Post by jesse on Dec 4, 2008 9:49:15 GMT -5
'way back in '96, I joined Westwind Virtual Airlines as a FO. I was assigned to the Hub at KDFW. I flew local flights all within Texas in small twin engine turbos and props. I was the first pilot in WWAL to reach 1000 hours and was promoted to Command Captain. After three years with WWAL I had accumulated 3000 actual flight hours and was promoted to the first rank of Senior command Captain. WWAL had the paint department paint up a special Concorde to honor the event. We had a section called True Blue in which we would post tales and stories of flight. Here is one of mine.
\Frozen Runways - Large and Small.
By WWAL's Jesse R. Callahan (January 20, 1997)
Shortly after I retired from the USAF in 1963 I found myself sitting in the middle of the Greenland ice-cap at one of the DEW-line sites. For those too young to remember, the DEW-line or Distant Early Warning line was a chain of surveillance radar sites operated by the Air Force in the extreme northern latitudes to keep an ear and eye on the Russians. The line extended from the far reaches of Alaska, across Canada, Greenland and over to Iceland. Our sites were know as dye sites and we were supported out of Sondestrom Air Base on the West Coast of Greenland. Dye 2 was situated about half-way across the ice-cap at the 10,000 foot level. We were supported three days a week by ski equipped C-130s operating out of Sondestrom.
A 6000 foot runway was laid out on the ice with lights along the sides and threshold markers at the ends. On the approach to the runway beginning about 2 miles out, black flags were placed in line with the center of the runway about every 500 feet. At night in the clear, cold atmosphere of the cap, the lights were visible for several hundred miles out. SAS flew a polar route across the site, and also maintained a hotel in Sondestrom for their crews. Occasionally there would be a new crew flying across at night and, of course, they were intrigued by the runway lights out in the middle of nowhere. Often they would ask, "How long is your runway"? Our stock reply was that it was 6000 feet long, 300 feet wide and it had 400 miles of over-run on each end!
On the East coast of Greenland was the little Eskimo village of Kulusuk. At that location was Dye 4. During a very bad storm, with winds in excess of 180 miles per hour, the entire site was blown away -- into the Danish Straits. All the equipment required to replace the site was to be flown in from Dover, Delaware on 13 C-124 Globemasters. This would have been okay except the little runway at Kulusuk was only 1700 feet long and the apron would only accommodate two, at the most, C-54 aircraft which TWA used to supply the site. Thirteen C-124s were dispatched en mass from Dover and flew to Kulusuk. When the lead aircraft commander arrived over the site and saw the facilities on the ground he flat blew a gasket. All the birds had to turn around and fly back to Goose Bay Labrador and then be dispatched one at a time since there was only room for one airplane on the ground.
This was one of those rare logistic snafus for the Air Force.
Management comment... Hey, look at the bright side, they all got plenty of stick time! Sure beats pushin' a pencil all day.
I would like to add that all approaches were from the sea and all take offs were made out to sea due to a large mountain at the south end of the runway. The photo is one of the C-124s bringing in a replacement radar site for the one that was lost in the storm.
\Frozen Runways - Large and Small.
By WWAL's Jesse R. Callahan (January 20, 1997)
Shortly after I retired from the USAF in 1963 I found myself sitting in the middle of the Greenland ice-cap at one of the DEW-line sites. For those too young to remember, the DEW-line or Distant Early Warning line was a chain of surveillance radar sites operated by the Air Force in the extreme northern latitudes to keep an ear and eye on the Russians. The line extended from the far reaches of Alaska, across Canada, Greenland and over to Iceland. Our sites were know as dye sites and we were supported out of Sondestrom Air Base on the West Coast of Greenland. Dye 2 was situated about half-way across the ice-cap at the 10,000 foot level. We were supported three days a week by ski equipped C-130s operating out of Sondestrom.
A 6000 foot runway was laid out on the ice with lights along the sides and threshold markers at the ends. On the approach to the runway beginning about 2 miles out, black flags were placed in line with the center of the runway about every 500 feet. At night in the clear, cold atmosphere of the cap, the lights were visible for several hundred miles out. SAS flew a polar route across the site, and also maintained a hotel in Sondestrom for their crews. Occasionally there would be a new crew flying across at night and, of course, they were intrigued by the runway lights out in the middle of nowhere. Often they would ask, "How long is your runway"? Our stock reply was that it was 6000 feet long, 300 feet wide and it had 400 miles of over-run on each end!
On the East coast of Greenland was the little Eskimo village of Kulusuk. At that location was Dye 4. During a very bad storm, with winds in excess of 180 miles per hour, the entire site was blown away -- into the Danish Straits. All the equipment required to replace the site was to be flown in from Dover, Delaware on 13 C-124 Globemasters. This would have been okay except the little runway at Kulusuk was only 1700 feet long and the apron would only accommodate two, at the most, C-54 aircraft which TWA used to supply the site. Thirteen C-124s were dispatched en mass from Dover and flew to Kulusuk. When the lead aircraft commander arrived over the site and saw the facilities on the ground he flat blew a gasket. All the birds had to turn around and fly back to Goose Bay Labrador and then be dispatched one at a time since there was only room for one airplane on the ground.
This was one of those rare logistic snafus for the Air Force.
Management comment... Hey, look at the bright side, they all got plenty of stick time! Sure beats pushin' a pencil all day.
I would like to add that all approaches were from the sea and all take offs were made out to sea due to a large mountain at the south end of the runway. The photo is one of the C-124s bringing in a replacement radar site for the one that was lost in the storm.