Whoops. Meant as a reply, but this is some of the aftermath of the last "Snor'eastercane".

You've already forgotten about Irene?

I may just get to go out on "Your Pain is my Per Diem Tour 2012" after all!

One of those, oh what do they call them. Uh, Wart-something or other.

I don't know anyone who has accidentally hit an aircraft with a vehicle, and keeps the Letter of Reprimand in their cubical in their office as a reminder of the stupid shit they did in the past and to not do shit like that again.

Red Bull - It gives you Brass Balls big enough to counteract a spin at 700+ mph.

That's shitty of SPEED to do. It's kind of like when I was let go of my last job. All the managers had a meeting on Monday afternoon just before we left for the day. Tuesday while everyone is at lunch, we get a text message that there is a meeting right after lunch.

There is 1 C-17 in that photo. The other two cargo planes are C-5s. I'm willing to bet you walked "through" a C-5. There's an easy way to tell, did the entire nose section of the aircraft you saw open? That's a C-5. C-17s only have a rear ramp, and they also have winglets (upturned wing tips).

The GAu-8 is roughly 20 feet in length, the M102 (105mm Howitzer) is roughly 17 feet in length. They are basing the GAU-8 being the largest on it's total size, not the caliber of ammunition used.

There's also a C-5 in flight and you can see the T-tail of another in the background by the hanger. Westover is a C-5 Reserve base.

Please to be explaining your counting? I'm seeing 14 on the taxiway, & 5 in the parking area near the C-17.

Close Air Support (CAS) , Anti-Ground, Forward Air Control (FAC), Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) in conjunction with Pedro (USAF HH-60) helicopters, etc. They've also been used as a "show of force". Just having one in an area, maybe doing a low pass and popping a few flares, is enough of a deterrent for most…

In case one of the primary jets has an "Air Abort" during flight. There's a "point of no return", once the jets reach that point the spares turn around and the primaries keep on going. If a problem occurs after the PoNR, you can't expect a pair of aircraft to trail along by themselves, hours behind the others. It's…

Nope, not a pilot. I was a maintainer (Crew Chief). All of the pilot I talked to said it was such a rush to shoot it was like crack to them. Once they did it, they couldn't get enough. I've seen jets come back with panels flopping in the wind on their hinges because of the vibrations caused by the Avenger.

It might be a matter of size, not caliber. The Avenger runs from the end of the barrels up front, to just about the leading edge of the wing.

They fly over. The only time one is broken down is if it's been damaged beyond the capability of repair at the deployed location.

Ben and everyone else. This is my old unit, and I've personally made this trip before. What you see in the picture is 19 A-10Cs and one C-17. The C-17 is the support plane for the trip and carries maintenance personnel (crew chiefs, weapons troops, electricians, etc), all of our stuff (tools, personal bags, military…

I didn't know that. Makes my question invalid then.

So why the 727? I understand costs were probably kept way down using one, but does that make some of the data invalid since the airframe isn't as widely used anymore?

Damn, Jennifer Aniston is starting to go the way of Lindsay Lohan. What a shame.