747 emergency land @ McGuire AFB

[guamainiac]

Just before 5 last night a 747 suffered an engine out and requested fire equipment for a landing at this NJ Air Force base. Apparently it was without incident but the owner of the aircraft was not provided.

[Curtis Malone]

Well, if I were flying a civilian 747, I'd probably aim it at either PHL or EWR. Now, if, on the other hand, I weren't....

[HalcyonDays]

Not 100% sure, but I think it may have been a Southern Air 747-200 out of Liege on a military contract flight.

[guamainiac]

Yes, they did an almost nothing (3 line), in the local paper and then just a tiny edit that indicated that sounded like they may have been heading to McGuire anyway.

There were "plans" to use McGuire as a cargo reliever for the NY traffic and that would have made sense in many ways.

A pal lives almost right off the main runway and the only thing that surprises me is that I have never seen anything in the pattern that was not military. Of course there are only so many KC's you can watch land so I don't sit glued to the sky. They used to have a nice parking area for watchers right along the fence but those days are gone.

[HalcyonDays]

....and the only thing that surprises me is that I have never seen anything in the pattern that was not military. Of course there are only so many KC's you can watch land so I don't sit glued to the sky. They used to have a nice parking area for watchers right along the fence but those days are gone.

Large civil cargo aircraft on military contract flights are reasonably common at McGuire.

[guamainiac]

And for the past few years a few of my friends have been catching commuter flights out of there so to speak.

As a kid I remember the days of the broad band on the tail that announced "MAC", and took a few. Back in 69' I was pretty shocked to find myself on some civilian airlines I never heard of. I think that was the start of the phase out of the Military Airlift Command.

What dominates the sky are folks staying current in the KC tankers. They do almost endless touch and go work. I love having lunch there and go just for "the background music".

Funny because the folks who live in "The Mills" love or hate it and that battle of noise has been going on for ages. I can remember as a kid hearing the adults argue (it used to be a vacation lake), over the cannon fire shaking the cottage. One would grouse and the other would say "sounds like the sound of freedom to me". Same with the old sonic booms.