From the cockpit: A-10 performs an austere landing at Delmar Lake Bed

July 25, 2016 Military Aviation
David Cenciotti

Watch this cool GoPro footage of the A-10 Thunderbolt performing landing on a dry lake bed near Alamo, Nevada.

The following video shows an A-10C Thunderbolt II from the 190th Fighter Squadron at Gowen Field, Idaho, taking off from Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and proceeding to an austere landing site at Delmar Lake Bed near Alamo, Nevada on Jan 26, 2016.

Warthog pilots from the 190th FS performed landings during both day and night sorties to qualify on the unique ability of the A-10 to use unimproved surface landing strips.

A-10 Thunderbolts belonging to all the U.S. Air Force units perform this kind of training, usually with  support of Special Tactics Squadrons that provide air traffic control at the landing strip: this kind of training is used to validate procedures used when operations occur from within a denied territory, where there is no established landing zone under friendly control.

Enjoy!

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About David Cenciotti
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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

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6 Comments

  1. I would love to have an A-10 parked in my driveway – what a rage flying that thing every day!

  2. Thanks for another awesome video David of one of my favorite aircraft doing what it does best!

  3. It already exists. The Super Tocano is relatively cheap, can do austere landings, and is proven.

    • but has 0 survivability against MANPADS and AA cannons, and is still as or more expensive as the Su-25

  4. That high-maintenance prom queen would break into a couple of hundred low-observable chunks attempting that landing.

  5. I think you will be waiting a long time for that video. Nothing I can find out about the F-35 indicates it will be austere field capable. The type of engine it uses will have catastrophic issues with dust and dirt ingestion.

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