CLT 5/26 (B24 Crash)

[adscram14]

Hope everyone is enjoying their memorial day weekend!

On Friday I got a FlightAware alert that a triple seven was inbound to Charlotte--it eventually did make itself here, flying PHF (Williamsburg, VA)-GSO (Greensboro, NC)-CLT. The PHF-GSO sector took almost 8 hours. No clue what she was doing. Here's the link if you're interested: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N702BA .

Right as we arrived at 36R (the hardest of all runways to spot, but it handles Northbound ops from the east), this was taking off:
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc398/adscram14/CLT May 26/IMG_5550.jpg
She's there for flights out of the museum--I'm assuming it had pax in it!

We then moved the car so we could get a non fence blocked shot of the 777. We parked near some one story building and walked to some grass. A CRJ2 flew over, and then this monster:
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc398/adscram14/CLT May 26/N702BA.jpg
No idea what she was doing here. The 1L door was open the whole time she was on the ramp and there was a U haul truck and a lot of police near it.

We headed back to the old terminal (where the first shot was taken) to see what else was happening--apparently a lot.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc398/adscram14/CLT May 26/B24-2.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc398/adscram14/CLT May 26/01792.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc398/adscram14/CLT May 26/PJ-MDD.jpg

Then, as we were about to leave, we heard a call about an emergency on LiveATC. My dad thought it was a sick passenger or something, but we decided to hang around for a little. Suddenly, fire trucks started roaring from everywhere. Behind us, on the field, to the left, to the right. We eventually found out the accident was on 36C, so we drove there.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc398/adscram14/CLT May 26/B24.jpg

The B-24 doing flights for the museum had trouble with the front landing gear and skidded until the nose was in the runway. She sat there for a few hours before crews got her uprighted. There wasn't a lot of damage, so I'm hoping she gets back in the air.

It's 12:20 am as I type this so sorry for the typos...lol.

Thanks for viewing!

[moose135]

Hope the damage isn't significant. Of course, they couldn't have done this when I was in town...:tongue:

[727C47]

it was hardly a "crash",the crew did a superlative job.

[JDANDO]

Looks like a pretty good day of spotting! The triple 7 is quite the business jet for someone!

[gonzalu]

Sad to see an old war plane like this ... hope it gets back up in full operation soon!

[LGA777]

As strange as this might sound that 777 is the Presidential aircraft for Gabon. I think it was undergoing Maintenance in GSO and for some reason had to do a 1 day stop over in CLT on the way back.

A friend of mine got another nice catch later in the day landing at CLT, an Alaska based KC-135.

Cheers

LGA777

[adscram14]

Moose--get used to the whole not being here thing. I missed the AN-225 when I was in NY, and then a year later missed about 10 Delta heavies diverting from ATL.

727--They really did. Thank goodness nothing worse happened.

Jeremy and Manny--Hopefully she's back in the sky soon. It was a good day Jeremy, lol.

LGA--Thanks for the tip! She flew back to FOOL the next day. Yes, FOOL, lol. I turned on ATC as we were driving to pick up mom and sister from the airport, and heard her call in. We saw her just as we got to the spotting spot, of course my camera was dead. Sweet plane. I missed a KC-135?!?! That would have been sweet!

[moose135]

From General Aviation News:


The Commemorative Air Force’s B-24, “Diamond Lil,” experienced a hydraulic malfunction during a scheduled passenger flight at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, Saturday, May 26. The crew followed all safety protocols and took every precaution to ensure the safety of everyone on board, CAF officials said, noting there were no injuries to the passengers or crew and minimal damage to the aircraft. The malfunction was detected during the flight and the crew immediately began following safety protocols to safely land the aircraft. An alternate method was used to lower the landing gear and there was a subsequent nose gear collapse on landing, resulting in minor damage to the exterior surface of the aircraft.

Temporary repairs will be made to the B-24 on site with FAA approval and the aircraft will be ferried to its home facility in Addison, Texas, with minimal crew on board. Once in Addison, permanent repairs will be made in order to return the aircraft to service, CAF officials said.

Full story:
http://www.generalaviationnews.com/2012/05/28/diamond-lil-suffers-hydraulic-malfunction/