Let'sgoflying!
Touchdown! Greaser!
anyone know the disposition of this a/c? repaired? totaled?
No, I don't, but I know some folk "down under" who will. I'll let you know.
BTW, the guy with the moustache is S/L Stephen Clarke, aka "Clarkie." You may notice the 3000-hour patch on his right shoulder. He's #1 on the RAAF's F-111 flight hours list with over 3400 (I don't think anyone else broke 3000), and it makes sense they'd have him deciding just how to handle the emergency. I was there to see him meet the USAF's top F-111 hours guy, Capt. Brad Insley (almost 5100 hours) at the RAAF F-111 retirement ceremony last year. With the F-111's retirement, neither record will be ever broken.
Dick Brown is second on the list with about 4500 hours. Don't think anyone but Brad and Dick cracked 4000.I think Pete Granger had over 3000 hours in -111s, not close to Brad's 5100 but still impressive. 79th Tigers forever!
Spectacle for onlookers and finding lead on a starry night (aircraft lights blend with background) or a long way off at night.On a side thought, what's the point of dumping and lighting fuel?
The AB plume doesn't hold a candle to "torching," and I really don't think anyone did any torching at night in enemy territory. First, as you noted, it would be a flak magnet, and second, it's wasteful of very valuable fuel.I could be mistaken now however I vaguely recall something like that in the video's of the early attacks on Baghdad or at least bright lights going across the city in the initial attack. Is that kind of thing intentional or just the engines running in AB?
I expect that bad things could happen as long as the plane is sliding. It could turn sideways, go off the edge of the runway, dig in, flip, etc.JOOC, why try to hook a wire on a gear up landing with a F-111? Seems like that's gonna result in higher impact forces compared to just sliding the plane onto the runway and I can't imagine that a jet wouldn't decel quickly enough with the gear up and no hook.
Exactly. Without wheels and brakes, if it touches down at a typical 130 knots or so ground speed, it's going a long way before it grinds to a halt, and there's no directional control at all.I expect that bad things could happen as long as the plane is sliding. It could turn sideways, go off the edge of the runway, dig in, flip, etc.
Spectacle for onlookers and finding lead on a starry night (aircraft lights blend with background) or a long way off at night.
The AB plume doesn't hold a candle to "torching," and I really don't think anyone did any torching at night in enemy territory. First, as you noted, it would be a flak magnet, and second, it's wasteful of very valuable fuel.
Did anyone post an answer?
Ouch, my spine cringed at the slam onto the runway when the hook caught.
To the military types, any reason why they decided to hook it? Looks like they caught the hook at the approach end and had plenty of runway ahead of them. They had pretty good control, why the hook as opposed to flying it on to the runway? Good G crush rating on those seats?
--Carlos V.
See post #11.To the military types, any reason why they decided to hook it? Looks like they caught the hook at the approach end and had plenty of runway ahead of them. They had pretty good control, why the hook as opposed to flying it on to the runway?
No. The seats themselves had nothing like the shock absorbing system of the seats in a UH-60 helicopter. They have (or rather, had) a big inflatable impact attenuation bag on the bottom of the capsule to absorb the shock of a parachute descent after ejection, but that wouldn't come into play in this situation.Good G crush rating on those seats?
Ouch, my spine cringed at the slam onto the runway when the hook caught.
To the military types, any reason why they decided to hook it? Looks like they caught the hook at the approach end and had plenty of runway ahead of them. They had pretty good control, why the hook as opposed to flying it on to the runway? Good G crush rating on those seats?
--Carlos V.
Give the man a break, Roscoe -- not everyone has as much 'Vark experience as you, me, Witmo, and Clarkie.Yeah, they definitely could have done it better. I hear you can pick up a runout F-111 cheap enough to trash it. Please report back on how the unarrested belly landing goes. :wink2:
It's a very heavy airplane, lot's of inertia, and you want it to stop as soon as possible or there's a good chance the friction and sparks generated by an extended slide will create a fireball by the time you come to a stop. The approach end cable is there most often for hydraulic (or gear) problems that compromise steering or braking.
There are a lot of emergencies in which an approach end engagement is recommended, starting with single hydraulic failure* in an F-111 (BTDT), usually due to issues with directional control after touchdown. Others in my memory include things like gear extension failures in the A-6 and F-4. OTOH, departure end engagement would be more likely in the F-111 if the problem was too much speed, like a no flap/no slat situation when heavy, where touchdown speed is nearly 200 knots (about 50 knots more than the max barrier engagement speed), but directional control is not an issue (as long as you don't touch down so fast you blow a tire, which was like 220 knots max) and you have a mile or so to lose enough of that speed that you don't rip the cable out by the roots (like what happened at Tahkli). Departure end engagement was also an option on a heavy/fast rejected takeoff.I always just figured the "approach" cable was there simply because it was the "departure" cable for the opposite direction.
One thing that Navy-designed jets had which USAF-designed jets didn't was a "hook retract" mechanism. Only way to put the hook back up on the 'Vark was for a couple of folks to lift it up, and no matter what you've seen of that video with the 310 flying along over the pickup truck with the guy pulling on the landing gear, that wasn't happening with an F-111.We had an uncommanded hook down one flight. Flew our low level a few feet higher so we wouldn't snag a power line :wink2:. Had to remember to touch down past the approach end cable and stop before the departure end cable. Ah, the memories...