Have not heard of any Somalia flying. Sounds like Evergreen Helicopters. Evergreen Helicopters fly corporate jets too and is run as a seperate company.

 

heard they missed payroll on Friday... that's serious if true.

 

discussion going on over on flightinfo. I'm sure there are a lot of freaked out crews and people in the May 7th class.

 

extremely rare, but it's possible. Ever seen a 747-4 takeoff and/or land in 2,500ft.? You would in Afghanistan. They use a short field technique for takeoff and landing. When my student told me the technique to get out of dangerous warzone type places I was pretty impressed and 800k airplane can takeoff/land in that short of a distance...

 

Evergreen International doesn't overnight in Afghanistan, doesn't fly to Somalia, and, as a 747 driver who's flown to Afghanistan many a time, I have yet to see this 2,500 t/o or landing performed by any 747 operator, nor anyone with turbojet propulsion, military or civilian, honestly. OAIX is @ 4,895 MSL, and OAKB is 5,876. If you don't see it @ sea level in an empty 747, you definitely won't see it in Afghanistan on a working 747.

Trying to land a working 747 in 2,500' @ 5K+ density altitude will guarantee you an Afghanistan overnight, though. You will blow all 16 tires, so you won't be leaving. While stuck there, you'll get a nice on-on-one with the base leadership, who will be none too pleased you shut down their base for this failed stunt - you won't do it in 2,500 feet, I assure you. Once you do leave, you get an all expenses paid trip to lovely McMinnville, OR for a carpet dance.

 

You are high.

 

a short distance for a 747, even empty with fumes at landing would be 4500-5000' feet..... now laden it with cargo and reserve fuel, so say (620-630K landing weight), and you'll need about 10,000' of runway ... try it in 7500 or so, and you'll be there for a while replacing 16 tires..

your student was on crack when they hold you this story, or maybe they fly a C17.

 

How often have missed payments happened at EA? Is this just an aberration or is it something more serious?

 

I can assure you that your student either doesn't work for EZ or is a big story teller. I use almost the entire 10,000ft of runways on a regular basis trying to takeoff. 8,000ft for landings makes me nervous because of the short runways.

2,500ft really?

 

I did it on M$ Flight Sim once...