Civil Reserve Air Fleet

[kalos72]

How do you think this worked in T2k?

Obviously these craft were available to start with but I would think they would either get commandeered long term by the military or simply get stuck for lack of fuel.

I assume some of the 500+ articraft would still be ready to fly, given fuel and crew.

My team is thinking that there would be a fairly large number of these craft used to move the USSOUTHCOm to Panama late in 1996/1997 and just got stuck there or were still needed.

What about their crews?

[dragoon500ly]

A large number of airline pilots are Reserve, Air National Guard or military retirees. I'm still looking into numbers, but even with the reserve officers be recalled to active duty, there should be enough to free a sizeable number of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet. Indeed with the outbreak of fighting, it would be reasonable to expect a decrease in non-essential air travel, at least in the early days.

[pmulcahy11b]

Hmmm...

[swaghauler]

Since a large number of overlapping EMPs went off in close proximity to major airports, I question how many functional MODERN aircraft like the 747 or A300 would be left to fly. There is a good reason why the "big boys" (long-haul wide-bodied aircraft) suffered disproportionally higher losses. That reason is based on the aircraft in question needing MAJOR runways to fly. For those who are unfamiliar with Civil Aviation in the US, airports are rated for the weight and size of aircraft which they can support. Those types of airports are;

Major Airports: These are rated as having AT LEAST 8,000ft runways that can handle the heaviest aircraft. They are strictly controlled airspaces as well and serve as major "Hubs" for both domestic and international flights. There are roughly a dozen such airports on each coast with New Orleans, Dallas-Fort Worth, O'Hare (Chicago), and Detroit servicing the center of the country. Many of these airports are near Nuke impacts. The EMPs and blasts would decimate the air fleets flying from these hubs (with LITERALLY HUNDREDS of large aircraft falling from the sky during the strikes).

Regional Hubs: These are locally controlled (ATC has limited airspace control here) airports with runways between 5,000ft and 8,000ft. They can handle medium-weight aircraft like the 727 or the DC10 and these older aircraft would not be as vulnerable to EMP BUT some systems WOULD be affected. Imagine a couple of 727s which have lost ALL radio, transponders, and ILS both heading to the regional airport's runway for an emergency landing with NOBODY to organize their decent and landing. Scary. These medium weight aircraft COULD be used to fly long distances but most are limited to about 5,000 kilometers in range. The other issue is that most of them will burn between 750 GALLONS and 1,000 GALLONS of Jet A PER HOUR OF FLIGHT. While Virgin Airlines proved that a jet can fly on Biodiesel (Specifically Bio-Willy's), that's still a lot of fuel to burn through getting from A to B.

Local Airports: These may be locally controlled (by ATC) or uncontrolled (no ATC at all) and are used by General Aviation (private pilots) or small business planes. With runways of 5,000ft or less, only the smallest jets can land here. Resources are scarce compared to the bigger airports but a lot of the General Aviation planes here with still be flyable. This is because most GA planes are older (1960's and 1970's) and NOT digital. Newer digital cockpit planes will most likely fall victim to the EMPs hitting America. These planes will comprise models like Cesnas, Moonies, Beechcraft, and Pipers and will have a small useful payload (1,000lbs or less) and shorter ranges (500 to 1,000 kilometers on average). Fuel will be an issue with older NON-TURBOPROP aircraft as they must use AVGAS. Turboprops will need Jet A (or military JP6) or Kerosene.

So, there may be lots of Civil Aviation around but how much of it can still fly would be the issue.

[kalos72]

See now, I cant get behind the whole "EMP killed the world " thing. Sure, it has affected locations, but there a dozen major International Airports I can think of that didnt have a nuke hit within 50 miles...100 miles.

Plus if the DoD was using them, they wouldn't be sitting at an airport anyway...

I dont know if there are hard numbers on EMP but I know its very limited for the low level airbursts most US hits would have been...

[Legbreaker]

See now, I cant get behind the whole "EMP killed the world " thing.

Don't forget there was extensive ASAT activity by both sides. You can bet there were a number of nukes set off in low orbit...
Line of sight for them is going to extend a VERY long way!

[kalos72]

I would argue that super small tonnage lit off in the low atmo isnt going to travel nearly as far to the planet as if it was a normal device detonated 2 miles up...

I simply dont believe EMP was ever a thought for the designers OR the world at that stage. No one realized how easily a country could be decimated.

My team has actually played out a scenario where rogue US military are planning to launch a nuke at France purely for the EMP effect to bring them down a peg.

[recon35]

The guys I play with would actually help out the rogue military unit on their attack on France...

[mpipes]

I've done some research on EMP, and from what I have read, it is the power grid that is vulnerable. Items with shorter lengths of wire can't generate the high power load in an EMP attack; it is the miles of transmission lines that present the most problems. Vehicles and appliances should be fine. Airplanes not airborne or in the immediate area of a detonation may be fine.

[Legbreaker]

I've done some research on EMP...

Worth keeping in mind too though that this is a game and individual GM's do have the ability, even duty, to mess with real world physics at least a little - look at the changes to radiation half life written into the game for an example.
Basing it all on reality though is still a very good idea. There's only so much "Handwavium" that can be applied before it becomes Gamma World or Traveller.

[rcaf_777]

I don't EMP being the the problem, fuel would be. With oil production at a halt any jet fuel remaining would reserved for high priority military operations