 12/17/02, you wrote:
>Brian,
>
>This sounds like about the time this incident happened at Frobisher Bay.
>Does the report indicate where they landed?
>
>Robert
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Brian Whatcott 
>To: 
>Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 7:46 PM
>Subject: Off topic - Fatality (was: Bubble horizon)
>
>
> > Here is the most informed background on this fatality, that I have
> >   been able to find:
> >
> > In November 1988, Master Sergeant James Borland, a boom operator
> > whose principal task it was to fly the fueling boom onto a receiver
> > airplane when refueling, was preparing to make a celestial observation.
> > This was the standard practice for that position on a trans-Atlantic run.
> > (The boom took the sights, and the nav did the sight reductions. )
> >
> > One of two sighting windows then fitted to KC135-E airplanes
> > broke free, thought to be due to corrosion at the seal.
> > These overhead windows were located about six feet aft of the
> > pilots' position, near the boom operators seat.
> >
> >   Sgt Borland's head and arm were lifted clear outside the  aperture
> > where the force of the partial ejection into the high speed, thin air
> > killed him.  His intact corpse was recovered when the aircraft
> > descended to a viable height.
> >
> >   James served with the MARCH Air Force Reserves.
> > The sighting windows on the KC135 were then deemed
> > unnecessary,  and replaced with a sandwich of plates to
> > eliminate this risk.
> >
> > Brian Whatcott
> >
> > At 12:18 AM 12/17/02, Robert Eno, you wrote:
> > >P.S.
> > >
> > >I too, have heard about navigators getting sucked out of the perspex
>domes
> > >that used to be affixed to aircraft. The stories were always gruesome and
> > >usually involved headless navigators.  'nuff said on that. Matter of
>fact,
> > >an aircrew member was supposedly killed in about 1989 or thereabouts
>because
> > >he got sucked out the dome. The aircraft ended up emergency landing in
> > >Frobisher Bay. That was the story anyway. It happened too long ago for me
>to
> > >verify it.
> > >
> > >Robert
> >
> > >Paul Hirose,  you said:
> > >Robert
> > > > KC-135s used to have flat windows on top of the plane near the bubble
> > > > sextant port. I heard they were replaced with metal plates after an
> > > > accident in the 80s (?) in which a nav got sucked out to his death.
> > > > Such stories are often apocryphal, but there may be some truth to this
> > > > one. The one -135 I worked on in my career, in the 1990s, did have the
> > > > window openings plated over. In fact, I heard the story of the nav
> > > > from one of the crew chiefs on that bird, after he noticed me playing
> > > > with the periscopic sextant. What a way to die.
> > > >
> > > >
> >
> > Brian Whatcott
> >    Altus OK                      Eureka!
> >

Brian Whatcott
   Altus OK                      Eureka!

   

Reply