jarhead said:
All involved did well. Just a clarification though, those jarheads were not grunts. Grunts are in the infantry, in both Army and Marine Corps. The air wing of the Corps has no Grunts in it. The Divisions and Air wings of the Corps both have their set of 'nicknames' that are appropriate for what they do, and do not cross over. Some nicknames are however universal to the Corps; "grunt" just is not one of them.
Hmmmmmm... If I use it affectionately, can I call you a grunt anyway?
From the story:
The two pilots were alerted of the malfunction about 15 minutes prior to landing and notified flight line first responders of the situation.
First point: NOT two pilots - - story's first paragraph says the second guy was a "weapons and sensors operator" (I thought it was weapons systems operator, but what do I know!?!

) - - WSO (pronounced "whizz-oh" for you non-military weenies! just kiddin' - - relax ! !

)
Second point (and the real reason for hitting the Reply Button in the first place): They " were alerted ... about 15 minutes prior to landing" makes it sound like they were planning on wasting a lot of JP-5. I'm bettin' they found out more like 2 minutes prior to their scheduled landing, spent a trip around the radar pattern troubleshooting, and took the barrier on the next pass.
That kind of reminds me of that old line people use when they've found something they lost, or when they're searching for it. "You know, it was in the very last place I thought to look." Well of course it was, silly. Once you found it, why would you continue to think of places to look? "It's always in the last place you look." Duh. Even if it's the first place, it will still be the last place.
Only a liberal would keep looking!
HA ! Hijack to political ! !
Wait - - I wonder if those guys had Bar-B-Que for dinner?
Re-hijack!
And to get back to the topic....
Outstanding job bringing the jet down to a rather uneventful APPEARING landing. Speed tape on the tank, clean a canon plug, and she'll be good as new!