# Army drops load early in neighborhood **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 25, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468 "2018-10-25T00:27:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/1 "2018-10-25T00:27:23Z")
Headline says Humvee but as you can see it’s a truck not a Humvee > **[Military plane drops Humvee on Harnett neighborhood](https://www.wral.com/military-plane-loses-cargo-over-harnett-neighborhood-/17942899/)** > > A C-17 military cargo plane dropped a Humvee on a Harnett County neighborhood Wednesday afternoon, officials said. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/2 "2018-10-25T00:44:23Z")
Well, technically, it was the Air Force that screwed up, since they don’t let the US Army play with anything larger than helicopters and small planes. It does look like a truck from the photo, but on the tape from the TV station it might be a Humvee, and the truck was being used to pull it out. Either way, if it landed in my driveway I’d try to stake a claim to it… ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/3 "2018-10-25T00:59:07Z")
At least it wasn’t another[lost nuke.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/4 "2018-10-25T01:00:17Z")
that reminds me you can be pretty far out from Ft. Bragg and hear the artillery practice. I guess people near there are used to it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/5 "2018-10-25T01:23:18Z")
It’s definately a HMMWV. It’s confusing because at one point they show a LMTV truck but it appears to be there to help with recovery. The cargo that was dropped is seen in the helicopter shot near the end being driven out on a lowboy trailer. It looks like a damaged soft side HMMWV. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/6 "2018-10-25T01:32:52Z")
I hate it when I drop my load early in a Humm Job. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/7 "2018-10-25T09:24:07Z")
I’m guessing that that’s the end of one pilot’s military career. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/8 "2018-10-25T10:20:01Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I’m guessing that that’s the end of one pilot’s military career. Probably not. They were testing either new equipment or new procedures or both. Suffice it to say, the test failed. But the error may have been in the tested variable, rather than pilot or Pathfinder error. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/9 "2018-10-25T10:58:43Z")
But it got into the press and embarrassed the Air Force - that is the cardinal sin. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/10 "2018-10-25T13:16:59Z")
does the pilot press a button to release the load? or does someone else do that ? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/11 "2018-10-25T13:19:34Z")
“I dropped the load too early,” the load-master ejaculated. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/12 "2018-10-25T14:00:39Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > does the pilot press a button to release the load? or does someone else do that ? The load-master does that. All the pilot does is try to fly straight and level. What happens with the cargo is somebody else’s job. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/13 "2018-10-25T14:29:19Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > does the pilot press a button to release the load? or does someone else do that ? There is a positon called the “loadmaster” (AFSC: 1X2A1) whose reponsibility it is to load, position, secure, maintain, and in the case of an airdrop, actually execute the extraction. The pilot in this case may have made an error in indicating position or readiness to the loadmaster, but it is the later who opens the cargo doors and releases drogue chute to effect payload extraction. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/14 "2018-10-25T15:29:05Z")
I’ve seen videos of C 130s dropping cargo from very low altitudes , maybe 30 feet or less. I assume they do that when they don’t have a good runway to land or the runway is damaged. They don’t use the big main parachutes for that type of drop. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/15 "2018-10-25T15:36:04Z")
If they accidently dropped it into my back yard could I keep it? Could I deny them access to my land and prevent them from recovering the vehicle? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/16 "2018-10-25T15:36:33Z")
A C17 flying 30 feet above my house would piss me off a whole lot more than them dropping a HMMWV into my backyard. Unless it landed on my cat. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/17 "2018-10-25T15:53:25Z")
> [@X.L.Lent](#): > > If they accidently dropped it into my back yard could I keep it? Could I deny them access to my land and prevent them from recovering the vehicle? No and no. You cannot claim salvage to an owned piece of materiel or property that was accidentally or incidentally deposited on your property, and you cannot impede the owner from making a reasonable effort at recovery. If someone deliberately drove a vehicle onto your property and abandoned it, that may be a different story; at a minumum you can have it removed as a nuisance or charge for storage if it is left for a longer period than reasonable to retrieve it. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/18 "2018-10-25T16:02:05Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > At least it wasn’t another[lost nuke.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash) The terrible Travolta movie _Broken Arrow_ had a nice line: > [@](#): > > This happens often enough that you have a code word for it? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/19 "2018-10-25T17:04:39Z")
here is a C 130 low level drop I mentioned above [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dgg3iRaVnbw/hqdefault.jpg "M551 Sheridan Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System (LAPES)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgg3iRaVnbw) ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468/20 "2018-10-25T18:15:03Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > No and no. You cannot claim salvage to an owned piece of materiel or property that was accidentally or incidentally deposited on your property, and you cannot impede the owner from making a reasonable effort at recovery. Impede? Absolutely. Prevent from recovery? Not legally. Cite: I’ve seen it happen. Local PD were called, _they_ ended up packing up the balloon & bringing it out to the pilot/crew. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-drops-load-early-in-neighborhood/823468.md?page=2)