kmiles wrote:
hurricane_yank wrote:
How does something like this happen?
More often than you would think. The pilot has very poor to zero visibility of the wing tips. They rely on a spotter to tell them if they are clear. As you can see in the photo, the leading edge cleared, but the slope of the wing caught it on the trailing edge. If they are at an airport or ramp area that they are not familiar with, and there is nobody there spotting, it can happen easily. A lot of operators have spare wing tip assemblies, and can swap them easily. From this photo it looks like it just caught the underside of the wingtip, so repair to that wingtip will be easy if that is the route they have to go. Sometimes that 8 foot fence turns out to be 8'6" and enough to catch the underside.
I agree it does happen and not just with B-17's....I might add as some may not know that B-17 is a former USCG PB-1G. Just in my career at the units I was at, I knew of it happening with a helo hitting a fence spinning the tail around. Had a Herc hit the ramp fire bottle at night. Conventional thought for us was if in doubt, stop, let one of the aircrew get out and clear the plane/helo thru. Off the top of my dusty recollections, we (USCG) reference the USAF ground handling manuals and we were not ever allowed to taxi within 5' of an obstruction. We needed a wingwalker(s) within 25' of an obstruction. But....ya...it still happens.
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