Close Calls

[zipmartin]

OK Cowboy, here's a story, since I didn't give one on your "Best Flight" thread. Maybe not my closest call, but kind of goes with my landings=takeoffs theme. Flying A-4's in the VC mission, we often were tasked to work with various ships, providing target blips for radar training. We took two A-4's down to Cecil to work for a couple of days with with some small-boy of the coast of JAX. On day two we were vectored about 200 miles out in W-whatever and making runs at the ship from east to west at 50-100' simulating your basic cruise missile. On run number 2, my trusty stead started rumbling something terrible from somewhere in the powerplant area. I set the power at 86-88% (per NATOPS) and started a slow climb to the west. I radioed Kraut in the other A-4 who was about 30 miles away making runs on a different radial and through radial/DME calls and ADF stears he managed to join on me after a couple of minutes. He checked me over and couldn't see any oil or hydraulic leaks. By now the a/c was shaking bad enough I was having trouble reading instruments. I was tightening all my straps and thinking how cold the water was going to be - it was January. I was never so happy to see land finally appear. Shot a precautionary approach into Mayport and our maintenance guys came down from Oceana and pulled the engine. One of the main bearings was shot and they couldn't believe the engine kept running and never froze. Like I said in the other thread, I was blessed.

 

[bunk22]

It's May 1999, one of our last FCLP periods prior to cruise. I get to start out so I'm left seat with a junior aircraft commander. We launched out of North Island, inbound for the pattern at Miramar. As I recall, the standard break was at 2100' but you could requrest the 1600' break, which I did. About 5 miles out, we get a call that a Cessna is approaching overhead the field, on the 1500' VFR corridor. We start looking, don't see him. I bring it up a little bit, kind of nervous. Thoughts of PSA 182 fill me head. As we approach, paddles calls us and says he is looking as well. Just prior it mid field, I happen to look across the cockpit and see the 172 about co-altitude, slightly higher, he's at around 1700' more or less while I'm slightly lower. My aircrew stated all he heard me say was 'oh shit' as I went idle and dumped the nose, some nice negative g. Paddles and others on the ground thought we were going to hit. I remember looking up through the ditching hatch, and seeing his gear....I even ducked my head. He probably passed within 50' or so. No ejection seats in the might thunder pig. As close as I've ever come to hitting another aircraft. So much for his mandatory 1500' VFR corridor.

 

[ACowboyinTexas]

God, I thought: why did I quit smoking cigarettes ... ???

Great story, and the money quote for me. Red says I have to quit the day I retire. I'm not at all confident...

 

[llnick2001]

Got a fuel pressure light landing on spot 4 in the gulf just as I was starting my slide. Engine flamed out about 3 seconds after we landed. I didn't think much of it till after I was back in the ready room, but that could have been real ugly about 7 seconds earlier.

 

[Fog]

A4s/FB: Your stories remind me of the time I was part of a flight of 4 Phantoms coming back to NAS Dallas after using the Brownwood MOA. There were many scattered cumulus around 1,000AGL as we approach the Cedar Hill towers (coming down from Benni). As we turn toward NAS what do we see but 3 (yes, three) hot-air balloons crossing our flight path at co-altitude. Like you, neither Approach Control nor the tower ever gave us any inkling - nor did they likely know - they were in the air. It was assholes & elbows w/ Phantoms going everywhere, but no one died and we all landed safely afterward.

 

[Lovebug201]

Some of you old guys remember flying during the monsoon season. 500' solid overcast with rain - Launch the BARCAP
...
Takeoff normal in all respects, hit the goo and the sky lights up red. Normally it is very hard to see a fire light from the back seat of the Phantom, but not this night. NATOPS says clean off the aircraft, pilot says no (Major type). We are heavy with 2 drop tanks and a 4x4 pack of shooters. Get above the clouds and retard the right engine to idle - the light goes off. OK that is a good sign. Send #2 off to complete the mission, call back and have them launch the spare and then we deal with our problems. Pilot starts to dump fuel even though we don't really know where the fire is and start to work our way back to Danang.

As we begin our penetration of the clouds, we cannot maintain our proper rate of desent on one engine so add a little throttle to the right side. Fire light comes on again. Once again I call for cleaning off the bird - answer no. How about just blowing the fuel tanks and keeping the missiles - answer NO. I guess the Major (Maintenance Officer) did not want to write the paperwork for tossing stuff off the aircraft.

One of the very few times I actually contemplated using the nylon elevator, and if we hadn't been over bad-guy country I might have.

Well turns out an uneventful landing (uneventful - right). Shut down the right engine, taxi in and call it a night.

Next morning when I got to the squadron the bird was in the hanger with the engine removed, so naturally I walk over to look. Standing in the engine bay are a couple of power plant and fuel guys. Shaking their heads, once they see me its - Sir, did you know you had probably less than a minute before this fire burned thru to that fuel tank right behind your head.

Now my knees are really weak. The old saying coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Needless to say the Major and I never flew together again - still got an excellent fitness report.

 

[Old R.O.]

Not so much an "I almost died" story... but more of "someone's out to kill me" type of thing... or maybe just throw stuff at me to see if I was awake.

We were between cruises and in the middle of turnaround. We were at Miramar. The boat was at Alameda. I was the "ready room officer" which meant that I had to scrounge stuff to comply with the whims of the hinges, the XO and the CO to make our little piece of heaven (Ready 6 on board Ranger) a better place on the next cruise. CAG (an A-4 guy) had a meeting to attend, and we were elected to supply an F-4 for him to fly to Alameda. Since I had some undone tasks with the ready room re-do, I was elected to fly with him and ride heard on him for the flight. Take off in the morning, return that night.
The Wx at Alameda was forecast to be dog-squeeze... thunderbumpers in the area plus standing water on the runway. We called the base ops there on the landline and told them we planned to make an arrested landing.
When we got there, there was a solid cloud cover over the Bay Area... except for... swear to God... a hole exactly over Alameda.... and the runway was dry. One bullet dodged.
Meetings attended... ready room stuff taken care of... back to the trusty steed to make it home. I don't know why, but I took a look at the fuel chit... and it read that they had shorted us on fuel. The number of gallons they pumped was much less than it should have been. Power on the a/c... read fuel gauge... sure enough, we're short of fuel. Get the fuel truck out there and top that sucker off. We're good to go and take off. It's a spectacularly clear night and we take off directly over the city and make a left turn south toward San Diego. The lights on the ground stood out as I've never seen before due to the rain-cleared air.
As we climb out... the airspeed starts dropping. WTF???? Is this the 2F88 or something? (The 2F88 was the simulator on hydraulic stilts at Miramar... where they put you in the contraption and took away everything but your heartbeat.) I calmly told CAG that he needed to turn on the pitot heat. Magically, the airspeed climbed up to where it should have been.
Ops normal until we start the approach at NKX. Remember the weather system at San Francisco earlier in the day?... guess where it is now. Low ceiling and standing water on the runway... plus the usual South crosswind at NKX. Probably should have trapped, but we didn't. Touched down and begin the hydroplaning thingy. Watched the runway come at us from the left side... then watched the runway come at us from the right side. Kept a running commentary on airspeed and feet to go to the overrun. Finally got the a/c stopped before the end of the runway and taxied back.
Just another day at the office.

 

[A4sForever]

A4s/FB: Your stories remind me of the time I was part of a flight of 4 Phantoms coming back to NAS Dallas after using the Brownwood MOA. There were many scattered cumulus around 1,000AGL as we approach the Cedar Hill towers (coming down from Benni)....

Were you there when 'Carl' ... callsign 'WALDO' and his RIO (Beaver, I think .. ) punched in the vicinity of the towers ... ??? Could have been a very bad day, but they both made it.

 

[A4sForever]

Not so much an "I almost died" story... but more of "someone's out to kill me" type of thing....... CAG....Just another day at the office.

One of our standing rules while a JO and flying on the CAG/CO/XO's wing ... keep one eye on him and one eye on your AS/altimeter ...

The 'official' JO-title of this rule??

"The HEAVIES WILL KILL YOU".

 

[Old R.O.]

One of our standing rules while a JO and flying on the CAG/CO/XO's wing ... keep one eye on him and one eye on your AS/altimeter ...

The 'official' JO-title of this rule??

"The HEAVIES WILL KILL YOU".

Very true.

The CAG Ops Officer could only fly with one specific RO... the designated (by the skipper) "CAG OPs O Control Officer" As a senior JG, he was probably the best RO in the squadron. After he left active duty he became an airline pilot (he was a graduate of Purdue University's aviation program) and stayed in the Reserves... making Flag Rank before he retired. To kind of punctuate the decision, one day the Ops O landed on board with the probe extended... and the basket attached to it. His technique wasn't the best, and he snapped off the basket during a refueling attempt. It was a good thing that he caught a wire, as the basket shed some of it pieces into the starboard engine on the trap, resulting in an engine change for the ecstatic ADJs that night.

 

[Fog]

Were you there when 'Carl' ... callsign 'WALDO' and his RIO (Beaver, I think .. ) punched in the vicinity of the towers ... ??? Could have been a very bad day, but they both made it.

Yes. Dennis Beaver was a great TAR/RIO. They had an engine fire on T/O and had to eject just south of I-20. Both were fine & handled the situation in the only reasonable manner available, I believe.

 

[picklesuit]

Well, as a nugget, my stories aren't quite as exciting...

So there I was, over the 'Nid in the mighty T-6. I was on form fly 5 or 6, flying lead. We go into the blind-ex, 2 calls blind, I go up to 9,000, send him to 8k, and start to search. 2 calls padlocked on me and I clear him for a RIGHT turning rejoin and start into my right circle. I am looking ahead and then back over my right shoulder, waiting for him to start coming up on me...no dice. I throw out a couple of "Lead's blind" calls and keep my turn coming. IP can't find him, I can't find him. Then I hear "Uhh, lead, two, are you turning right, or left?" I look ahead and see him out of the corner of my left eye constant bearing, decreasing range at about 300 yds. I apparently called KIO, honestly I don't remember. What I do remember is rolling 180 degrees and pulling through the stick shaker and watching the tunnel close in for about 4 seconds. I also heard the IP hit his head on side of the canopy and a nice "What the fu...Oh shit!" as he saw 2 go about 50 feet over my left wing.

We pegged her at 7.4 G, I had a good case of the shakes, and pretty much finished making up my mind I didn't want Jets...(I sucked at forms anyway...no feel for the power) had a few beers and a good hug with the wife when I got home.

Pickle

 

[ACowboyinTexas]

One of our standing rules while a JO and flying on the CAG/CO/XO's wing ... keep one eye on him and one eye on your AS/altimeter ...

The 'official' JO-title of this rule??

"The HEAVIES WILL KILL YOU".

You couldn't be more correct. As one of the semi-heavies, I can attest that too much gray matter devoted to staff crap doesn't make for the most proficient pilots. I get to fly quite a bit, so proficiency isn't that much of a factor, but sometimes compartmentalizing is a challenge. I did quit the coffin nails for a bit and found out that I really needed that 5 minute smoke break between the desk and the brief to re-cage. At least that's the excuse I use...

 

[MasterBates]

I just have a problem with the heavies wanting to kill me on the ground...

Is that just me

 

[BigIron]

Another rotary story....

I was flying one of my FRS students at our outlying field and I felt something abnormal via the seat of the pants monitor. It seemed to go away until we got to lower airspeeds. I took the controls and made a precautionary landing. Didn't feel too weird on deck, so I taxi'd in for a shut down and look-see. That's when we went for Mr. Toad's wild ride. Apparently we had snapped a rotor damper (something that makes that blade play well with the other six up there) on the main rotor head. As the RPM started to decay, the rogue blade (now unleashed to commence independent ops) started leading/lagging on it's own program. I had our aircrew on the long-cord disconnect and leave the area. As the head got even slower the blades started contacting each other creating quite the out of balance experience. The aircraft was bouncing like a hoopty on hydraulics.

Finally after more minutes of horrible bangs and other indescribable noises, the head finally stopped. Couldn't use the rotor brake or we might have tipped over. The rogue blade was now nestled safely under one of the other blades. All of the Army WOs stationed at the field came out to see. They had big WTF looks on their faces. I snapped the old cell phone pic.

They fixed the damper. Fortunately there was no rotor head or blade damage. No pee'ing in a cup for us that day and we all walked away.