invertedflyer
500 ft. from said obstacle
Maybe it was the same C-130 outputting too much fuel-pressure? It says the other incident was caused by the same issue.
-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
Scariest Day/Night Flying
- Thread starter phrogpilot73
- Start date
Here`s the deal about that...all of the tankers had the same system. The problem occured when the tanker boys told us to just stay plugged in when we filled up and that they could "drag" us about ten minutes toward the next refueling point. We`d been gassing up from these birds for a while, but never stayed plugged in for any amount of time after top off. BTW, Lockheed said it was a Chance Vought screw up, and Chance Vaught said it was a Lockheed problem. Anyway, my old C.O. ditched a SB2C in about 50 feet of water during WW2. They pulled it up and found fuel in the tanks after he said that he ran out of gas. He always told us to be sure and put one in deep water if we had to get out. I told him, when he visited me in the hospital, that mine was in 12,000 of water. His comment "Let the ba$tards get that one up".
Awesome recounting of the whole incident (and the previous one) in this book, "The Second Luckiest Pilot". A great overall read!
http://www.amazon.com/Second-Luckiest-Pilot-Adventures-Military-Aviation/dp/1557508216
invertedflyer
500 ft. from said obstacle
thanks for the clarification Rattler.... again, great story.
Well, that begs the question, who is luckiest pilot? And where does Mr. Bush fall in that category of bailing next to the Japanese island only to be picked up by a sub?
Ever read "Fly Boys"? If he was captured he probably would not be here today.
Probably is probably an understatement, if the fate of some of the other aviators in that book is taken into account.
I won't steal the thunder from the book (because it is a great read if you're in this line of work), but the author was a squadronmate with DeathRattler, and had the same (!) malfunction the previous day - resulting in a flameout, fire, and loss of control. Unlike Death Rattler, the author successfully ejected, was badly burned, and landed in 62 degree water in the middle of the ocean. Hole in the raft, sharks, all the usual good news. Miraculous (literally) pickup, the details of which you'll have to buy the book to find out. The title is from the fact that the author considers himself the "second luckiest pilot", since Death Rattler's tale definitely earns him the first place award. (There's lots more details in the book about both incidents.)
The rest of the book is a series of both humorous and grim aviation anecdotes. Naval Institute Press publishes it, but you can get it at a lot of Borders or Barnes & Nobles...(Nobles's? Nobless'?) The author (D.K. Tooker) seems like a great guy (former Marine F4-U/F-8/helo pilot), so go ahead and toss him some royalties by buying the book!
George Carlin mused about how the order of one's luck makes a big difference. Like in this case, surviving a fall from a plane without a parachute is considered very lucky. No, it's very UNlucky. Any day you end up in a plane wreck and nearly die is an unlucky day, by definition. It's just that the good luck, not dying, happened second. On the other hand, if you get a winning lottery ticket and then lose it, people say you're unlucky. Not really--you're still better off than the guy who fell out of a plane without a 'chute. It's just that the bad luck happened second.
Frankly, I've been flying for a while now, and none of my scary moments seem anywhere near as bad as any of the posts here. Guess I'm lucky.
Frankly, I've been flying for a while now, and none of my scary moments seem anywhere near as bad as any of the posts here. Guess I'm lucky.
^^ I witnessed a Prowler flight deck ejection at night with similar results. One guy lands mid deck, one dangling off the catwalk mere feet above the water, and one recovered from the water. Jet drove off the side and was last seen floating past the LSO platform upside down with the gear sticking up.
Brett
Brett
My greatest fear is ejecting on or near the flight deck and ending up in the antennas on the island
I was OOD on the TR during RAG CQs. There was a former A-7 driver PXO CQing in the F-18 for the first time. First shot off the cat and his A-7 muscle memory takes over. As soon as the cat fired his hand comes down off the canopy bow and pulls the stick full back. The F-18 climbed straight up, went over the top and started down like an arrow aiming right for the center of the flight deck. The PXO ejected at the top as the plane went over on it's back. The TR CO and I both yelled for 30 degrees right rudder and flank speed at the same time. As soon as that kicked in the rudder was shifted 30 degrees left. The results was a lateral displacement of the carrier to the right and it was just enough. The plane barely missed the angle deck as it arrowed right into the water abeam the island. If it had hit, it would have been really ugly.....
This also caused much heartburn within the F-18 community. The guy was eventually given another plane and told to try it again and he went on to his XO/CO tour. It was felt that if it had been anyone other than a PXO, it would have been the end of his carrier flying days. The mishap board wrote it off to an ingrained habit from over 700 cat shots in the A-7.
This also caused much heartburn within the F-18 community. The guy was eventually given another plane and told to try it again and he went on to his XO/CO tour. It was felt that if it had been anyone other than a PXO, it would have been the end of his carrier flying days. The mishap board wrote it off to an ingrained habit from over 700 cat shots in the A-7.