So Tell Me Captain - Other Than That How Was the Flight?

            No CSO’s were harmed in the telling of this story.

Fairly early in this Global War on Terror, AFSOC expanded its airlift fleet with what was referred to as non-standard aviation.  Small commercial aircraft intended to move special operations forces to their destinations without much fanfare and at costs far below that of using a C-130 to carry the half dozen to a dozen people on a SEAL team or A-Team.

While USSOCOM was busy buying the Dornier 328’s used today, AFSOC leased a few interim aircraft (I think they were DeHavilland Dash 8s) to jump-start the program.  We built up the crew force from a number of sources, primarily from AMC.

Two of the aircraft were deployed to Africa to support the newly created AFRICOM, whose headquarters is in Stuttgart.  Periodically one of the aircraft would make the journey from their forward operating location to the HQ to coordinate and shuttle personnel and material back from Germany.

On the way back from one such trip the aircraft needed to stop for gas.  If I recall correctly it was somewhere around Sierra Leone or the Ivory Coast.  They had some problems with the local officials and the AC made the decision to press on without the gas.

When they got to altitude the flight management system showed they did not have the fuel necessary to make it home.  They started a gradual descent and the FMS said they could make it, then they leveled off and it said they wouldn’t. They played this game a number of times, always ending up where their fuel flows were worse than when they started due to the lower density altitude.

Rather than look for an alternate (they are few and far between in Africa) they pressed on until it was clear they could not make it, declared an emergency, and began to divert to an alternate (that was actually just as far away as home).  I think they skidded to a power out halt about ten miles from the runway they were trying to reach, and 12 hours from a rescue team.

The AC was a former KC-135 pilot and the co-pilot was (I think) much less experienced.  If I recall correctly both had less than a hundred hours in type.  There are two lessons I think should come from this cautionary tale.

Don’t let hubris cloud your judgment.  Admit mistakes early, review options quickly, and commit to a best course of action, even if you think someone will yell at you.

Know how your FMS works and keep in mind reducing altitude is unlikely to extend your range unless you are near your service ceiling, or can start a reduced power descent all the way to the runway.

BTW, the 12 cases of German beer stowed onboard all survived the crash… so at least we have that...