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Great story Paul, enjoyed it. Bob Parker Mena, AR. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul M. Anton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "ERCOUPE" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 8:42 AM Subject: [COUPERS] OT a pilot's tale | ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- | | From: Carpenter, Reggie P. CDR (CVW17) | Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 | | Subject: Pilot's account of a recent Hornet barricade* recovery in the | Pacific | | * a barricade is a huge net that is 20 ft high and stretches across the | carrier in the landing area to 'catch' airplanes that must land in | extreme cases such as this. | | how rare? in my 3 yrs as CO of IKE, I watched 36,000 | landings - none into the barricade! | | Greetings Slacker Landlubbers! | | this is to share with you the exciting night I had on the 23rd. It has | nothing to do with me wanting to talk about me and it has everything to | dowith sharing what will no doubt become a better story as the years go | by. | | So...There I was. Manned up a hot seat for the 2030 launch about 500 miles | north of Hawaii. (insert visions of "The Shore Bird" and many mai tais here). | My bird was parked just forward of the nav pole and eventually I was taxied | off toward the island where I did a 180 to get spotted to be the first one | offcat 1 (insert foreboding music here). | | There's another Hornet from our sister squadron parked ass over the track | in about a quarter of the way down the cat. Eventually he gets a move on, | they lower my launch bar and start the launch cycle. All systems are go on | the runup and after waiting the requisite 5 seconds or so to make sure my | flight controls are good to go (You know, there's a lot to be said for good old | cables and pulleys), I turn on my lights. As is my habit I shift my eyes to the | catwalk and watch the deck edge dude and as he starts his routine of looking | left, then right, I put my head back in the rest. I hate to say this but the Hornet | cat shot is pretty impressive, equivalent I would say to a gassed up KA-6. As the | cat fires, I stage the afterburners and am along for the ride. Just prior to the | end of the stroke, there's a huge flash and a simultaneous boom! And my | world is in turmoil. My little pink body is doing 145 knots or so and is 100 | feet above the Black Pacific. And there it stays -- except for the airspeed, | which decreases to 140 knots. Somewhere in here I raised my gear | which is interesting since it is not a Hornet "off the cat" boldface. It | is however, if I recall correctly, an Intruder boldface. Oops! The throttles | aren't going any farther forward despite my Schwarzzenegerian efforts to | make them do so. | | From out of the ether I hear a voice say one word: "Jettison." Roger | that! A nanosecond later my two drops and single MER, about 4,500 pounds in | all, are Black Pacific bound. The airplane leapt up a bit but not enough. I'm | now about a mile in front of the boat at 160 feet and fluctuating from 135 | to140 knots. The next comment that comes out of the ether is another | one-worder: "Eject!" I'm still flying so I respond, "Not yet, I've still got it." | | Our procedures call for us to intercept on speed which is 8.1 alpha and I'm | fluctuating from about 8 1/2 to 11 or so. Finally, at 4 miles ahead of | the boat, I take a peek at my engine instruments and notice my left engine | doesn't match the right. (Funny how quick glimpses at instruments get | burned into your brain.) The left rpm is at 48% even though I'm still | doing the Ah-Nold thing. I bring it back out of afterburner to mil. About now | I get another "Eject!" call. "Nope, still flying." Cag was watching and the | further I got from the boat, the lower I looked. | | At 5 1/2 miles I asked tower to please get the helo headed my way as I | truly thought I was going to be shelling out. At some point I thought it would | probably be a good idea to start dumping some gas. As my hand reached | down for the dump switch I actually remembered that we have a NATOPS | prohibition regarding dumping while in burner. After a second or two I decided, | "fuck that" and turned them on. (Major "Big Wave" Dave Leppelmeier joined on | me at one point and told me later that I had a 60 foot roman candle going.) | At 7 miles I eventually started a (very slight) climb. A little breathing room. | CATCC chimes in with a downwind heading and I'm like: "Ooh. Good idea," | and throw down my hook. Eventually I get headed downwind at 900 feet and | ask for a rep. While waiting, I shut down the left engine. In short order I | hear Scott "Fuzz" McClure's voice. I tell him the following: "OK Fuzz, my gear's | up, my left motor's off and I'm only able to stay level with min burner. | Every time I pull it back to mil I start about a hundred feet per | minute down." I just continue trucking downwind trying to stay level and keep | dumping. I think I must have been in burner for about fifteen minutes. | At ten miles or so I'm down to 5000 pounds of gas and start a turn back toward | the ship. I don't intend to land but don't want to get too far away. Of | course as soon I as I start in an angle of bank I start dropping like a | stone so I end up doing a 5 mile circle around the ship. Fuzz is reading | me the single engine rate of climb numbers from the PCL based on | temperature, etc. It doesn't take us long to figure out that things aren't | adding up. One of the things I learned in the RAG was that the Hornet | is a perfectly good single engine aircraft. It flies great on one motor. | So why the fuck do need blower to stay level!? | | By this time I'm talking to Fuzz (CATCC), Deputy CAG (turning on the flight deck) | and CAG who's on the bridge with the Captain. We decide that the thing to do is | climb to three thousand feet and dirty up to see if I'm going to have any excess | power and so be able to shoot an approach. I get headed downwind, go full | burner on my remaining motor and eventually make it to 2000 feet before | leveling out below a scattered layer of puffies. There's a half a moon above | which was really, really cool. Start a turn back toward the ship and when I get | pointed in the right direction I throw the gear down and pull the throttle out of AB. | | Remember that flash/boom! that started this little tale? Repeat it here. | Holy fuck! I jam it back into AB and after three or four huge compressor | stalls and accompanying decel the right motor comes back. I'm thinking | my blood pressure was probably up there about now and for the first time I | notice that my mouth feels like a San Joaquin summer. (That would be hot | and fucking dusty for those of you who haven't come to visit.) | | This next part is great. You know those stories about guys who | deadstick crippled airplanes away from orphanages and puppy stores | and stuff and get all this great media attention? Well, at this point I'm | looking at the picket ship at my left 11 at about two miles and I say on | departure freq to no one in particular, "You need to have the picket ship | hang a left right now. I think I'm gonna be outta here in a second." I said | it very calmly but with meaning. The LSO's said that the picket immediately | started pitching out of the fight. Ha! I scored major points with the | heavies afterwards for this. | | Anyway, it's funny how your mind works in these situations. OK, so I'm | dirty and I get it back level and pass a couple miles up the starboard side of | the ship. I'm still in min blower and my state is now about 2500 pounds. | Hmmm. I hadn't really thought about running out of gas. I muster up the nads to | pull it out of blower again and sure enough...flash, BOOM! You gotta be | shitting me. I'm thinking that I'm gonna end up punching and tell Fuzz | at this point "Dude, I really don't want to do this again." Don't think | everyone else got it but he said he chuckled. I leave it in mil and it seems to | settle out. | | Eventually I discover that even the tiniest throttle movements cause the | flash/boom thing to happen so I'm trying to be as smooth as I can. I'm | downwind a couple miles when CAG comes up and says, "Oyster, we're going | to rig the barricade." Remember, CAG's up on the bridge watching me fly | around doing blower donuts in the sky and he's thinking I'm gonna run outta | JP-5 too. By now I've told everyone who's listening that there a better than | average chance that I'm going to be ejecting. (The helo bubbas, god bless 'em, | have been following me around this entire time.) | I continue downwind and again, sounding more calm than I probably was, | call paddles. "Paddles, you up." "Go ahead" replies LT "Max" Stout, one of | our CAG LSO's. "Max, I probably know most of it but you wanna shoot me the | barricade brief?" (Insert long pause here.) After the fact, Max told me | they went from expecting me to eject to me asking for the barricade brief in | about a minute and he was hyperventilating. He was awesome on the radio | though, just the kind of voice you'd want to hear in this situation.) | He gives me the brief and at nine miles I say, "If I turn now will it | be up when I get there? I don't want to have to go around again." "It's going | up now Oyster, go ahead and turn." "Turning in, say final bearing." "Zero | six three," replies the voice in CATCC. (Another number I remember -- go | figure) OK, we're on a four degree glideslope and I'm at 800 feet or so. I | intercept glideslope at about a mile and three quarters and pull power. | Flash/boom. Add power out of fear. Going high. Pull power. Flash/boom. | Add power out of fear. Going higher. (Flashback to LSO school....All right | class, today's lecture will be on the single engine barricade approach. | Remember, the one place you really, really don't want to be is high. | Are there any questions? Yes,you can go play golf now.) The PLAT TV | video is most excellent as each series of flash/booms shows up nicely | along with the appropriate reflections on the water. "Flats" Jensen, our | other CAG paddles is backing up and as I start to set up a higher than | desired sink rate he hits the "Eat At Joe's" (waveoff) lights. Very timely too. | With visions of the A-3 dancing in my head I stroke AB and cross the flight | deck with my right hand on the stick and my left thinking about the little yellow | and black handle between my legs. | | No worries. I cleared that sucker by at least ten feet. By the way my | state at the ball call was 1.1. As I slowly climb out I say, again to no one | in particular, "I can do this." Max and Flats heard this and told me later | it made them feel much better about my state of mind. I'm in blower still | and CAG says, "Turn downwind." Again, good idea. After I get turned around | he says, "Oyster, this is gonna be your last look so turn in again as soon | as you're comfortable." I flew the DAY pattern and I lose about 200 feet in | the turn and like a total dumbshit I look out as I get on centerline and | that night thing about feeling high gets me and I descend further to 400 | feet. I got kinda pissed at myself then as I realized I would now be | intercepting the four degree glideslope in the fucking middle. No shit fellas, | flash/boom every several seconds all the way down. Last look at my gas was | 600-and-some pounds at a mile and a half. "Where am I on the glideslope Max" I ask | and hear a calm "Roger Ball." I know I'm low because the ILS is waaay up | there and I call "Clara." Can't remember what the response was but by now the | ball's shooting up from the depths. I start flying it and before I get a chance to | spot the deck I hear Cut, cut, cut!" I'm really glad I was a paddles for so long | because my mind said to me "Do what he says Oyster" and I pulled it back to | idle. The reason mention this is that I felt like I was a LONG FUCKING WAYS | OUT THERE, if you know what I mean. (My hook hit 11 Oyster paces from the | ramp, as I discovered during FOD walkdown today.) The rest is pretty tame. | I hit the deck, skipped the one, the two and snagged the three and rolled | into the barricade about a foot right of centerline. | | Once stopped, my vocal chords involuntarily yelled "Victory!" on button | 2 (the 14 guys who were listening in marshal said it was pretty cool. | After the fact I wish I had done the Austin Powers' "Yeah Baby!" thing.) The | lights came up and off to my right there must have been a ga-zillion cranials. | Paddles said that with me shut down you could hear a huge cheer across | the flight deck. I open the canopy and start putting my shit in my helmet | bag and the first guy I see is our flight deck chief, huge guy named Chief | Richards, and he gives me the coolest look and then two thumbs up. I | will remember it forever. Especially since I'm the Maintenance Officer. | The first guy up the boarding ladder is CAG Paddles. I will tell you what | he said over beers someday. It was priceless and in my mind one for the ages. | | I climb down and people are gathering around patting me on the back | when one of the boat's crusty yellow-shirt chiefs interrupts and says, | "Gentlemen, great job but fourteen of your good buddies are still up there and we | need to get them aboard." Again, priceless. | | So there you have it fellas. Here I sit with my little pink body in a | ready room chair on the same tub I did my first cruise in 10 years and 7 | months ago. And I thought it was exciting back then. | | P.S. You're probably wondering what made my motors shit themselves and | I almost forgot to tell you. Remember the scene with the foreboding music? | When they taxied that last Hornet - the one that was ass over the cat | track they forgot to remove a section or two of the cat seal. The board's not | finished yet but it's a done deal. As the shuttle came back it removed | the cat seal which went down both motors during the stroke. Again, good | video for someday over beers. Left engine N1 basically quit even though the | motor is in pretty good shape. It was producing no thrust and during the | waveoff one of the LSO's saw "about thirty feet" of black rubber hanging off the | left side of the airplane. The whole left side, including inside the intake | is basically black where the rubber was beating on it in the breeze. The | right motor, the one that kept running, has 340 major hits to all stages. The | compressor section is trashed and best of all, it had two pieces of the | cat seal, one about 2 feet and the other about 4 feet long, sticking out of | the first stage and into the intake. God Bless General Electric! By the way, | ECAMS data showed that I was fat -- had 380 pounds of gas when I shut | down. Again, remember this number as in ten years it will surely be FUMES | MAN, FUMES I TELL YOU! Look forward to getting to stage five with you all | someday soon. | | Oyster, out. | | | | ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aVxiLm.aVzvvT Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
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