Bucko's True Tales From the Flight Line

[Eagle3]

With Bucko's permission I'm reposting these from the archives.... and you didn't think the military could be this much fun.
:hehe:

While stationed at Clark AB P.I. we took a plane out to the trim pad to do an engine run. After the run I had to change the battery in the aft cockpit of the F-4. It was scheduled to have some hydraulics checks when I was done so I proceded to change the battery. No small task in an F-4 I was in the back seat and a buddy was on the ground. I finished the battery just as the hydraulic guys pulled up the mule so since it was close to "Midnight Chow" I figured I stay in the back and play with all the fun stuff while power was on. They finished the checks and as we waited for the expediter to come pick us up one of the guards walked up to my buddy and started talking with him. The guard unaware I was in the back seat started to exclaim..."Boy you guys really treat these planes like they were your own. I alway see you guys working to death on them." "That's right my friend said. You want to see something cool?" I could hear them talking and my buddy says (loud enough for me to hear) "Watch this..if I rub its nose it'll wag its tail" So as he did that I proceded to pump away on the rudder pedals. There was still enough pressure to wag the rudder back and forth a few times and as I did this I looked out the side window at the guard with his jaw hitting the ground. All he said was "Wow" and walked away shaking his head.
I don't remember how many guards we eneded up fooling this way but it sure was alot of fun until they caught on.

[Eagle3]

I had to do an engine run on a new engine one night that was just installed. It was the first time with a pickled engine for me and the engine shop guy was new at Clark just out of tech school. They told me that the pickled engines tend to smoke when first run and may not start the first time. Well it didn't. After the second attempt we stopped for awhile to let the fuel evaporate out. On the third attempt the engine lit with this incredible cloud of smoke pouring out. The wind was at our backs so the cloud just poured over the cockpit. I couldn't see any of the gauges so I just leaned forward to watch the fire warning light. I asked the engine shop guy if it looked ok down there. No response from the headset. About that time the smoke cleared and I looked around to find him. There laying on the ground was the headset but no engine shop guy. The guy maning the firebottle was gone too. Well the first thing I thought was he got sucked into the intake. So I shut down. After it spooled down I egressed (that's pilot talk ;-) ) the plane and couldn't see anyone. Then I hear this yell and there's the guy who manned the firebottle standing in a field 100 yards away. As he walked toward me I see this convoy of firetruck heading towards us.

Well to make a long story short, the engine mech thought the aircraft had started on fire and he ran almost 3/4 mile back to the fire dept to report it. When the engine mech ran the fire guy ran too.

The cool part was after that I had this airman assigned as my personal toolbox toter during his tour.
"Hey Airman...go get me some flightline...about 30 feet" :hehe:

[dylumph]

Yeah, don't forget Propwash!
Is what your talking about above some kind of engine malfunction that calls for a "windmill"? As a f4 plane captain we would "figure 8" signal when bunches of smoke came out the turkeyfeathers. Damn, I hadn't used those expressions in decades!

[Eagle3]

We called em wet starts on the A-6. If you didn't catch it in time all that fuel would ignite at once and, "BOOOOOOM!!!" If you had your back to the plane and didn't know what was going on the noise would make you jump out of your skin. :laugh:

[dylumph]

WET STARTS! Oh yeah, Phantoms too.

[bodean]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by eagle3
We called em wet starts on the A-6. If you didn't catch it in time all that fuel would ignite at once and, "BOOOOOOM!!!" If you had your back to the plane and didn't know what was going on the noise would make you jump out of your skin. :laugh: [/Q
UOTE]




i definitely remember wet starts. was starting my bird on el-1 when the good old white smoke starts pouring out.... ppts gives me the windmill sign ... so i windmill... pilot gets bored ,planecaptain (me) gets bored and ppts gives me thumbs up to start. i pass this along to the pilot and the next thing i knew there was a gigantic "WHOOOOOMPH"! a fireball about the size of chicago blows out the port exhaust and the engine starts... i look aroud and all i see is firetrucks and people running like scalded cats.... was one of the greatest "confirmed" wet starts i ever saw.:cool:

[Eagle3]

Wet starts in an A-6 were bad, but how about those hard burner lights from a Phantom on the cat? I used to cringe if I only saw one burner light cause the longer it took for the second one to ignite the louder and it was. If you looking and it caught you by surprise you'd swear something exploded! :hehe:

[mimbari]

I think it was during Team Spirit 85, when more then a few of us were huddeled in the L1 catwalk waiting for our birds to launch. An F4 launched off the Port Cat and as soon as it rotated, every rack and tank on it blew off.
Turned out the ordies were working on the emergency jett and had the weight on wheels switch pinned and of course, left it that way, so as soon as the aircraft left the deck....BOOM. Do you think Mr Murphy had his own stateroom on board, or did he come and go with the COD :hehe:

[Pistol Pete]

When I soloed, about a million years ago out of a small airport near here, you know I was nervous as hell. My instructor hops out after a short flight and tells me, "You're on your own." I felt he was going to do that when he unbuckled his belt before we stopped.
I take off for my three landings, and the plane, a Cessna 152, leaps into the air. It's amazing how shedding 200 pounds adds to the flight-handling. Anyway, I make the first go-round and everything is cool. The second go-round is a bit more intense. I'm coming up for my downwind turn and out of a very low overcast (about 200 feet AGL) an FB-111 cuts in front of me right in my flight path! No radio acknowledgement, no nothing! If I had machineguns I would have blown the shithead to dust!
Ok, I'm even more nervous now and started my third flight. I'm about 1,000 feet back from where I was when the bomber came through when an American Airlines 727 drops completely down under the clouds behind me! If I had been 10 seconds behind where I was, it would have pancaked me!! The sons-of-bitches! Again, no radio broadcast was given and I was on Tulsa's tower frequency.
I tried to get satisfaction out of Tulsa International, where the two planes were headed, but was told I was pretty much up shit creek.
I landed and didn't go back up for a week.
That's when I bought a surplus P-47. Jack with me, will they? :p

[Eagle3]

Welcome mimbari! Glad to have you aboard!

I think it was during Team Spirit 85, when more then a few of us were huddeled in the L1 catwalk waiting for our birds to launch. An F4 launched off the Port Cat and as soon as it rotated, every rack and tank on it blew off.
....
:scary: How much did that Phantom pitch up after it lost all the drops? That had to have scared the shit right out of crew. You know, we used to defeat the WOW switches when we wanted to make sure the laser would fire on the DRS. Definitely a big no no and we only did it at night when there wasn't anyone around. I was always afraid that would bite us in the ass one day.

We had a TRAM bird collapse it's gear on the ramp after a flight. We were at Whidbey Island in '82 on a Det from Atsugi. The ship was in dry dock for a month so we get to transpac to Whidbey and trade in all of our piece of shit IMU's for fresh ones from Whidbey's AIMD. :) Anyways, the skipper had just parked the bird and shut down the engines. They were still windmilling when he reached for his bag and snagged the gear handle. Normally, that's no big deal. The WOW switch prevents the gear from retracting. Except the switch was either miswired and defective. I forget which. *BOOM* down comes the nose right on the DRS turret. *CRRUUUUUUNCH* The mains retract forward, so when they gave it actually dragged the aircraft backwards rolling out the turret and crushing the shit out of it. *BAM!* right on the center line tank. The PC was literally seconds from going under and putting the gear locks on. When the gear collapsed. It was a big old mess. The DRS was toast, but the skipper really wasn't at fault. I have a bunch of photos of it, but I would hate to post them. That particular skipper was one of two of the best officers I ever served under.