Cockpit Footage TBM Avenger Emergency Landing Arsenal Of Democracy VE Day Flyover

Use Pause for lessons learned.
This is the Emergency Landing at DCA, Reagan National, of the Military Aviation Museum TBM Avenger during the 70th anniversary of VE Day, Arsenal of Democracy flyover. A 1500psi pinhole hydraulic leak vaporized in the cockpit, appeared like smoke, and prompted a decision to abort the flyover and land at Reagan DCA airport.
The video is broken into two parts. The first is real time, the second breaks down my thoughts at the time and draws lessons learned for other pilots to learn from. The biggest lesson was how the leak presented itself in a vapor form. It moved and acted like smoke, combined with fluid heat on the legs of my passenger, it was mistaken for fire. The only differentiating feature from smoke from a fire is the smell. An electrical fire and engine fire have very distinct smells, this had the smell of hydraulic fluid. Hopefully this will help someone else recognize the difference in the future.
We were off the runway quickly and caused no delays for traffic at Reagan, fixed and flown out later that afternoon. Thank you to all who helped! American Airlines and Signature Aviation Mechanics found and fixed the problem in record time. The emergency was flown exactly as briefed for that segment of flight. To have a malfunction for that 2 mile segment when I had flown a thousand miles in the last few days and the last few years without any incidents at all is statistically impossible.
This event, especially on this day, gave a somber reminder to all those who didn't have a runway conveniently aligned. To those who were hundreds of miles away from the nearest carrier, in enemy waters. To those who made the ultimate sacrifice. We remember.
A nickel on the grass.
Keep em' Flying!
Museum Links
www.militaryavi...
www.fighterfact...
Arsenal Of Democracy Link
ww2flyover.org
Perspective this Memorial Day.
4June1942
6 brand new TBF Avengers made their combat debut during the Battle of Midway. It was a fierce battle. 5 of 6 planes were lost and the 6th suffered one casualty with the other gunner and pilot injured. Now imagine that 20 year old pilot tending to his injuries, and the crewman in the back, also wounded, trying to save the life of their friend while bringing their crippled aircraft several hundred miles home. Imagine bullets ripping through the fuselage and battle damage causing similar emergencies and chaos in their wounded bird. Imagine the thoughts of the brave men who flew the next missions in the Avenger, knowing the fate of their brothers before, and the courage it took to step for that next sortie.
150 aircraft were lost and 307 men gave their lives for our flag from 4-7JUN1942 during a single battle. Several crewmen were shot down, captured, tortured and then thrown off of ships with kerosene cans tied to their feet and left to drown. Imagine half your office coworkers, all friends of yours, gone in a day.
This emergency was easy. We, The Fortunate Few, are caretakers of this living history lest we never forget.
We remember.

[@barricade8957]

You (almost calmly) got the plane down safely in under 2 minutes, got everyone out safely, and saved the plane. While doing a low altitude fly-over of a major metropolitan area with smoke in the cockpit, with no injuries to anyone in the plane or on the ground, and the only damage to the plane was fixed in under an hour. Damn good flying.

[@FlightChops]

Awesome video. Pause the text screens to read - great stuff. The biggest take away for me is the end note: "No original thought was needed" because the thorough pre flight briefings had covered all the options. good stuff.

[@MargaretLeber]

That was freaking scary, wasn't it? Even though the actual problem turned out to be (relatively) benign, the symptoms were insanely scary. The enumeration of "lessons learned" is pure *****

[@riverawc1]

Super cool presentation... so glad there was no fire and all were well!

[@MargaretLeber]

***** I try to be a cautious pilot.

[@treatb09]

***** don't worry i only take chance i know will kill me, and no one else, even in a car. AND EVEN THEN I'M STILL ALIVE FROM THE ONES I SHOULD BE DEAD From.. at this point i'm more annoyed.

[@excelephant]

***** Amen to that, I was a biker and driver for years before becoming a pilot, and flying had a profound effect on the way I approach driving and riding. I found myself asking "What if..." a lot more and part of my mind is constantly planning for dealing with potential threats as they arise. It might sound slightly boy scout like (yes, I was..) but if, as the poster says, no original thought is required, the time saved can mean the difference between life and death. I definitely feel riding made me a better driver and pilot, and flying made me a better rider and driver.

[@robduncan9506]

Thru the TBM grapevine, I learned early of this incident, and wondered how a hydraulic leak might be construed as"fire". The helmet-cam video shows this concisely. It also shows proper decision making and excellent pilot skills - great job! Yet another "I learned about flying from that" lesson which will always stay with me. Very glad everything turned out ok.

[@EstorilEm]

I've watched this so many times, but it never gets old - the knowledge presented here is priceless, especially crewing a TBM. People ask me what to expect or what to look for, and I use this as an example of simply saying "anything" - or in ground training, learning "everything" that you can about these things. I'm sure you had quite a mess to clean up, but you made warbirds that much safer with the video so thanks! I think I've talked to most of you all about this in person at the air shows at this point. It's still cool to see Doris Mae out the window on the run in! It's kinda funny - not that pin-holes can be detected, but every time I check that line I think of this flight/video!

[@wcolby1]

Heros. Had them 70 years ago, have them today.

[@HugoToledo]

Thank you for taking the time to share this with us all. I've often told folks who are afraid of flying to listen to cockpit voice recorders or read the transcripts to appreciate how well-trained and disciplined the folks are who safely get them from one airport to another. Well done and thank you, again!

[@steveo1kinevo]

Good job to that pilot. I had a electrical fire when I first started flying and had to emergency land at Boca Raton. Smoke in the cockpit, all the lights started flashing in the cockpit, radio communications stopped working, ended up being a fire behind Comm 1. I had to cut the battery power and land at night without talking to ATC and no electrical power to the airplane. Glad I remembered my light gun signals from the tower. What I learned from it was to buy a bigger flashlight.

[@XBradTC]

+steveo1kinevo You DEFINITELY need to tell that story on your next VLOG.

[@warmfreeze]

always carry a handheld radio in your flight bag ;)

[@rcdogmanduh4440]

Or cell phone! In 1943

[@randymagnum143]

If you could just go ahead and blog it......

[@devingraves8044]

I want to fly warbirds and always have, but I cant go military because I have to be corrected to 20/20, and I worry that will prevent me from getting the Warbird exposure I want. Also, people tell me in crazy because stuff like this is more likely...

[@doggonemess1]

This is how you do a video! One playthrough with just the raw video, then again with subtitles and blocks of info that can be paused and read. Excellent job.

[@samhorne2550]

Gotta love how fluid the communication throughout the whole incident was.

[@sjbobkins9442]

I was flying with my confident-above-his-abilities father in law from Falcon Field in Mesa, AZ to Rocky Point, Mexico in an STOL Mahl, the most difficult airplane I ever flew and the airframe I was taught to fly, in; when an oil leak filled the wind shield and we clearly had to return to Falcon or seize and crash. My expert senior flying companion flipped out screaming about some SOB that did this or that check, paying little attention to our situation. Seeing this gave me flashbacks, great job

[@nerys71]

STUNNING video. Especially the time and effort to cut pause and explain/educate. thank you so much.

[@MidnightWyvern]

Having watched the entire presentation on C-Span, it's incredible to me to know this all happened offscreen. You handled that really well.

[@sint5990]

The handling of the emergency was spot on with the info you had at the time. However, your ability and willingness to acknowledge all of your mistakes and accept the responsibility of such actions is what makes this a truly GREAT educational video. Thanks

[@dawolfsburg]

I was there at the 17th St side of the WWII Memorial and saw the aircraft break toward Virginia, I thought it was part of a Missing Man Formation. Great job putting it down safely and glad it was a relatively minor malfunction.

[@Willysmb44]

Great video, thanks for posting that, it tells you more about what happened than anything else could have. Note the tone of the pilot. All business until he’s rolling on the active slowly enough for the passengers to get out. And once the urgency gets into his voice, it’s only focused on the passengers. I don’t know Josh Wilson, but that’s exactly the type of jock you want flying a plane like that.

[@Nate_Higgins]

Thanks for this. My great uncle flew TBF/TBM from Bunker Hill and Essex with torpedo squadron 4 in the Pacific during WWII. Seeing this helps bring his stories alive in a way. My greatest dream is taking a flight in an Avenger someday. Good work. I'm very glad you and your crew had a good outcome and, as a good pilot should, lessons were learned. Thanks for capturing and sharing this "teaching moment".

[@MTGThrownDown]

Mad props to this pilot. I wouldn't be so calm. I would be freaking the f out if that happen to me! Glad everyone was safe.

[@smrtcarsmrtcar]

I saw you fly away from the formation that day and thought something was amiss but didn't hear of anything until seeing this. Glad to hear all ended well. Thanks for taking part in a great flying event.

[@jbidinger]

As a layperson with only a few hours flight time I think your evaluation was well done but you may have been overly critical of yourself. You reacted, got the plane on the ground, and everyone was ok. Well done.

[@jeremymendoza4394]

Excellent example of using the aviate-navigate-communicate principle. Great job by the pilot!

[@StonyRC]

Great job - emergency coped with, lessons learned and taken on-board, no-one injured. It doesn't GET any better than that.

[@JAP61]

Your observations are very important for all pilots to deal with unexpected situations. Well done.

[@fhstaley3340]

I was one of the 1st responders and the flight crew did a good job getting it safely on the ground, subsequently off the rwy w/o causing undue flight delays here at DCA &, they were gracious towards all who responded to assist . . .

[@wbflashover]

Wonderful video and narrative Sir. I've always been curious how your emergency turned out or for that matter what the emergency was. Sharing your experience and the lessons learned is a meaningful part of what you men do. We all really appreciate, and extremely envious, of what you and all the other Warbirds pilots do to keep history alive. Also, thanks so much for giving credit to the men who flew these planes into harm way.

[@vetitoe362]

Better safe than sorry. I wasn't there, but I watched the live feed and saw you guys veer off. I figured there was a problem of some sort. Glad to see it wasn't serious!

[@SteveJones172pilot]

As a private pilot, the thing that really hit home, aside from how amazingly you handled the whole situation from beginning to end, is exactly how quickly things can get out of hand in a hurry.. This was a great lesson, but IF you really had an inflight fire as bad as you thought it was, even with that runway right there (and I am very familiar with the area), I'm not sure it would have been close enough to save your passengers and/or yourself.. Very scary to think about. I went through a house fire last year, and having just escaped that, I think I might have just taken the plane down in the Potomac to get down faster and put the fire out. Of course, that would be the WRONG thing to do, but I don't know how you were so calm and collected, and made every right decision in the process.. Kudos.. Also, as you point out, this only accentuates in my mind the risks our military heroes take upon themselves every day. Even if there's not someone actively shooting at you, the jobs they have are risky, and we owe them more than we can ever repay. On this Memorial day, remember all our Veterans past and present! Thanks!!

[@RetiredPilot]

We had a cockpit fire on a Convair 580 solid IFR. The radio rack is behind the pilot. We dawned our O2 and I noticed the radar was flashing. My copilot removed his O2 and seat belt and went to the radio rack, he could see the radar box smoking and removed it and put it in the galley behind the cockpit. He saved our lives as we could not shut down our electrical buss in the weather conditions we were in. We were able to land without further incident and went to the hospital to get checked out.

[@firemedic5100]

Carter! I'm not constipated anymore! I have been fortunate to have never had an in flight emergency in my short time as a pilot. But that would have been my statement as I went home to change pants.

[@bazwabat1]

Well done! Interestingly I can relate to the last shots of the interior of the rear compartment. I was on the restoration team of our (New Zealand) Air Force Museum's TBF-1 Avenger which was brought back to taxi status. One day during an engine run the hydraulic accumulator seals blew and this was the mess we ended up with as well!

[@peterbobby99]

The plane looked small from your point of view, but its quite large in the last photo. Great job, glad everyone was safe!

[@silverkong86]

Alan Donet, My comments are constructive and factual. Im a former active duty Marine, As for being a arm chair pilot, I have personal experience in what fire does to the human body what works and what does not. Ill spare you the gory disgusting details. But trust me when I say my comments are based on experience...not hiding as some keyboard expert on stupid youtube. This guy did a great smooth job at getting that TBM on the deck. As for PPE, that TBM and crew needs to tweak it up a notch is all. Very, very few people are uniquely qualled to comment on burns like me. SO...id appreciate everyone simply keeping sarcastic comments in check. This is a great lessons learned video for the AAR for anyone operating these birds. Aloha, Brad

[@revaequitas]

Spot on with Hyd Fluid, I had a line break on the 5k system on the V-22 and it looked like heavy smoke. You could tell by the scent that it was Hyd Fluid. Bravo Zulu overall!

[@hawkeye0927]

THIS!!!! Outstanding job handling this emergency. Saved your crew and the bird. BZ!!!

[@karesmith8141]

Very good video, with a number of lessons shared. Serves as a good reminder for fellow pilots. I think one lesson more should have been added: Stop as far to the left or right on the runway as possible, to allow for other aircrafts with emergencies.

[@TXKingsman]

Excellent roll up. This is a great lesson for all flyers. Keep those treasures flying!

[@SuperScubasean]

Great video and lessons learned. I have found several more videos showing the departure from formation from the ground and another from the crew in one of the formation planes. This is just great stuff.

[@NEALW2010]

great job getting her on the ground safe. great emergency procedures. glad to see the crew and plane are safe. hope to to see you guys in Geneseo again this year at the airshow cant say thanks enough for you guys who fly them and Jerry yagen who owns them. keep em flying!

[@TomF1970]

I was on the River side parade field of the Pentagon when the airshow was passing by. The aviators behind me when this happened were all, "smoke is never a good sign". I got some OK shots with my Samsung phone.

[@HUEEY]

Great flying and quick decision making by the pilot. What a god!

[@evilbonyman]

Really enjoy getting your take on the events and the changes you have noticed in wake of this!! Thanks for Sharing!!

[@FenTheFur]

Under the circumstances that was handled perfectly. I really appreciate this being shared.

[@TheMILVET]

I personally saw what pressurized fire resistant 83282 does when it catches fire. (not sure what the TBM uses) 449 Degree flashpoint, sprayed as a vapor it make a helluva fire. Great situational awareness.

[@c172drv]

Great job. I watched the plane roll out on final with the distinct knowledge that something was wrong. He executed a great emergency landing and got down safely. Training and planning will trump almost any problem.

[@sidkooyman9889]

Good to hear from you, John. Hope you and yours are well. Sid

[@batfirewaf123]

Thank you so much for sharing this video and hope this becomes a lesson for all of us vintage aircraft pilots. Outstanding job and maybe you were beating yourself up a little to much, you did a great job and FLEW THE AIRPLANE instead of loosing it in an emergency. NICE JOB!

[@joek3568]

Good call Greasy, and thank you very much for posting with your thoughts and reflections. I think all pilots can benefit from your video, and enjoy the event too! I do agree a Noxme suit would be cheap protection in the very unlikely event of fire, but at the very least use gloves at all times, as your hands are most likely to get burned. Thanks again for sharing!

[@F6fhellcatace]

that pilot has some skill and i give him 5 thumbs up for the safe landing of the plane

[@smoothvirus]

I was in the crowd on the Mall, with streaming audio from DCA tower on my phone, I heard you declare an emergency and go land. Glad everyone was ok and the aircraft will fly again!

[@rfiorini]

Great work Sir. As a pilot, I salute you.

[@CaptainJohn]

2:14 I have crossed that bridge, and I knew where the airport and stuff was. Cool

[@ltr4300]

Nice job. I suspected cockpit hydraulic when I saw the camera lens getting an oily film on it right away but even so aerosolized hydraulic fluid can turn into an inferno really easily.

[@YogiCub181]

Nicely done!, wish I had been able to fly the L-4 Grasshopper, Tail-end Charlie of course being the slowest. Retired USAF PS: by some of these comments its sad we still can't get along...thanks for sharing your video!

[@Hopeless_and_Forlorn]

The people on this aircraft are lucky that the hydraulic fluid was mineral-based. The synthetic fluids used on modern aircraft are quite toxic when vaporized by a pinhole leak. Around 1970 the airline which employed me dispatched me and another wrench type to an airport in a small city to recover a CV-580 which had taken off on a scheduled passenger flight, and immediately returned for an emergency landing with a report of smoke in the cockpit. When we arrived, we found the airplane sitting on the runway with the cockpit sliding AND direct vision windows open. I believe the left prop was feathered, and the passengers and crew had evacuated via the airstairs on the left side. The crew had found no evidence of fire after landing, but stated that the smoke had billowed suddenly into the cockpit just after lift off. The smoke was extremely irritating to the crew's eyes and lungs. They found it almost impossible to breathe, talk, or see anything. They opened the direct vision windows, exposing them to tremendous wind blast, and turned the airplane back to the airport. They accomplished an emergency landing with some difficulty. We wrenches immediately suspected a Skydrol (synthetic hydraulic fluid) fog, and began looking for a leak. Opening a panel on the left side of the forward fuselage gave us access to some of the plumbing under the cockpit floor, where we found evidence of fluid leakage in the vicinity of the landing gear control valve. A close inspection revealed no source for the leakage. We started the right engine and turned on a hydraulic pump. No leak. Apparently the leak was from a landing gear UP pressure line, which would only be pressurized when the gear handle was up and the hydraulic bypass closed. We disconnected the gear actuators and pinned the gear, and I got in the left seat to start the engine again. When I turned on the hydraulic pump, I was immediately enveloped in a cloud of apparent smoke, even with the cockpit windows open. I could not breathe, and my eyes burned terribly. The parts of my face that I shaved also burned. It was exactly equivalent to taking off my gas mask in a room full of tear gas, as I had experienced in military training. I wasted no time in shutting off the pump and engine. Meanwhile, my coworker had spotted a plume of vapor issuing from a landing gear UP line adjacent to the gear valve. After the vapor cleared, a very close inspection revealed a a barely-visible crack in the line, which emitted a stream of vaporized fluid only when subjected to three thousand psi of fluid pressure during gear retraction. We were lucky it was a gear UP line, because the leak stopped at the moment the crew put the gear handle back down to return for landing. If the leak had continued, the vapor would have been much worse as they struggled to land the airplane. The Convair was designed at the end of WWII, and originally had mineral-based hydraulic fluid in its systems. When it was converted to a turboprop as a Convair 580, the hydraulic systems were retrofitted to operate on synthetic Skydrol, because it was supposedly flame-resistant, ironically enough. Skydrol, and other brands of synthetic hydraulic fluid, do have a much higher ignition temperature than mineral oil, but it is nasty stuff to be around. Modern aircraft now have almost all hydraulic systems located in unpressurized areas of the aircraft, protecting the interior of the aircraft from leaks.

[@adamedward205]

Good modern hydraulic equipment design also trys and add some mechanical shielding between high pressure lines and occupants - operators of any equipment. Can be as simple as rooting lines outside operator areas or simple shielding, but exposed hydraulic lines are only a failure away from causing serious harm.

[@vonjager]

Thats an insane story. Thanks for sharing.

[@charlie1571]

My father was a turret gunner on a avenger. He survived a crash off of carrier and he is still around today And I think he is the best. He is 92 now And I hope I can get some history from him before it is too late. He is the best. He even told me about a theft of a star that belonged to a big shot military asshole. It was never solved. Hint ( it was from the battle ship Missouri) These guys never fought for The war effort. They stayed where it was safe for them. The poor GI" Got the brunt of it. But the big shot generals got the praise. Hopefully It will come to reality. Life is so unfair.

[@SVELFARO]

Thanks for the debrief, you did a great job, thanks for taking us along.

[@demoking1422]

Skill and absolute confidence , great job , Never Forget , Courage ! Thanks .

[@craigpennington1251]

Great video and perfect execution on the landing. From looking at the video, yes that's a fire, Thankfully it wasn't and the craft was saved along with crew.

[@Jmpmstrtex]

Absolutely a GREAT JOB JOSH !!! So glad you ot only saved yourself bit that beautiful bird !!!

[@davidmcinnis9938]

Excellent call and excellent flying.

[@ivanlussich8146]

Those who lost their lives during WWII -and all wars- will always be remembered. Civilians included.

[@Radionut]

Oh darn I was expecting to see it land on the strip of grass or between the Lincoln and Washington monument. Wow exciting glad everything turned out OK

[@loslosbaby]

Use 0.25x speed to read the top parts of the Lessons Learned. "Practice like you shoot, shoot like you practice" for sure! Good job on the divert---reflexes of NINJA!

[@AeroworksProductions]

Excellent work and video. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[@Zero6BravoZ6B]

This is one of my favourite WW2 Planes. Love it!!

[@michael3147]

good job on handling the emergency! i am glad that all was well afterwards.

[@Ryzler13]

"Arsenal Of Democracy, mayday mayday, we dun fucked up" "Oh shut it" comes the reply from the firecheif at the strip bar with a pint.

[@taylorsmith4758]

Nice work. Glad you were so close to Reagan.

[@hundovir]

Very interesting. Small point - things did not "come to a crescendo". The musical term "crescendo" means an *increase in volume* i.e. it is a *process* . In your case the crescendo would have been things *getting* worse, not the final point.

[@OriginalThisAndThat]

I bet flight plan with old planes are carefully done with all the possible landing spots kept in mind if failure hits. River, fields, airports etc..

[@CataclysmicBeefstick]

Thanks for sharing this video. I was watching with great interest from the park below.

[@fhuber7507]

Suspected fire... Notified tower and others in your formation, got clear of the event and headed to the nearest safe landing spot. You put it down, evacuated passengers and shut off the switches before getting out yourself. THEN diagnosed if it really was a fire. Avoided making a bad situation worse for the spectators, passengers and other aircraft. Prioritized people over (a rather expensive and rare) aircraft. That was 100% the right way to do it. I can't see it being done better in the time you took between noting the issue and getting out of the plane. Everything after that... does not matter. also note: A high pressure oil spray can spontaneously ignite almost like a bomb... You had a fire waiting to happen. If you'd done differently the result just might have been catastrophic. You did good.

[@B17B25guy]

First rate, Shim. You performed well.

[@jrgogol]

Good job and thanks for a great report! Lucky to have the video with it.

[@deeplybrown]

I remember watching this from the ground and knowing immediately that something was wrong.

[@VichingoAlchemico]

A truly great job that shows perfect ADM skills. Did all that fluid in the fuselage and cockpit cause any electrical malfunctions? Was it a mess to clean? I guess you can't just throw a bucked of water in there.

[@mikemcc5149]

In hindsight everything is Perfect- However in this case identifying the problem as a fire was the best way to proceed. So in the end Aircraft and personal returned safely, and could not have done better. So I call this one PERFECT.

[@Fsrjtyttzma]

Well done. Great landing.

[@ronaldgadget]

Amazing video + conclusions + lessons learnt. It shows again that pre-flight briefing + emergency planning are key to getting the right response under pressure when there is no time to think. Question: was there a reason that you did not land on the runway center?

[@okflyer777]

Well done brother. Thanks for posting! Great lessons here. Sure would have been nice to have a mask on for this one... breathing hydraulic mist / smoke or anything else like that can incapacitate very quickly.

[@MrFlyingPanda]

So lucky to be already in final. How scary😱😱😱😱 Goggle must have been fogged too..

[@audigex]

An interesting read/watch - can I suggest that you make the pause screens slightly longer to make them a little hard to miss, and having a margin on the top and bottom of the text? KZbin, when paused, covers the very top and bottom of the video with the title and controls, making the text there hard to read

[@gustavoheberle6265]

Good job, Captain !!!

[@timareskog2418]

Well, that's one way to consider better safety procedures for future implementation. I know by experience that despite a load of pre-planning combined with input from a number of experienced sources, it's rare to have very thing 100% covered for every possible situation regardless of how likely or unlikely it is that it will occur. I am glad that it was not an onboard fire and your original belief that it was is something I most likely would have believed also. That hydraulic fluid must have stunk out the plane, it makes my stomach turn. Good landing though 👍.🇦🇺.

[@aaroncalypse5406]

Wow! Such a good lesson! Much respect!

[@okrajoe]

Hope everyone was OK.

[@bushelfoot]

Also 1500 psi pressure can inject oil under the skin causing poisoning of the gunner if he put his hand in the stream of oil looking for the leak, he would need hospitalization asap to open up the area and clean out the oil under his skin.. or risk major medical issues if he waits..

[@outwiththem]

So true..but to some idiots thats too much thinking and they end up fucked up for been brainless..Hot liquids can kill you, dam it......

[@AtomicHombek]

WOW! Skill and Luck!

[@bitsinmyblood]

Wow.... this was a thrill to watch!!!

[@TakeDeadAim]

Re the criticism's. Better to fight a hydraulic leak on the ground than a fire in the air. Working for EAA here in Oshkosh, I see plenty of relatively benign issues and know that in the AIR...although not emergent, it's prudent to get it on the ground where an easy fix will have the bird flying in a "full up" status. JEB sends BZ.........

[@TheSchulterChannel]

nice job - always be ready to egress, it takes practice.

[@ElementalsMods]

very nice landing.

[@StsFiveOneLima]

Good job, Pilot. Not much time or room to spare.

[@handymannification]

Nice job. Now who gets to clean the plane?

[@Hollowhalf17]

That was amazing and those planes are goddamn gorgeous

[@kaixiang5390]

Way to clear the airspace. Would have been awful to see one of those birds go down over DC

[@wendylarocca5621]

you just open the canopy the angle and air flow ,density,humidity level over the water there cause vapor. good thing you didnt eject goose

[@DRF1001]

Was an IFE declared ?

[@vonjager]

Do you have ears?

[@JavierCR25]

BRAVO!

[@a7i20ci7y]

Well done!

[@walterboyne2466]

Great stuff, but I echo the concern about no-flight suits, gloves, etc. It is just not worth it to overlook these items.

[@olliecrawford7037]

Walt---I have watched this video several times and concur with you that wearing protective clothing is the only way to go. I still have my nomex flying suit in the closet waiting for the next flight. If my son had been wearing one, he would have escaped practically unscathed. And had he been wearing his parachute, he would be back int the air today. Lessons learned.

[@Aamria]

Ick Hydro leaks. That stuff smells nasty. Great work getting down and quickly. IFE's can turn bad very quickly. I used to be a Eng. Mec. for the C-130. Although i didn't get to fly in them, we had our fare shares of seeing and smelling Hydro leaks. Not fun. Glad you all where safe. Though i would think you guys should of had flight gloves on...... in case it had been a REAL fire.

[@hatman4818]

You never got to fly on one? Did you never go TDY with them? Just curious, KC-135 eng troop. Whenever one of our planes goes off station for exercises or evacs, they typically send a few crew chiefs and specialists per plane. I’ve only been here 2 years, and I’ve gotten to fly on it for 3 TDYs now.