Sick U2 Spy Plane Pilot Declares An Emergency - With Radio Comms

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[@OMG_No_Way]

It’s incredible how much you can hear the difference in his voice. Nice job pilot for catching it.

[@georgemallory797]

That hypoxic pilot is sharper than most people ON oxygen.

[@andrewnorris5415]

Too many now are on type 2 diabetes (the result of junk food).

[@Bikewithlove]

For a military pilot to say he’s not feeling well, I’d say he feels worse than he’s saying.

[@afcgeo882]

@@Bikewithlove These very trained pilots know how they’re feeling. Their threshold for oxygen starvation is absolutely higher than an average person’s. They’re both, selected for the trait and trained to handle hypoxia better. U2 pilots are the extreme of that extreme group because they operate at an atmospheric pressure of I believe around 30,000 feet. An average person would simply lose consciousness in that environment, within seconds. So for these guys to feel “bad” would take far more than for us to feel that same level “bad”.

[@benjaminlewis671]

That's what I was thinking. He deserves some kind of metal for bringing it home in one piece.

[@Ava-wu4qp]

@@benjaminlewis671 Aluminum, Iron, or Lead. His choice.

[@S8250503]

"Pulling the Green Apple" Meaning - Ejection seats are fitted with an emergency oxygen bottle who's primary job is to keep the pilot alive at altitude, where there is less oxygen, should they have to eject. If the pilot feels the effects of hypoxia, as this pilot describes, they can pull a device, which looks like a little green apple, to release the ten minute supply of 100% oxygen. This should enable them to think properly again and resolve the situation, in this case get lower quickly and return to base.

[@sulufest]

Thank U for the military jargon translation. I thought maybe he was stating that he was sick with digestive problems- either vomit or other. 🤢

[@adriandacruz9018]

Saved me from googling thanks !

[@Spectrophia]

@The Hemwick Hag same lol

[@jameskarl8908]

One issue you can run into is not remembering you have that, or not thinking to use it..

[@FriendlyMxdder]

Emergency Oxygen in the U2 isn’t actually on the seat! It’s in the pilots kit unlike the ACES seats

[@rachelcarre9468]

‘Pan’ is a standard code used in aviation to describe a critical situation but one that the pilot does not merit as serious enough to be classed as a Mayday. Thank you for sharing Lewis! 😀

[@seaningram3285]

Securite' , Pan-Pan, and Mayday also used in Maritime.

[@baronedipiemonte3990]

@@seaningram3285 These are primarily employed in maritime comms. • Pan Pan, Pan Pan, Pan Pan (pronounced as "Pawn") 3 times. Generally for safety/aids/hazards to vessel navigation. I.e. Navigation Buoy is not operating, an abandoned vessel in or near traffic lanes, a vessel is out of fuel or has mechanical problems affecting it's ability to navigate. This proword is also used to alert any or all mariners of hazardous weather conditions. • Securite, Securite, Securite (pronounced as "Say-cure-ray-tay") 3 times. Used for matters involving safety of a vessel and/or crew/passengers that is not yet immediately life threatening i.e. vessel taking on water, but the pump(s) are working and keeping vessel afloat. Or member of the crew/a passenger is ill or injured, but not yet to the point of being life threatening. • May Day, May Day, May Day. (Pronounced as spelled/commonly spoken) 3 times. Used when there is an immediate threat/hazard to life. May Day is acceptable as a distress call on Land, on Water, or In the Air. I've never heard "Pan" or "Securite" used in comms other than maritime. Fun fact - One of the many excuses for vessels not immediately responding to the Titanic was that at that time, the distress call "C-Q-D" (Come Quick Distress) had been replaced with "May Day" and many vessel radio operators had not yet been advised of the change.

[@petertwinn786]

@@baronedipiemonte3990 Pan-Pan is used in aviation along with Mayday.

[@philyew3617]

@@baronedipiemonte3990 Pan calls are not uncommon from aircraft, though they are standard WT code used on land, sea, or air. When a Pan call is transmitted, other operators may still use the frequency whilst the Pan alert is active. A Pan call is not normally made on the distress frequencies as opposed to a Mayday which may go out on either the working frequency or, either of the permanently monitored dedicated distress freqencies. If a Mayday is transmitted the standard (required) op' procedure is that ALL operators who might be on or monitoring the frequency go quiet to allow uninterupted passage of emergency coms. Others hearing the alert may remain in strict listening mode and would only ever break in if there was obvious need for someone to act as a relay (repeater) station. No one mode of transport has exclusive use of any distress call coding or frequency, they are standard WT practice, nothing to do with the type of transportation. Even Amateur Radio operators (Radio Hams) sometimes listen on the standard distress frequencies and have been known to act as relay (repeater) stations where someone in difficulty might be having problems passing or receiving messages, eg due to range or spurious interferance. This standard proceedure should be one of the first things every Radio Op, anywhere in the world, learns. Breitling make an extremely expensive wristwatch with a built-in distress transmitter, which if activated, it transmits a Ping on the distress frequency which immediately triggers automatic radio DF location, anywhere on the planet, of someone in serious peril. (There are serious consequenses for any clown transmitting a false alarm). The watch is popular with Pilots and many lone sailors. Re your Fun fact "CQD" was replaced by "SOS" not Mayday. At that time all coms at sea were via Key (Morse Code). There was no Voice Coms at that time, and May Day was far too cumbersome to key. Three letters as opposed to Six letters and a break space. Self-explanatory. The confusion was the fact that not all ship-board radio ops had been told of the code change. The Titanic radio op' was keying SOS but the vessels nearby were monitoring for CQD.

[@kmed92]

@@philyew3617 fascinating info 👍

[@skiptaggart8116]

U-2 pilots are cut from the same cloth as SR-71 pilots. A completely different breed of cat. They are the best the USAF has to offer. Well done, Rook 07!

[@Rmanaseri]

Funny you say that. The pilot (Stormy) was both a U-2 and SR-71 pilot. Great aviator.

[@skiptaggart8116]

@@Rmanaseri I'm not the least bit surprised. I used to work with both the Dragon Lady and Blackbird detachments when I was in Air Traffic Control with the US Air Force on Okinawa.

[@Rmanaseri]

@@skiptaggart8116 well, Hello from Oki. I was just in the T hangar a few days ago. Wish I had been here when the Habu was flying.

[@skiptaggart8116]

@@Rmanaseri It was a personal thrill to be part of the launches and recoveries. And it was also fun to be on Okinawa! 1969-70. Give my regards to the ladies on Moromi Street. Most of the ones I knew are probably retired mama-sans by now. Still.... good times... good times.

[@paulcharlton4788]

We were drinking with a U2 pilot in a bar at RAF Akrotiri - he was pissed out of his skull and had to be carried home! Top bloke.

[@videohuggy5308]

I am fairly certain this was in the April - November 1989 timeframe. During that time, RAF Alconbury was closed for major runway work, and the U-2's deployed to RAF Sculthorpe near the Norfolk coast. Hence the squadron ops callsign of "Scully Ops". I'll see if I can find out more, but I would bet that it wasn't a case of "bad oxygen" (extremely rare), but rather a decompression sickness event. Back then, the cabin altitude was 29,000 when the jet was up at 70,000. They improved that about back around 2010 so that they are now around 14,500' cabin altitude. The pressure suit does nothing for you as long as the cabin remains pressurized. In the event the U-2 were to lose cabin pressurization, the suit activates and prevents your body from going above 35,000'. Hence, this would not have been a "failure of the pressure suit" event. p.s. I stand corrected. I spoke to the pilot and it WAS contaminated oxygen. He recalls it happening in Oct or Nov 1989.

[@francisschweitzer8431]

Isn’t the Apple the High Pressure bottle on the seat?? And he’s in a full space suit too… uggh… played his hold card. No punching out at altitude now. I was a tanker crew chief ( TOAD ) … had a bad LOX cart one day… contaminated my O2 system as well… found it on pre flight… 6 Pack to the spare

[@francisschweitzer8431]

P. S. … Absolutely correct …. BAD OXYGEN is a RARE EVENT….. VERY RARE… in fact , 12 years as a crew chief on 135 and A-10…. I only know of 2 events. We ( ground crew ) were freaking anal about the LOX carts and the hoses. Even if a contaminant got into the nozzle… a good Wet Purge of about a quart would clean it.

[@ma9x795]

I'm as sure as I can be that this wasn't at Alconbury after around 1992, as this was when I started as an air traffic controller at a nearby RAF base, and I would have heard about it. We would pick up all Alconbury traffic on departure and hand them over to Eastern Radar, or as it became known a bit later, London Mil Eastern sector. Edit: I've had another thought on that. He mentions being 80 miles SW and speaking to both Eastern and Stansted. Stansted is exactly 80nm SSW of Sculthorpe. If he was referring to Alconbury, he would be nowhere near Stansted, or even Eastern Radar's area.

[@videohuggy5308]

@@ma9x795 Max, This would have likely been April-Nov 1989, when the U-2's deployed to RAF Sculthorpe. See above.

[@CurtisBooksMusic]

I can't find those "couple people" in the comments. Anyone got a link that explains the issue?

[@ShainAndrews]

Yeah his first comms were concerning straight away. Good on him and the training to identify and act upon the symptoms.

[@tocsa120ls]

Many thanks for the subtitles, I know how long those take... also, big ups to the pilot, it takes special training to recognize the effects of hypoxia on yourself.

[@HicSvntDracones]

The training is available though, and really, every pilot should take the day course just to know how you act under hypoxic situations. In the US, it is www.faa.gov/pilots/training/airman_education/aerospace_physiology/

[@rohnkd4hct260]

Very good catch! Don't hear coms like that often.... I'm glad to say. I heard an air-refueler call "BREAK AWAY BREAK AWAY BREAK AWAY!" Turned out to be low pump pressure, had to cancel the mission. It got EVERYONES attention! And heard an F4 take a lighting strike once. Mill Coms are a world to themselves.

[@timeforthinkers7418]

We have much to be thankful for with this caliber of men in those planes. GRATEFUL! Thanks for giving us a peak into the cockpit.

[@GaryLaaks1]

These guys train alot and know what to look out for. 10 out of 10 for him.

[@mwhitelaw8569]

That's a lucky and highly trained individual Glad he didn't risk the aircraft or any casualties

[@smd-tech]

Its crazy how low and slow people talk when feeling the effects of hypoxia.

[@GeorgeLiquor]

Search "Kalitta 66". Much worse

[@Rmanaseri]

I love how he asks for a lower altitude, and in the next transmission he is passing through 45k. 10k higher than most airliners fly and he is dropping altitude. I love the U-2.

[@Hitchhiker3000]

not many pilots who could spot themselves going hypoxic and still get themselves down from U2 cruising height! also btw at 5:46 the inaudible is 'straight in'

[@Megameatloaf]

@T.J. Kong Thats awesome! I live in Australia where the highest mountain isn't even 7500ft hahaha! Flat country. I'm a military contractor (Structural Aircraft Maintenance Engineer) and the pilots I've worked with mention that they spend a very significant portion of their training learning to identify the symptoms of Hypoxia especially how it personally effects them. And this is rotatry aircraft pilots I'm talking about so I imagine this pilot in the video who was obviously trained in extreme altitude flight probably had a good portion more of his training dedicated to Hypoxia. It's crazy to hear about you experience hiking at high altitude. Were you REQUIRED to undergo that altitude chamber training? Was it something you opted into with the foresight that you might have to deal with hypoxia? or is it mandatory for anybody going above a certain level? Either way it's cool to hear about your experience, especially when I live on the coast 16ft above sea level and I'd have to drive many many miles to get any higher than that!

[@davidsradioroom9678]

Wow! What dramatic listening!

[@gragrn]

Great job by the pilot, glad he got down safe.

[@Scotscan]

Today the U2s are still very much active out of Fairford and almost daily through the working week. These days the callsign Black xx is used but there are others with Comms to 'Dragon' ops invariably being encrypted. The flight route generally sees them quickly getting to around 60,000ft and heading north out of UK airspace and out to Denmark and then further afield then rtbing in the early afternoon / evening.

[@jwenting]

and mission specific chatter would have been encrypted in the 1980s as well. But standard ATC interactions like this aren't meant to be encrypted because they are for all to hear, to ensure other aircraft in the area know what's going on around them.

[@jf7243]

I had a friend who worked at Alconbury and visited to see and enjoy the place. It was like a little USA town, baseball stadium, church, bowling alley and U2s coming and going. Amazing, the earth would shake as they took off.

[@concorde1793]

Earth would shake ?.....with a U2 ? Don't think so

[@WinchesterMod94]

@@concorde1793 lol are you some kind of aviation elitist or something? Leave the guy alone.

[@SocialistDistancing]

This pilot had the presence of mind to realize what was happening and take action. That rarely happens with people at the best of times.

[@M7BCN]

Very scary situation, glad it ended well. Thanks Lewis.

[@andy2e0lpa66]

A short but very well put together video well done and thank you for the information 👍

[@scott3708]

In 1984 I worked combat Control in the USAF I was stationed at Warner Robbins in Ga. Had a U2 declare and Emergency, his engine was out... He was over Texas, said he'll land in 4 hours. And did.

[@GhostOfLorelei]

Pilot did a great job of realizing his limits in a difficult situation.

[@toddterrell8798]

I was stationed at Alconbury in 92. Saw the U2's take off many times. Pretty cool to watch their steep incline take off.

[@trevorcox3669]

Great pilot

[@cupra2008uk]

Great video..i live near there...Used to regularly go on the base in about 1990's...i once even managed to sit in one of there A10s....was amazing...maintenance even had a gatlin gun they'd got spare... couldn't believe how big it was .also remember seeing the u2 take off and land...😎

[@tenpiloto]

Good job by this pilot!

[@martinshaw2385]

Thank you for the video. Very interesting and what a incredible pilot.

[@EportChris]

Another classic. Cheers Lewis. Hope you're fully recovered now mate 👍🏻

[@Rmanaseri]

I recognize that pilot's voice. Great work Dad.

[@robdavies7]

Home now, safe and well ? ;-)

[@Rmanaseri]

@@robdavies7 indeed. Safe and well.

[@raypitts4880]

WOW

[@tectorama]

Back in the days when anyone could listen to all USAF and RAF Comms. Well done to the pilot.

[@RevMikeBlack]

That's one of the most frightening aviation recordings I've ever heard. However, all those hours in the simulator really paid off here. Even though the pilot was seriously distressed, his training kicked in and got him home safely. I can only imagine how distressed the air traffic controllers were as well. Will the entire recording be made available, too? Thanks for sharing.

[@stoatrepublic]

@Ringway Manchester I was at Eastern Radar in 1990, still know a few folks from there, talk to them regularly on the radio, regards 73 M0VCX.

[@fuffoon]

Great piloting and good video. To the point without a 20 minute history lesson. Good job. Many channels that used to interest me no longer do because of their monotonous formats and inability to stay on course.

[@patm5165]

Nice job Lewis, thanks for sharing, your channel always delivers, love it!

[@mickgatz214]

Very interesting video/report Lewis... Many Thanx Bro. Mick Over and Out :)

[@wes11bravo]

In the military, you're taught to ignore "not feeling very well", to Charlie Mike and drive on. What makes this guy stand out is his ability to be keenly self aware while being monumentally uncomfortable.

[@ion123456]

Yea.. not for pilots

[@berryreading4809]

Yeah his "not feeling very well" is most people's " ----- " because they had already blacked out minutes before... In actuality I'm sure he felt similar to someone being dropped off on top of everest nearly instantly from sea level, just without the cold or wind... I guess that's why they don't let just any pilot fly U-2's 😉👍

[@Tuberuser187]

@@ion123456 Or submariners.

[@FiferSkipper]

I've done hypoxic training with NASA and it is amazing how fast it affects you. This pilot is a friggen hero.

[@simontemplar0468]

Hi Lewis. Good stuff..... Nigel says hi from here in Oregon. 😊 73 my friend.

[@WR3ND]

Saw one of these fly over at low altitude once. Very cool and sort of surreal.

[@baronedipiemonte3990]

Great production Lewis ! Like someone else who commented, I'd have thought the comms would have been encrypted. But considering none of it was classified. Those U-2s aren't the easiest to fly. During the Cold War, a U-2 was shot down over Russia (Francis Gary Powers), the remnants of it. put on display. Powers was eventually "traded" for a ruskie we had in custody. To the best of my knowledge, the USAF is still using the U-2

[@spky999]

Yep, there was a "Dragon Lady" and support crew operating out of RAF Fairford until a couple of weeks ago. It went back to the 'States to be replaced by four B52s. I understand that they only use encryption when discussing actual mission details where only the other party can understand them. General en route nave and safety messages would always be en claire to that anyone on channel can hear, be aware and assist (eg by relaying messages if necessary).

[@86SVA]

You seen the Tom hanks movie Bridge of Spies?

[@philyew3617]

If he's coming down in a distressed state (which he clearly was) and he's not in a hostile area, common sense says he needs other aircraft to be aware he's in trouble. Air trafic over the south of England is as busy as the LA Freeway. It would unwise to be transmitting encrypted coms in his situation. He was in trouble and needed people around to know that. It's basic common sense and he made the correct decision for his emergency and where he was at the time, especially the corridors and f/levels he was passing through.

[@videohuggy5308]

When you are dealing with Air Traffic Control, the comms are never "encrypted". Even if they wanted to, the Air Traffic Control facilities don't have the ability to hear encrypted transmissions.

[@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE]

First class recordings nicely put together to make the video.

[@g7vak]

Very nicely done. Good audio and imagery fine too.

[@gregqualtieri609]

I was station in KEY WEST in 1980 and walked into the hanger and there was a U2. The Air Forces tired to keep it quite. The U2 had been over South America when he lost an engine, he recovered the plane over Key West the controller on duty it was a Sunday. They said he could not believe who was calling. After 3 days the aircraft was ready to fly even the mayor came down to see it. They did 3 fly overs and on the 4 one he punched it and was gone before we knew it. Hard to keep a secrets on an Island.

[@WarPhotographer1974]

The U2 has only one engine.

[@gregqualtieri609]

@@WarPhotographer1974 I was confuse and was talking about the SR71 that landed at key west, must have been a long night when I was typing. was just trying to show the skill of a pilot.

[@wisteela]

It's amazing how you find all this stuff.

[@thehandlesticks66]

Balls of steel.

[@MarkHopewell]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[@845SiM]

Can hear the voice change towards the end. Hypoxia symptoms noticed early. Great audio

[@_Clem_H_Fandango_]

Col. Henry is a real bad ass to pull that off

[@lindsaythomas2283]

Pilot high altitude training saved this guys life. Good job cap

[@jamiet2262]

Nice video. My Grandparents used to live to the south of Alconbury and used to see these all the time when I stayed with them. Shame that the Airfield there is nearly almost gone as it had a great history but I guess Houses, Schools and Jobs are better than its former use.

[@concorde1793]

You couldn't be more wrong. Airbase way preferable to 200 houses and all the associated problems. School places, GP appointments, traffic.....need I go on ?

[@Windfire06]

Tail code BB = Beal AFB in the City of Marysville, Yuba County in Northern California home to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing. U2 , Global Hawk, and the Former SR-71.

[@islaws4589]

Interesting listen & really nice sound quality. Certainly not the sort of thing we get to hear often!

[@HeadRealThin]

Great video Lewis, very interesting!

[@exs219]

Think the real worry is that at the altitude he was at blood boils so if his suit was leaking or compromised he would be gonzo well before hypoxia was a problem. Crazy job

[@myriaddsystems]

Fascinating

[@nonyafkinbznes1420]

"Eventually I said this is bullshit" We've all been there.

[@loganbaileysfunwithtrains606]

Yep

[@andrewsvonja1039]

I used to work near alconbury the village itself was nice that was 25 plus years ago though...

[@Jazzaconda]

Just stubbled across you're channel! Awesome man, Liked an Subbed!

[@mfgt4595]

Poor Lamb, he's sick. Tough !

[@TucsonHippy]

I was assigned to RAF Alconbury from 1983-1988. I worked the Comm systems on the TR-1A as it was called back then. I worked the midnight shift and my job was to preflight the systems to make sure they were good to go for that days missions. The base tower was down until an hour before the aircraft launch so I had to train someone on the systems then make a check between 2 aircraft. The planes were brand new at the time and most of the time everything worked right. One day I had problems making a UHF radio check between the two aircraft. When you only have 2 aircraft how do you know which one is bad? I was running out of time but I got the problem fixed by bench checking both radios. I was thinking there had to be a better way. So I talked with my boss and explained that I was going to build a mock-up of all the radio systems to include encrypted radios so there would never be that problem in the future. Got it built and it worked like a champ. Eventually the pilots found out about it and the frequency we used. and the buddy crew started calling our shop for the prepilot radio checks. I would answer their call tell them how the radio sounded then give them a humorous signing off. Id tell them how many shopping days there were until Christmas. My boss hated me doing it because it lacked military professionalism, the pilots thought it was great. We also found out that we could troubleshoot the planes when he was over target because the radios were line of sight and from 60,000 + it has a lot of range. We saved quite a few missions with some quick troubleshooting with the system specialists on hand or we could get a pilot there asap for any operational issues. We did have a couple of Pan calls for hypoxia and bends like situations. Each t6ime the pilot was talked down safely. I spent 20 years in the Air Force 11 years total on the U-2. That mock-up and my time at Alconbury are my proudest moments.

[@RingwayManchester]

Great info cheers!

[@nonopus3125]

Interesting insight. Enjoyable vid, thanks.

[@brendandmcmunniii269]

Poor fella that can't have been much fun I'm glad he landed ok

[@joed9908]

Wow, what a job!!!

[@therealkevan8158]

"they're up on" is the inaudible

[@ConstantlyDamaged]

3:59 , when he mentions he's coming down with a PAN, he might have declared a PAN PAN emergency rather than MAYDAY (on another frequency/encrypted radio). Or even he might have *thought* he'd declared a PAN PAN. When you're riding the edge of hypoxia, it's hard enough to just fly the damn aircraft let alone communicate-and always remember, communicating what you're doing is the final priority after Aviate (fly the plane), Navigate (maintain safe location), and Communicate (tell others what you're doing).

[@denvan3143]

I’m glad the pilot made it back. Those planes are dangerous; fly a little too slow and they stall, a little too fast and the wings tear off.

[@ON8EI]

Good job, keep them comng. 73's

[@poiu477]

PANPAN is the code for a non critical situation that requires Flight assistance. Like a less critical MAYDAY

[@grindelston5968]

Very interesting. Through, it's not a spiral it's a helix, I'd have thought the usaf would've known that haha

[@hazonku]

Dang that's some scary stuff. Good thing he caught the symptoms & made the right call early. Guy is hypoxic & still more on point than Harrison Ford on a good day. LOL.

[@wulliest]

I'd love to find the mishap report for this, as part of me wonders if what he was actually experiencing was the onset of the bends. U2 pilots have to prebreathe O2 for a minimum period before flight to flush all dissolved nitrogen from their bodies. If anything went awry with that prebreathing procedure (leak in the suit etc.) then he'd have remaining N2 dissolved in his tissues, and he'd find out all about it when he hit altitude.

[@copperheaddesigns672]

5:46 the inaudible is him saying a visual straight in full stop

[@JediBuddhist]

Nice one Ringway

[@tlangdon12]

The chance of this U2 coming down in London was incredibly small. The London Flight Information Region (FIR) covers all of England and Wales. "London Military" is staffed by military Air Traffic Control officers who sit with the civilian air traffic controllers who manage the London FIR so they can provide coordination between military and civilian operations, exactly as this excerpt shows. This pilot could have been talking to "London Military" if they had been overhead Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

[@videohuggy5308]

The U-2 / TR-1 flew out of Alconbury for about 11 years. None were lost the entire time. Not just over London, but period. None were destroyed in a crash.

[@GeorgeLiquor]

3:09 "they're up on your frequency", meaning they're monitoring

[@danapeck5382]

Great stuff, thanks!

[@benabusthethird9751]

5:46 "for a visual straight in and full stop."

[@metallicaKSA]

I live minutes from what remains of RAF Alconbury - a small non flying base, the entire runway and airbase you see in the intro to this video is now housing and industrial units. A crying shame.

[@HakanKoseoglu]

I used to work minutes away from Alconbury and had many pints in The Stukeley Country Hotel - do they still have all the badges all over the bar?

[@videohuggy5308]

@@HakanKoseoglu I lived in the Stukeley Inn (same place, I think... right across from the Main Gate) for a month while I looked for a house. Great times!!

[@davidpeplow8780]

I remember going to an RAF Alconbury Open Day in 1971 when one of the display RF4Cs (tailcode AS002) caught fire immediately after touchdown.

[@williamstrachan]

I had forklift training a few years ago in one of the old Hardened Aircraft Shelter hangars. Fascinating place to be, shame it's no longer used for aircraft though.

[@PsRohrbaugh]

@@davidpeplow8780 had to ask my grandfather if this was him - but it wasn't. He did fly RF-4Cs in Alconbury around that time, and he also had a fire after landing - but that was in Udorn!

[@gzk6nk]

'Inaudible' at 5:54 is "straight in for a full stop (landing)".

[@augl2702]

Incredibly interesting story.

[@JourneysADRIFT]

Man you can tell a hypoxic pilot from his voice alone. So different from when he regained air.

[@caticornevaline9586]

The U2 I worked were always filed at 60,000 but could never get that high over Montana heading to Europe over the North Pole.

[@bcadventure2015]

Whoa. Sounds exactly like SpaceInvader One

[@Jen-dr6oc]

Wow that was lucky!

[@mhk211071]

I think two of the "inaudible" comms are: 3:10 "home station Europe" 5:46 "a visual straight in full stop"

[@bobl78]

at least he´s realizes that something is wrong which is usually not the case with hypoxia

[@jfan4reva]

U2/TR1A is a difficult plane to fly at altitude. The higher you go the narrower the flight envelop gets. Stall speed in thin air increases, and mach 1 speed lowers. Not staying in between means you're going to have a bad day. Glad Randy Manaseri's dad knew what he was doing!

[@dasy2k1]

5:46 Says he will spiral down for a visual Straight In to full stop.

[@ricbarker4829]

5:43 "I'll spiral down in the overhead for a visual STRAIGHT IN and full stop". That means he will not join the circuit and do a downwind, base and final, he will just do a straight in final.

[@JelMain]

London is south of Alconbury, southwest places him on the general Oxford-Milton Keynes axis, but he's not electing for Fairford, so probably closer to MK. Atmospheric oxygen becomes breathable at 11000', confirming his cabin pressurisation failed. Oxygen contamination would have continued, rather than partial recovery at 10 000'

[@merseyviking]

5:46 "a visual straight in"

[@cpy]

If anyone is wondering, the 'green apple' handle he activated his emergency oxygen supply

[@musiccitymannn2781]

Which is used for ejection above 14k but yes.

[@afcgeo882]

The video does explain that.

[@RadicDotkey]

What a funny city name, Loon-Doon :)

[@stevenyemc]

Good work fella. I live a short trip from that airbase. Used to drive down a few years ago. Seen Nighthawk landing and Lancer. Used to put on a great airshow where I bought my first Airband radio as a kid and a pair of AM Radioshack Waliketalkie CB's. Totaly illegal in UK ha ha. Any news on the F1 comms vid?

[@PaulStrickland]

I went to the last airshow, they had the U2 flying at the end of the day, I also remember seeing one on approach to Alconbury when I was driving up the hill very near to what was RAF Wyton, mentioning Wyton I can remember driving past in the mid-80s' when they still had Blood Hound missiles!

[@rains_on_leith]

Definitely ‘with a pan’ as in he’s declared a pan-pan pan-pan pan-pan rather than a full May-day. Again this speaks to this pilots’ brilliant nonchalance 🇺🇸🇬🇧

[@LeifES]

3:09 "they're up on your frequency" 3:27 "I'm squawking" 3:34 ".... 01" 4:00 "with a PAN" 4:36 "vented out"(?) 4:42 "gut" 5:08 "they're off now"(?) "Probably" 5:45 "visual straight in, full stop" PAN, PAN together with its sibling PAN, PAN MEDICAL is defined by ICAO as an urgency message. A "full stop landing" is the opposite of a "touch and go landing" where a landing and short ground roll is immediately followed by a take off. Of course it's obvious he is intending to land full stop, but this is a standard phrase to clearly express the intent. This is basically just how you start talking as a pilot.

[@nathanbaribeau2833]

0:28 how many people started wiping their screens?!?!

[@Phil-M0KPH]

Interesting story.