An Air National Guard OA-1K Skyraider II made a messy emergency landing in Oklahoma City on Thursday, taking out a power line and road sign before coming to rest on its wheels in a field within city limits. The two people on board, a civilian contract flight instructor and an Air Force pilot, were uninjured. The aircraft appears to have significant damage. It may be the first incident involving a Skyraider II, which is a special missions variant of the Air Tractor 802 crop duster. The aircraft was on a training mission and may have had engine trouble before it went down. Social media lit up with photos of the incident scene Thursday afternoon.
The type was only recently added to the Air Force’s inventory and is based at Will Rogers International Airport, where it is operated jointly by the 492nd and 137th Special Operations Wings. The Air Force intends to buy 75 planes for special mission work operating from unimproved strips and supporting special forces ground operations. Pilots have to undergo special training to transition to the Skyraider II. It’s the only taildragger in the Air Force inventory.
Yeah, that looks like one and only one bent blade. That engine was DoA. Which seems weird for a turbine to just give out but maybe they run them hard even by ag standards?
These are practically brand new the Oklahoma National guard just got them. Saw three of them flying over my house this morning. The crash site is less than three miles from my house. Kind of crazy.
Lets buy it and fix it up
“It’s the only taildragger in the Air Force inventory”…U-2?
… which, without its taxiing accessories, makes the U-2 its only wing-dragger too. 😉
It was great to see it up close at Airventure.
I think those will be cartel interdiction aircraft. Glad the crew was OK on this one.
Turboprop engines don’t just quit, something is fishy here. That and this airplane has the glide ratio of a brick. The U-2 is definitely a taildragger in bicycle configuration (the tailwheel is steerable). Color me skeptical as to USAF pilots flying real taildraggers, especially in strong crosswinds. This will not be the first mishap in this airplane. This coming from a retired AFSOC pilot and USSOCOM staff officer.
Not as often as piston engines, but I can assure you that turbine engines do just quit. I’ve lost two. A turbo-prop due to planetary gearbox failure and a turbo-fan to bearing seal failure. I lost one other to bird ingestion but you can’t blame that on the engine.
Yes, I had one quit on takeoff in a Piper Cheyenne turboprop. It lost a power turbine blade, which resulted in one of SpaceX’s “RUD’s”. Fortunately, just below rotation speed so we shut down and coasted to a stop. The engine only had about 43 hours on it, so definitely an infant mortality case.
Crop duster tough though.