Video of the day
- Thread starter HuskyDude
- Start date
Pilot C. D. "Pete" Pilcher (Production Test Pilot, McDonnell Douglas Corporation) and Radar Observer Harvey A. Begay both ejected and survived the incident.
Pete’s F-4 that day was brand new, just off the assembly line. The procedure on takeoff for the Phantom was to pull the stick all the way back, then ease it forward about an inch and hold that stick position until the nose lifted off to the desired climb angle. As Pete’s fighter lifted off, his stick jammed in the aft position, making him unable to lower the nose. He and his backseater initiated ejection at about 200 feet—both survived.
The F-4’s control stick well, where the base of the stick was attached to the various control cables, was square—about one inch deep—and just larger than the stick base to allow full range of motion. Attached to the bottom of the stick and covering the well was a canvas boot to prevent objects from entering it and jamming the stick.
The culprit socket had been left in the well and the boot, then placed over the base of the stick. Because his controls had been free during preflight checks, apparently the acceleration of takeoff allowed the socket to move aft and drop between the stick and the well, preventing any forward motion of the stick.
Pilot C. D. "Pete" Pilcher (Production Test Pilot, McDonnell Douglas Corporation) and Radar Observer Harvey A. Begay both ejected and survived the incident.
Pete’s F-4 that day was brand new, just off the assembly line. The procedure on takeoff for the Phantom was to pull the stick all the way back, then ease it forward about an inch and hold that stick position until the nose lifted off to the desired climb angle. As Pete’s fighter lifted off, his stick jammed in the aft position, making him unable to lower the nose. He and his backseater initiated ejection at about 200 feet—both survived.
The F-4’s control stick well, where the base of the stick was attached to the various control cables, was square—about one inch deep—and just larger than the stick base to allow full range of motion. Attached to the bottom of the stick and covering the well was a canvas boot to prevent objects from entering it and jamming the stick.
The culprit socket had been left in the well and the boot, then placed over the base of the stick. Because his controls had been free during preflight checks, apparently the acceleration of takeoff allowed the socket to move aft and drop between the stick and the well, preventing any forward motion of the stick.
Odds it was the mythical, always missing, 10mm socket?
In the early 70’s at 4 wing Baden an American F-4 Phantom that was in the area had a double engine flameout. He declared an emergency and intended to land at Baden. He told his GIB (guy in backseat) that he had the choice to bailout or chance it with him. He extended his approach just a little too far out and as his main gear caught the airfield perimeter fence, the back seater ejected. The pilot stayed in, took out most of the lead in lights and came to a stop with the radome just at the start of the runway. He climbed out without a scratch and the F-4 was towed to the ramp with very little visible damage. The backseater got a parachute ride and was unscratched as well.
My all time favourite jet powered warbird. I spent many,many hours at CFB North Bay watching them coming and going. The launches in the evenings were spectacular with the afterburners kicking in, brings back a lot of memories.
That’s a pretty good video on the 101. The video said there were 2 aircraft ready to go in 5 minutes at the QRA hangers. That was true for the 2 inboard hangers as these 2 aircraft were uploaded with conventional weapons. The 2 outboard hangers were uploaded with nuclear weapons and were on 30 minute standby if I remember correctly. The nuclear uploaded aircraft were guarded by Canadian and US Military Police and an American custodian officer was present to allow the nuclear aircraft to get airborne.
Yes. At night you would see a fiery exhaust going almost straight up. The afterburns ignited with a real load Boom-Boom.
Yes the 101 had a hard light afterburner as opposed to the 104 that had a variable softer start AB. The boys doing runups could only do AB runups with the aircraft tied down with cables. One cable from each main gear to a common tie down ring. One day at Chatham, one cable broke and the aircraft did a complete 360 before the runup guy could chop the throttle and shut it down. It took the roof off the Econoline van that the other guys were in. No one injured, thankfully.
Another Chatham story was at the engine test cell. Due to a pin failure the J57 departed the test cell just as the afterburner was lit. It tumbled and mangled itself into a ball. The Sgt that was running it had a bit of a stutter problem and the story goes that it took him a couple of hours to get the story out. lol
Sounds somewhat comical now after the fact but must have been scary as hell when those episodes took place.
