OT - Just Curious

[Cdnwolf]

Found this lonely aircraft sitting off by itself while looking at a google map of Andrews Air Base near Washington and wondered if anyone know what its purpose is?

[rcaf_777]

Hard to make out what type it is which could explain it's purpose

[Cdnwolf]

A closer look... and nearby it's hard to make out what looks like a Harrier Jet and notice the tire marks near the buildings hiding what inside.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

The aircraft on the circular pad looks almost like a BAe146 passenger jet.
I've seen airfields were out of service aircraft were set up for fire and rescue training so I'm wondering if this is the purpose of the aircraft in your picture?

Edit: Had a look at the place via Google Earth and Google Maps, I'm starting to think the airframe on the circular pad could be a mockup plane for use in fire and rescue training. The engine pods just don't look like anything on any aircraft I can think of. From the look of the shadow of the tower to the south (follow the road leading away from the circular pad), it looks like the sort of tower fire and rescue crews train on for multi-storey buildings.
Mockups like that are also used for crash investigation and hostage rescue training.

As for the white aircraft, it looks like a C-9 Nightingale, used by the USAF for aeromedical transport (originated from the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 passenger jet)

BAe146


C-9 Nightingale

[Cdnwolf]

Okay I thought it might be part of the Medical Lift wing, but I was just wondering why it is so isolated from all the other areas. I was thinking maybe part of Black Ops with helicopters hidden in the hangers.

[stormlion1]

The one plane is a fire training aircraft, and the other looks to be a medical bird. A good bet is though is that its decommissioned and used for training for terrorist hijackings and aircraft storming. Only other reason I could see it in a hardstand near a Fire Training area.

[Cdnwolf]

Originally Posted by stormlion1

The one plane is a fire training aircraft, and the other looks to be a medical bird. A good bet is though is that its decommissioned and used for training for terrorist hijackings and aircraft storming. Only other reason I could see it in a hardstand near a Fire Training area.

Never thought of that scenario. Makes sense.

[stormlion1]

It just looks like a training area to me, and I recognize the Fire Training plane, essentially a bunch of scrap metal welded to look like a small airplane from Dover Air Base, its right next to the AMC Museum there. Only other reason I can think of why a plane would be by itself is if it had a classified cargo, but then it would have SF's and there trucks parked on its nose and tail counting rivets.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Was watching some YouTube and found footage of a fire training mockup in use.
It looks to be exactly the same construction as the pictures here and might even be the one at Andrews AFB.

The section in question starts at approximately 6:10 minutes
The video itself is part 4 of a documentary called Operation Red Flag about the Red Flag training exercise held at Nellis USAF Base.

Part 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri-dWOpkIy4

Part 1 is here and there are 5 parts in total
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g3lwKOXWOI

[Cdnwolf]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

Was watching some YouTube and found footage of a fire training mockup in use.
It looks to be exactly the same construction as the pictures here and might even be the one at Andrews AFB.

The section in question starts at approximately 6:10 minutes
The video itself is part 4 of a documentary called Operation Red Flag about the Red Flag training exercise held at Nellis USAF Base.

Part 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri-dWOpkIy4

Part 1 is here and there are 5 parts in total
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g3lwKOXWOI

Yes the burnt out plane and set up looks identical... even the little semi - circle on the ground in front of the plane looks the same.

[rcaf_777]

While this is hardly an "real" source but

C-9A Nightingale - 23 aero medical evacuation aircraft for the United States Air Force received from 1968. The final active-duty flight of the C-9A was in September 2005. The last C-9A was flown to Andrews AFB Museum in September 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-9

here is the official story


http://www.andrews.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123269479