F-14 last cruise video

[Intruder Driver]

We just pulled it back to idle and kept it running unless we got any other "secondaries" .... I guess the "newer" and "improved" procedures with no subsequent lightoff on the ball could be called ... progress ???

NAVAIR, in the mishap board, said the logic of the procedure was to preserve the engine for landing, and not have it lose all its oil prior to the approach and landing. It was quickly changed. By the mid-80's, most pilots I knew never even checked the 80% level.

 

[A4sForever]

...I imagine the ship's captain could have heard the 'WHAT?" that came from the LSO platform.

"WHAT the FVCK"!!! would have been the entire comment from my platform ... no 5MC required.

 

[Intruder Driver]

Go to CV41.org; then to "PUBS Library," then "Newsletters and Magazines," then "Album: Approach," then "Album: September 1981."

By the way, if you go to Approach and select Album: March 1985, you'll see a BZ for a flight I had while flying midshipmen in Pensacola.

 

[Brett327]

Interesting to see the genesis of some of the stuff I take for granted these days. Concur w/ A-4s WRT pulling it back to idle vice shutdown for < 80% oil quantity, even though the community has been understandibly gun shy about engines and oil these days. That's also something that is religiously checked in the line these days.

Brett

 

[Intruder Driver]

Interestingly, that was the crew's first reaction. However, a very seasoned O4 pilot with lots of combat time recommended they shut it down with the same logic as NAVAIR: save the engine so you don't have to worry about losing it for oil starvation prior to the approach!! Because of who the rep was in Air Ops, they really didn't question the call.

A4s: I think the call from your platform was indeed the one that came from this one.

 

[Intruder Driver]

Another note to this story: the Air Ops rep was considered a shoo-in for command selection. After this, where he took major hits, he never screened, though he was selected for O5.

 

[A4sForever]

....the Air Ops rep .... After this ... never screened, though he was selected for O5.

I just wish I could have gotten hold of him after the recovery ... you live for moments like that, you know ....

Moral of the story: use your head and do the right thing ... and if you want A-6/EA-6 squadron command.... don't shut one down with an 80% oil light, no other secondaries, and do a S/E to a night shipboard trap as a result ...

Case in point: We didn't shut 'em down for 80% oil in the A-4, either.

 

[HAL Pilot]

Case in point: We didn't shut 'em down for 80% oil in the A-4, either.

Didn't want any glider time huh?

 

[phrogpilot73]

Don't know how big of a deal it will be outside the helicopter community, but if the 40th Anniversary was any indication - there will be a HUGE sendoff for the Phrog... And I will shed a tear the first time I see one on a stick in person...

 

[Herc_Dude]

Don't know how big of a deal it will be outside the helicopter community, but if the 40th Anniversary was any indication - there will be a HUGE sendoff for the Phrog... And I will shed a tear the first time I see one on a stick in person...

Has the last Phrog driver been born? ... some say no .... thoughts?

 

[phrogpilot73]

Has the last Phrog driver been born? ... some say no .... thoughts?

Well, if the Marine Corps keeps on its timeline (and all indicators are that it will), since we're only about 8 years away, I hate to say it but I think so...

Of course, I still believe in my heart that the crew that flies the last Osprey to the boneyard will be picked up in a Phrog...

 

[Intruder Driver]

Regardless, one day it will all happen to us:

You're speaking to a young person and they ask what you flew, and you tell them, maybe even all the aircraft you flew, and they think for a minute, and then say "I saw one of those in a museum recently" or "we have one of those on a pedestal in our park."

In the case of the Intruder, I've had someone say "I dove on one of those recently," referring to Intruder Reef off of St. Augustine, FL, where the Navy dumped a bunch.

 

[phrogpilot73]

You're speaking to a young person and they ask what you flew, and you tell them, maybe even all the aircraft you flew, and they think for a minute, and then say "I saw one of those in a museum recently" or "we have one of those on a pedestal in our park."

I know that's true, and I'm not looking forward to it...

 

[A4sForever]

....In the case of the Intruder, I've had someone say .....

I had one old guy at an airshow spit tobacco in the vicinity of my boots (he was spitting everywhere ) , look at my Intruder and ask : "Did you build that thing, Sonny..."??

 

[Phantomphlyer]

BTW Excellent footage on Gunfighters during Cuban Crisis in the movie "Thirteen Days" out on DVD. Good grownup movie very 60s.