Well, July was a very thin news month! Must be too hot to type! Plus, lots of moving around. Thinking of PCSing and moving around, please remember to update the class webpage when you PCS and remind others, as well. Though the number of inputs isn’t as large as it has been, the news is certainly exciting (especially at the end).

Bill PERIS

This is a temporary address we are using while we are on the road. Please don't change our address in your address book. We will get and reply to mail at

bndperis@sicembears.com

Bill and De

Brian PETERSON

Organization: USAFA/DFEE

4508A W. Juniper Dr

USAFA CO 80840

W: (719) 333-3842

H: (719) 472-0460

We just got back to USAFA. Never thought I'd come back here, but here I am! Tibby and I have 3 kids now and are all doing well. We really like the Springs and I'm actually really looking forward to teaching.

Take Care

Brian

Christopher MANN

Organization: 349 ARS McConnell AFB KS

email: docmann1@aol.com

I'm now stationed at McConnell AFB, KS, in the 349 Air Refueling Squadron. I'm finally getting back to flying the KC-135R after a 2 year "vacation" in the Air Force Intern Program!

Take care!

Chris Mann

Paul GRIMM

Tav,

Just got back from CO myself (high-altitude training). I talked with the AOG's Wayne Taylor who gave me a lot of good advice. I'm going to the SACC in San Diego from 17-19 Aug. As for that Ironman picture, you can have one only after I cross the finish line ("If I can't go back with my self-respect, I won't go back at all" or something like that).If you intend to put it in checkpoints, I guess it might make the winter or spring 99 edition. The Ironman isn't 'till 3 Oct.

Happy studying.

The Grimmster

Chris HOWARD

Just a few brief comments from the Howard Clan:

-- Barbara and I had our second son, Joshua Christopher, born 12 December 1997

-- Cohen Dwight, our first, starts kindergarten in August

-- Currently the Intelligence Plans Officer at Joint Special Operations Command in the J-5 Directorate here at Ft. Bragg, NC

-- Named one of "100 Heroes of Plano, TX" to celebrate my hometown's centennial

-- I was also named an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow with 21 others for leadership, integrity, and civic responsibility resulting in 22 days of seminars in Aspen, CO over the next two years

-- Finally, teaching evening sessions of International Relations at Webster University on base to military personnel pursuing masters degrees

Chris Howard

(910)860-7251

CHoward291@aol.com

This next piece is not from email; it’s a transcript of a letter I received last week.

Jenn (RAWLINS) JENSEN (’92) wrote us about her hubby Tom JENSEN’s recent achievement.

Read on!

Dear Carson,

I’m writing the ’91 section because it was the ’91 grad in this picture (a picture of Tom and Jenn JENSEN, and her Dad in front of a yellow Piper Cub inside a barn hangar) that "did good"! T.J. flew the Piper cub in the background in a "Red Flag" competition in Texas, against a bunch of old fighter pilots and won the competition. He had the best Time-On-Target and as his front seater/bombardier, I had one of the closest-flown bombs to the target. Why does this interest AOG? (Probably doesn’t) but one of the fighter pilots T.J. beat out was his own father-in-law, Ace RAWLINS (’64). The competition was in March, with mostly light aircraft like my dad’s cub, and was tons of fun.

Tom and I are both stationed at Charleston now. He’s flying the C-17 and currently in AC upgrade. I’m an intel officer there. We have so many ‘91/’92 grads on base the squadron CC says we’re infested. I’ll miss most, but here are a few:

Gary and Diane (ROMAGLIA) HIGGINBOTHEM. They have 3 kids and are a beautiful family. Di’s out, Gary’s at AC upgrade.

Jim and Elizabeth BISHOP; he’s an IP in the C-17 and a proud new daddy of baby Gwendolyn.

Chris and Kari COLLET – also in C-17s, an AC already, and also new parents of Nicole. Is there a trend here?

Mike KAZLAUSKY and wife Chris. Also C-17s but no kids. Dog Butchy fills in.

Maggie (DAWSON) ELDER (’92) and husband Wynn. She works in Wing Plans and has baby #1 on the way soon.

Just saw Diego and Kim (BASHAM) WENDT on a visit here from Scott AFB, where they live on a farm and fly big-wigs around in the C-21 when they’ve both got time.

Jim SEVICK is flying F-16s at Shaw, just got engaged to Ashley, an S.C. girl.

More on the Adventures of Jim in the next section . . .

Erik and Priscilla PETERSON; Erik is flying F-16s in Alaska, and they have a new baby boy.

I’m going to be one of those people who will forget to tell about 90% of the people I’ve seen/run into. That’s why I’ve been afraid to write in until now. But I thought the fact that an AMC "puke" beat out old fighter pilots at a bomb drop was worth mentioning. I guess there’s something to be said for that Airdrop School he went to last year.

Have a great summer!

Jenn and Tom Jensen

Thank you, Jenn!!

You can see the picture she included in the Checkpoints that comes out Nov/Dec 98.

When my wife saw it, she said "Hey, that hangar and plane look familiar! If it’s somewhere near Waco, then I’ve flown in that very plane!" So, Jenn, is it? Would be pretty weird. But I’ve experienced weirder.

In my never-ending search for good scoops on our class, ’m going to start trolling the news page on AF Link! Here’s a story that links in with Jenn’s letter:

SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. (AFNS) -- A 78th Fighter Squadron F-16 crashed 12 miles off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C., July 22.

The pilot, Capt. James SEVICK, successfully ejected from the aircraft and was picked up 50 minutes later by a Coast Guard rescue helicopter. He was transported to the Medical University of South Carolina at Charleston for observation and released July 23.

Sevick was on a simulated air-to-air combat training mission at the time of the crash. Shaw's last aircraft accident occurred in 1996 during a hurricane evacuation.

Also found this doozy; a crippled tanker full of zoomies!! The article may seem long, but it’s a good story. Note that the flying took place last year, when we had a lot of crashes. Fortunately we didn’t have to add another five to the deceased . . .

GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. (AFNS) -- Five Grand Forks crew members, who safely landed their KC-135 Stratotanker despite a broken right main landing gear, have won the Air Force Association's 1997 Brig. Gen. Ross G. Hoyt award.

Air Mobility Command officials announced in May that Capts. John KRATT (’90), aircraft commander; Jon FISCHBACH (’92), co-pilot; and Paul ALFONSO Jr. (’92), third pilot; Staff Sgt. Michael Murray II, instructor boom operator; and Airman 1st Class Daniel Regester, boom operator, will receive the award during the annual AFA convention in Washington, D.C., Sept. 16. All five were members of the 911th Air Refueling Squadron at the time.

The incident that led to the award occurred at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, in 1997, where the crew of Mazda 85 was flying air refueling support for coalition fighters supporting the United Nations Security Council-imposed "no-fly zone" over northern Iraq. They had just completed a sortie and were making the first of several "touch-and-go" approaches, when strong, variable winds forced the aircraft's pilot to power up early and "go around." Despite taking this action, the jet still reacted in an "unusually firm manner," according to crew's award nomination package.

Mazda 85's crew wasn't aware of the damage at first. Regester, the crew's boom operator, said a gear indicator provided first warning. When the gear was retracted, the right main landing gear indicator read "in transit," rather than "up and locked." The aircraft's commander then lowered the landing gear and got "down and locked" indications for all three landing gear. Regester was then sent back to confirm which indication was correct.

"Looking out, I saw the landing gear wasn't seated in the housing (instead) it was bumping against the gear doors, which were stopping it from actually going up into the wheel well properly. I could see it was hanging freely and swaying back and forth in the slipstream," he said.

According to the award narrative, during the touch and go "the inner sleeve of the strut had completely separated from the outer strut leaving the gear truck hanging tenuously by a single scissor joint."

Regester compared his initial reaction to what parents experience when they see their child fall down. "You know that feeling you get when your son (or daughter) falls down, that desperate feeling of 'what am I going to do.' I felt that way for several seconds, since there was nothing I could do to fix the problem."

While the crew couldn't physically repair the gear, they did have technical support from several sources. When news of Mazda 85's in-flight emergency reached Grand Forks Air Force Base, a crisis action team was activated, and experienced aircrew and maintainers were brought in to help. Boeing engineers in Wichita, Kan., were also consulted.

Boeing engineers' first reaction was disbelief, according to Regester. "Our operations center (the detachment's commander and first sergeant) called Boeing's engineers and told them what was going on. Their response was, 'That can't happen.'"

After the confusion cleared, "they (Boeing engineers) started offering their expertise on the matter and giving us instructions as to what we needed to do to bring the aircraft down safely," he recalled.

The Boeing engineers also predicted what might happen if the right main gear collapsed, according to the award's nomination package. "Boeing technical representatives reviewed with the crew the only other serious gear malfunctions the KC-135 fleet had sustained (in its 35-year history) and the anticipated aircraft response to the loss of the main gear upon touchdown. With the loss of the right main gear, the crew was informed the aircraft would probably depart the runway surface while skidding on its No. 3 and No. 4 engine cowlings."

Since the loose gear could be driven up into the wing's fuel tanks, the crew "burned off" as much fuel as possible before landing to minimize the risk. When they landed, the aircraft had about 10,000 pounds of fuel. Normally, a KC-135's crew would land with about 20,000 pounds of fuel onboard, according to Col. Frederick Roggero, 319th Operations Group commander.

In preparing for the final landing, the crew made two approaches to test the aircraft's handling and stability, and to give themselves an opportunity to rehearse the landing gear failure checklist. Mazda 85's crew was now ready to land.

Back at Grand Forks AFB, CAT members listened in silence to the crew's final approach, along with the Boeing engineers in Witchita, according to Roggero.

"Captain (John) Sweeney was giving the play-by-play over the phone from the operations center in Turkey. Inside the CAT, and at Boeing, the atmosphere was dead still. I'm certain I could hear the chaplain praying a mile a minute, as we all were," Roggero said. Inside CAT, the countdown continued. "The jet came within one mile, then 100 feet, then touched down."

What happened next is captured in the award package narrative. "Flying a flawless approach, Kratt gently set the aircraft down on the runway. Not knowing whether the gear would support the weight of the aircraft or shear away, he attempted to keep the weight off the right main landing gear as long as possible. Miraculously, the right gear righted itself (upon impact with the runway) and lined itself up correctly, allowing the inner sleeve -- which had been completely separated -- to slide into the outer strut. As the aircraft settled fully onto the right gear, it provided a semi-stable gear platform for the remainder of the landing roll-out. Bringing the aircraft to a full stop on the runway with less than a thousand feet remaining, the crew quickly completed their emergency ground egress plan and moved clear of the aircraft." No one was seriously injured in the incident.

While CAT members listened to these events, back on the jet, Regester, was too busy with the situation at hand to consider what might happen after the jet landed. "I wasn't thinking about whether I was going to live through this, I was just thinking about what I needed to do. I just figured that whatever happens, happens, there's nothing I can do. I just need to bear down and do what I need to do to come out with the most favorable outcome."

Regester, who enlisted in March 1996, and arrived at Grand Forks in November of that year, said two things come to mind about this incident. "First, it was the luckiest day in my life, and I don't plan to ever have to go through another incident like that again. Second, the way I figure it, something like this happens to a crew member once in their career, so I'm glad to get mine out of the way early."

What a career path we’ve chosen. Definitely NOT your ordinary way of life.