Touch and Gos at Epply.

[Uffda]

Do they do that? As I was leaving town early Friday afternoon I saw a large white plane heading into toward Epply as I was getting close to the Mormon Bridge. Too far to see any markings but it just looked big. Then as I was heading north on I-29, I swear I saw the same plane cross ahead of going west and then turn toward Epply.

[Guest]

It's not uncommon for the aircraft based at Offutt to perform touch and goes at Eppley. This includes the B747 fleet which are the big white aircraft.

[Coyote]

Now that I think about it, I was at Turner Park at around 4 pm on Thursday, and noticed a very slow rising plane taking off from Eppley, I mean it was a quarter the speed of a regular jet and really never gained much altitude. I watched it for a while, and was an unmarked (from my vantage point) large white plane.

[Ben]

Yup, that's the E4B, the "doomsday" communications plane. I think it was alternating between Eppley and Offutt. Eppley's a bit of a tight squeeze for a 747 runway wise, but can be done....

[skinzfan23]

Yup, that's the E4B, the "doomsday" communications plane.  I think it was alternating between Eppley and Offutt.  Eppley's a bit of a tight squeeze for a 747 runway wise, but can be done....

Yeah you are probably right. I just looked up the length of the longest runway at Eppley and it is 9502 x 150ft. For comparison, Offutt is 11,502 x 150.

[GetUrban]

I saw the E4B too...2 runs approaching Eppley from the north. It's pretty cool to watch. So big, it appears to almost be hovering, compared to the smaller planes we're used to seeing.

[Coyote]

[BBvideo 560,340][/BBvideo]

[BBvideo 560,340][/BBvideo]

[BBvideo 560,340][/BBvideo]

[nebugeater]

I was on a touch and go flight at Epply a couple months back. Problem was it was not a training exercise. On a Southwest flight in from Chicago and it was turbulent. We had to be no more than 100 Ft off the ground and the flaps cam back and the Jets were kicked in full afterburner. Took off for altitude and did a loop for over 30 Min and from the view ended up at least 30 Miles South in Iowa along 29 before looping back. Wind sheer was the stated reason.

[Omababe]

A friend of mine had a similar kind of scary incident coming into Eppley from Atlanta a while back. They were about to land and all of a sudden they gunned it and took back off. No announcement or anything until they were up in the air again. The pilot came on and said that Eppley was usually one of the easiest airports to fly into, but they were just not lined up correctly and decided to go around and do it again.

[nebugeater]

I have my doubts on the wind sheer. It really didn't seem to be those conditions and the approach was terrible.

[Ben]

I was on a touch and go flight at Epply a couple months back.  Problem was it was not a training exercise.  On a Southwest flight in from Chicago and it was turbulent.  We had to be no more than 100 Ft off the ground and the flaps cam back and the Jets were kicked in full afterburner.  Took off for altitude and did a loop for over 30 Min and from the view ended up at least 30 Miles South in Iowa along 29 before looping back.  Wind sheer was the stated reason.  

I think we were on the same flight....

[LookingGlass]

The Offutt jets regularly use Eppley as an airport to practice at. There are different approaches and runways to use compared to Offutt. In addition, military crews from around the country will use Eppley as a cross country airport due to the proximity to the city. Not uncommon to see T-1, T-6, and T-38 aircraft there.

[Stargazer]

Lately, it seems like Eppley has become the stop of choice for dropping off looney passengers... they need to create a means of depositing them in one quick touch and go maneuver.

[Brad]

Lately, it seems like Eppley has become the stop of choice for dropping off looney passengers... they need to create a means of depositing them in one quick touch and go maneuver.

Lol, just slow down and throw then out the door?

[nativeomahan]

I was on a touch and go flight at Epply a couple months back.  Problem was it was not a training exercise.  On a Southwest flight in from Chicago and it was turbulent.  We had to be no more than 100 Ft off the ground and the flaps cam back and the Jets were kicked in full afterburner.  Took off for altitude and did a loop for over 30 Min and from the view ended up at least 30 Miles South in Iowa along 29 before looping back.  Wind sheer was the stated reason.  

It happened to me years ago, on a flight from Orlando. We were told that heavy thunderstorms were going to be near Omaha about the time of our scheduled arrival. It was late afternoon, but as we neared Eppley from the south and as I looked out the window, seeing the plane fly past West Broadway, everything went dark and rainy. It only takes about a minute from that point until landing, so as we rocked and rolled and a minute came and went and we were still up in the air I began to sweat bullets. Finally the pilot gunned the engines, and the next thing I could see outside the windows, 5 minutes later, was Valley, Nebraska. He finally came on the PA system and said "well, as you can probably tell, we aborted the landing." The plane had been deadly quiet up until that point. We landed a few moments later, to applause.