Can a single engine piston pilot fly and land a supersonic jet fighter with no training?

Of course it can be done, it’s the amount of practice that may be required is the question.
I’d dare to say it’s easier than an airliner that sits 15 feet off the ground.
 
There was another that "borrowed" a C-130 from a base in England and attempted to fly back to the states. Rumor was he crashed in the ocean, even shot down, but even though we were aware of it happening we didn't know the real result. Girlfriend or wife trouble back in the states was rumored to be the reason he did it. Probably late 60s-early 70s it occurred.
 
benyflyguy said:
And alive after said landing...
Click to expand...

The lightening involved was essentially undamaged and continued in service. There was no intent of flight and indeed the aircraft took off without a canopy and with the seat safety pins installed so the unfortunate pilot did not have the option to abandon the aircraft. He had no helmet and so had no radio.

Amazingly the aircraft XM135 is now preserved at the Imperial War Museum. There is though no mention of this incident on their web page. I guess the RAF would rather keep that part of the story at a low profile.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/70000160

The full text of Wing Commander Holden's own article on the Remarkable Fright is presented here - It's quite a tale.
http://counties.britishlegion.org.u...nties/articles-of-interest/a-memorable-fright

Unfortunately it appears that Mr Holden died in late 2016.
 
Last edited:
"Taffy" Holden Interview - sound not ideal but not hopeless for 5mins.

 
Depends on the airplane and how much they knew about it, they’re not all the same. The concept is the similar but the speeds are faster and there’s less margin for error. After flying fighters and heavy aircraft, going back and trying to land a 140 had my heart pounding.
 
Once you get your mind around the speed, it's a piece of cake. Toss up between easiest plane I've ever landed - F-15 or my Bonanza. True story.

Flying them is easy, employing them and using it as a weapon is a whole different ballgame.
 
EvilEagle said:
Once you get your mind around the speed, it's a piece of cake. Toss up between easiest plane I've ever landed - F-15 or my Bonanza. True story.

Flying them is easy, employing them and using it as a weapon is a whole different ballgame.
Click to expand...

How hard can it be when they even fly with one wing knocked off? :D





Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Cooter said:
After flying fighters and heavy aircraft, going back and trying to land a 140 had my heart pounding.
Click to expand...

There's something to that. Troy Whistman took me up in his TR182 when we were down visiting them last month. The MU-2 is about 100 KIAS over the numbers, I think for the TR182 was something on the order of 65 or so? Yeah, that felt slow.
 
I’d say if that Ritch dude could do a aerobatic routine in a dash 8 with no formal pilot training, I’d wager a real pilot could handle a jet, might not be a pretty landing but I’d wager he’d getter done
 
James331 said:
I’d say if that Ritch dude could do a aerobatic routine in a dash 8 with no formal pilot training, I’d wager a real pilot could handle a jet, might not be a pretty landing but I’d wager he’d getter done
Click to expand...
I’d like to give it a shot... on a simulator!
 
I took off and landed the F-18 in the sim. Instructor could tell that I had a PPL and let me go twice once everyone in the tour had their chance. Doesn’t mean I really know how to “fly” it. Like Evil said, the act of flying is easy, employing it as a weapon system is what’s hard.

I had non flying friends hovering safely in the UH-60 sim within 10 minutes of basic instruction. They were wondering what’s the big deal with this helicopter being so hard to fly nonsense. Well, the big deal is, if they were to try any real world mission task, they’d all be dead.
 
I saw the thread title and thought "there was that guy who flew the Lightning" and it was the first post. Guess you stole my Thunder and my Lightning!

Bill Jennings said:
Holy cow, 20,000ft/min climb rate? Wow! Brake release to 36,000ft in under three minutes....
Click to expand...

My dad flew them for the RAF and he said it wasn't something you sat in but strapped on. He said initial climb rate was 50k/min but tapered off to 20.

It was a very thirsty aircraft and had fuel stored in just about everywhere they could put it, including in the flaps. Later they added overwing drop tanks because the long landing gear in the wings left nowhere else to put it (except a ventral tank also added later). They were used more to ferry the aircraft around rather than use them for interception sorties.

Dad said that they had to intercept Tu95s pretty often bumping up against England's airspace. The crew would have their faces stuck to the windows waving or showing off Pepsi bottles.

Also heard from more than the wiki page that the Lightning was the only fighter to successfully intercept Concorde (out of F-14, F-15, F-16, F-104, and the Mirage).

vJdeh7z.jpg

The pilot of that Lightning is still around and posts frequently on the Lightning Appreciation Group on FB. Great stories.
 
ja_user said:
I'm confident that I could get it off the ground. How far, and for how long is debatable.
Click to expand...
I think that would be the hard part. Getting the engine started would be a trick.

If somebody gave me the keys to a fighter and said “the only way you can fly it is if you get in now and go”....that would be a very difficult decision. I’d be sorely tempted.
 
I'm sure it's done.................................





















in MS Flight Simulator all the time :D
 
Flew the F-14 Sim doing carrier landings. One into the island, one into the fantail and a couple of OK-3. They asked if I wanted to try a pitching deck night weather approach and I said “Vectors to shore, PLEASE.”

Cheers
 
X3 Skier said:
Flew the F-14 Sim doing carrier landings. One into the island, one into the fantail and a couple of OK-3. They asked if I wanted to try a pitching deck night weather approach and I said “Vectors to shore, PLEASE.”

Cheers
Click to expand...

Did better than me. I never caught a single wire in the F-18. Did hit the island and fantail though. Got to bomb North Island as well.

Took a few tries but I was able to land the H-53 on the boat. Actually enjoyed that sim more than the F-18.
 
X3 Skier said:
Flew the F-14 Sim doing carrier landings. One into the island, one into the fantail and a couple of OK-3. They asked if I wanted to try a pitching deck night weather approach and I said “Vectors to shore, PLEASE.”

Cheers
Click to expand...

I don’t dispute the 3-wire but I doubt the OK part. The three wire is just the target wire, usually. The target is actually selected before each recovery and can be adjusted to account for conditions. It’s possible to get an OK-2, OK-4, or even an OK-1 wire.
To fly an OK pass, you have to show up on glide path, on-speed, and with the proper ROD. That has to be maintained with only minor deviations and adjustments all the way to touchdown. It only takes one momentary deviation from any of those three to get downgraded to a fair pass. Unless you can fool paddles, >2kt, >100vsi or greater than 1 ball deviation at any point throughout the pass will probably result in a Fair.
 
Cooter said:
I don’t dispute the 3-wire but I doubt the OK part. The three wire is just the target wire, usually. The target is actually selected before each recovery and can be adjusted to account for conditions. It’s possible to get an OK-2, OK-4, or even an OK-1 wire.
To fly an OK pass, you have to show up on glide path, on-speed, and with the proper ROD. That has to be maintained with only minor deviations and adjustments all the way to touchdown. It only takes one momentary deviation from any of those three to get downgraded to a fair pass. Unless you can fool paddles, >2kt, >100vsi or greater than 1 ball deviation at any point throughout the pass will probably result in a Fair.
Click to expand...

All true. Made it simple for the non Naval Aviators:cool: Didn’t even count the Bolters:D

Cheers
 
Yeah, just for grins let’s add a 2200L recovery on the aircraft carrier.
 
Why would a fighter plane have Keys?
 
ja_user said:
Why would a fighter plane have Keys?
Click to expand...

If you mean the "keys" holding the throttle in reheat, it is just a jargon problem. They are not keys as a normal person would understand it. Just buttons or levers to move to disengage the lock.

At a total guess it might have been found that the acceleration in reheat was sufficient that sometimes the pilot inadvertently moved the throttle out of reheat. This might be less than ideal if you were depending on reheat for takeoff. So they fitted a reheat ratchet to prevent the throttles being moved out of reheat unless some separate little levers were moved first.

Maybe they resemble piano keys?
 
Last edited:
EvilEagle said:
There goes the Navy - always talking about landing.... tactics? eh! Landings man! Landings!

:D
Click to expand...

C’mon now. Given the ‘airports’ they had to land on ya gotta give em a break for gettin kinda prideful in landings. They could take out a bogie every now and then and in their bastard stepchild the corps, could do some pretty good close air support aviatin’
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top