Message posted by Dave Bethke on April 14, 2002 at 17:57:27 PST:
This is sort of a guess, but the Janet flight probably wanted someone from the fire department on hand for engine start (they were still at the terminal). But it was not critical or mandatory so they elected to "start (the engines)without" them. The fire department was probably at the south end of the runway, just to be in position, if needed, for Henry 68. A couple of other observations on this clip -- The exchange with "Henry 61" at 6:42 sounds more like "Yankee 61". It's an hour later than the start of the clip, where it does sound like "Henry 61". --
It sounds like Henry 68 was practicing approaches and/or landings. It may be military procedure to have the fire trucks in a position where they can get to the scene quickly should something go wrong. A few years ago I was landing at Rockport, TX and at the time Navy pilots from Corpus Christi NAS, flying piston engine trainers, were doing touch and goes. They had a manned fire truck parked near the end of the runway in use, ready to go, just in case.
And as a sidelight, take note of the wind directions given. It seems like it was quite variable that evening. :)
Dave
In Reply to: Re: Fastmover audio clip posted by Joerg (Webmaster) on April 13, 2002 at 23:34:44 PST:
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