yakdriver wrote:
I can't believe the radio chatter from the other airplanes worrying about their time slots and other unrelated things. The controller never cleared the airspace and barely acknowledged an emergency was happening. Very, very unprofessional in my opinion. Great that he got it on the ground undamaged. Don
Don -
I've read a couple of other posts in response to your comments and I'd like to clarify a few things about the incident.
I was announcing the show and was standing right next to the air boss, Wayne Boggs, all day. We saw Bob Baranaskas departing the box at the same time and we both saw something streaming from the aircraft. Wayne put out a call to Bob and got the reply that he was heading home to FRG. Wayne didn't have to clear the airspace. Bob was already clear of the box and there was no traffic to the northeast of the box.
In EVERY ONE of Wayne's pilot briefings he tells pilots that if they have a problem, he will "...not pester you on the frequency." At a time like that the Boss doesn't need to be distracting a pilot who's dealing with a disabled aircraft.
Wayne did turn immediately to the FAA official next to him and instruct her to call Farmingdale tower and alert them that hey had an emergency inbound.
The calls from other aircraft about when they'd get the box were, in my opinion, initiated because if there was going to be any delay in the show, fuel might be an issue. That's not always the case with warbirds but with Extras, Edges, Pitts, Staudachers, and the like, fuel is very much an issue, particularly when the airport is about 10 miles away.
BTW, I got a report that Bob was inbound to Runway 01, was high and fast. He bounced the airplane and then hooked around to a landing on Runway 14. He ran it off the end of the runway and came to a stop with no damage to the airplane, other that what had already happened to the engine.
I hope that brings some perspective to a situation that all of involved with the show was handled correctly. There were no negatives expressed in the briefing the next morning.
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