AFSOC OA-1K Incident

[ClearedHot]

On 12/4/2024 at 4:50 PM, MT near said:

Newish Broncos were test flown in Maryland amd even fought against ISIS target in 2017 timeframe. Not sure where they went afterwards 

They were far from new, both belonged to NASA who was happy to divest them.  I "stole" them and got funding for the test from OSD that would turn into Combat Dragon.  We used a group of Navy pilots that had been working the A-29 at Pax River.  They were without a home so we rolled them in.

One was outfitted with an extended boom and a development version of a GPS based stationkeeper system for cropdusters strapped on the front nose.  Basically a series of lights that visually depicts spraying lanes for pilots.  I understand it is very common now.

The second was outfitted with a tank and a spray coil system that was used to test anti-ice systems.  Airplanes would fly behind the bird as it sprayed water to see how thier systems dealt with ice build up.

Here is bird one in the hangar at Pax, its been painted and we are about to remove a bunch of the NASA gear.

 

[fire4effect]

2 hours ago, Magic24 said:

What does this comment have to do with the story of losing an engine in flight and the crew putting it down safely? 
 

Certainly, wasn't trying to stir anyone's pot just an observation on the handling of the airframe. Tail dragger types do raise the operational risk level.

[BashiChuni]

4 hours ago, fire4effect said:

 Tail dragger types do raise the operational risk level.

nailed it. once mass training starts this will be interesting to watch develop, although i've heard the OA-1K has a locking tailwheel which should help keep some of the ground looping to a minimum (hopefully)