TAC attack

March 1984

To skid or not to skid Pg 4

Angle of Attack

It's a pleasure to step into Jim Mackin's shoes ready. It's also to help our wingmen achieve their
as editor of TAC Attack. I think I know a number potential. That's what TAC Attack is all about.
of RF-4 aircrews who are glad I'm writing any- Several articles in this issue present practical
thing but Stan/Eva! examinations! tips that might help you do your job better.
In DOV, my concerns were readiness and pro- Capt Bob Patch offers an informative quiz
fessionalism . They still are, and they should be (with my Stan/Eva! background, I couldn't resist
the concerns of each of us in T AC. Flight checks printing a quiz ) on F-15 antiskid operation. Cap-
and examinations are a measure of readiness. So tains Allen Kohn and Edd Chenoweth present ar-
is our ability to train realistically and to con- ticles about professionalism in communicating
sistently return safely. Each jet that doesn't re- and the value of backup systems. Lt Col Joe Zak
turn attrits our already outnumbered force . also earned a Fleagle T-shirt for his enlightening
Likewise, it takes a full ten years of training a feature on protecting the Eagle against lightning
new pilot to replace a pilot who has ten years fly- strikes.
ing experience. The cost of failing the readiness Read , enjoy, and learn. And remember, your
test is too high. Only by striving to be pro- job is important. The attitude you display today
fessionals can we keep the cost down. will affect both your present performance and fu-
Tactical aircrew members, crew chiefs, supply ture position. Faithfulness in small respon-
clerks, computer specialists - each of us has the sibilities leads to greater responsibilities.
opportunity to be a professional. God created
each of us individually; we can each contribute
unique insight, inspiration, and experience. But
each of us must choose to give our best, no one
can force us. Our air force is interdependent; sev-
Lew Witt, Major, USAF
eral people may depend on your work. Someone
Editor
may stake his life on your work. The cost of fail-
ing the professionalism test is too high too.
Our charter is to be professional and to be

2 MARCH 1984
 TAC ATE4C
'ARCH 1984

On the cover:

To skid or 1 to skid
To skid or not to skid.
MARCH 1984
Ps 4
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE
rairimpupw ,ffEmpleppemiumimMir

HON VERNE ORR To Skid or Not to Skid 4

SECRETARY OF THE How smart is the F-15 antiskid?
AIR Fleagle Salutes 7
Acknowledging TAC people who gave extra effort.
EN W. loifiL. CREEC TAC Tips 8
COMMANDER Interest items, mishaps with morals, for the TAC aircrew member.
TAC Monthly Safety Awards 11
SSgt Harold W. Poe and TSgt Michael A. Lugo.
Chock Talk 12
Incidents and incidentals with a maintenance slant.
TAC Quarterly Safety Awards 15
MSgt James E. Johnson and SMSgt Jeffrey Fehr.

0 F-105G Wild Weasel 16

By A1C Kelvin Taylor.
Lightning Protection for the Eagle 18
COL HAL WATSON Good ideas, but no substitute for avoidance.
CHIEF OF SAFETY Shorts Shots 21
Quick notes of interest.
MAJ LEW WITT Down to Earth 22
EDITOR Items that can affect you and your family here on the ground.
Weapons Words 24
STAN HARDISON Working with TAC's weapons systems.
ART EDITOR Spit It Out 27
Sometimes we don't say enough.
MARTY DILLER It's Only the Standby Altimeter
WRITER -EDITOR
28
Occasionally backup equipment becomes very important.

Al C KELVIN TAYLOR
Letters 30
Our turn to take flak.
STAFF ARTIST
1111
TAC Tally 31
The flight safety scorecard.

TACRP 127-1
TAC Attack is not directive in nature. Recommendations are intended to comply with existing directives. Opinions expressed are
those of the authors and not necessarily the positions of TAC or USAF. Mishap information does not identify the persons, places. or
units involved and may not be construed as incriminating under Article 31 of the UCMJ. Photos and artwork are representative and
not necessarily of the people or equipment involved.
Contributions are encouraged, as are comments and criticism. We reserve the right to edit all manuscripts for readability and
good taste. Write the Editor, TAC Attack, HQ TAC/SEPP, Langley AFB, VA 23665; or call AUTOVON 432-3658.
Distribution (FX) is controlled by TAC/SEPP through the PDO, based on a ratio of 1 copy per 10 persons assigned. DOD units other
than USAF have no fixed ratio: requests will be considered individually.
Subscriptions for readers outside of DOD are available from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.0 20402. All correspondence on subscription service should be directed to the superintendent, not to TAC/SEPP.
TAC Attack (ISSN 0494-3880) is published monthly by HQ TACISEPP, Langley AFB, VA.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to TAC Attack, TAC/SEPP. Langley. AFB, VA 23665.

TAC ATTACK VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3 3

 TO

or how smart is the F-15 antiskid?

By Capt Bob Patch provides touchdown protection and you'll have to wait another
318 FIS by not letting you apply brakes five seconds. Each main wheel
McChord AFB, Washington until it's sure you're on the has a speed sensor. Once the
ground to stay. How does it wheels spin up and the sensors
How well do you under- know? indicate 50 knots, brakes are
stand the F-15 antiskid sys- a . It waits until the nose- immediately available. It's sort
tem? The system knows when wheel is on the ground. of a 5/50 guarantee. Once
the wheels have locked up, and b. It waits until the main weight is on the wheels, you
then relieves pressure. Right? wheels spin up to 50 knots. get brakes after five seconds or
Wrong! You don't have to read c. It waits until all three 50 knots, whichever comes
this entire article to find out gear indicate weight on first.
about the system; if you can wheels. Question 2. Once you're roll-
answer the questions, you d. It waits until five seconds ing down the runway, how does
know plenty. Here are the after the weight on wheels the antiskid know you're about
ground rules: (WOW) switch makes to enter a skid?
1. The antiskid is turned on contact. a. It waits until either
and is working properly. If you didn't know that cor- wheel stops rotating.
2. There may be more than rect ans~ers were b. and d. , b. It waits until both wheels
one correct answer for each read on. If you did know, skip stop rotating.
question. on down if you like. When the c. It senses wheel decelera-
3. If you chose all the right WOW switch on both main tion that is too rapid for your
answers and weren't guess- gears indicates weight on current speed.
ing, skip on down to the next wheels, a five-second timer d. It senses a difference in
question. starts; once the timer expires, tire speeds.
4. Answers to each question brakes are available regardless If you said c. and d., con-
can be found in the first sen- of wheel speed. If weight is re- gratulations. The antiskid box
tence after the question. moved from the WOW switch knows what the current speed
OK, here we go: (as in a bounce), the timer is is, and what the maximum pos-
Question 1. The F-15 antiskid reset at the next touchdown, sible rate of deceleration is for

4 MARCH 1984
SKID OR NOT TO SKID
that speed. I(the box senses never feel the antiskid cycle. d. That's the minimum
anything faster than that, it The reason is that you've given wheel speed difference the
thinks you're about to skid. If the system time to figure out antiskid system can detect.
the two wheel speeds differ, it the maximum pressure that If you said b. and c. you're
thinks one wheel is about to can be applied without skid- doing well. If the system
skid. ding a wheel; it then limits you wouldn't let you lock up a
Question 3. If the antiskid to that amount. wheel, it would be like trying
senses a skid, what does it do? Question 4 . The Dash One to stop with pulser brakes.
a. It relieves pressure to the says antiskid protection is re- MCAIR picked 30 knots be-
slow wheel. duced below 30 knots. Why? cause you can't blow a tire at
b. It relieves pressure to the a. It's too hard to provide 30 knots and that speed worked
fast wheel. skid protection that slow. well in tests with their wheel
c. It dumps all pressure. b. Even if you lock the speed generators.
d. It increases pressure to wheels you won't blow the Question 5 . You land and
the fast wheel. tires. have one wheel on a wet paint
You should have said a. , b. , c. So you can stop the stripe; you don't feel any brak-
and c. First it tries relieving airplane. ing. Is the antiskid inoperative?
pressure to both wheels. Relief
to the slow wheel is to stop the
skid. Relief to the fast wheel is
to keep you from being pulled
to that side because of differ-
ential braking. If relieving
pressure doesn't help (that is,
deceleration is still too fast or
wheel speed difference exceeds
50 percent), all brake pressure
is dumped. Once the problem is
solved, it reapplies pressure.
That's what is happening when
you feel the antiskid cycling. It
is interesting to note that if
you smoothly apply full pedal
pressure, you will probably

TAC ATTACK 5
 TO SKID OR NOT TO SKID
a. Yes. doing 115 knots and the wheels pressure, depending on
b. No. have not spun up. If you apply severity.
c. Maybe. brakes now, what will happen? 4. You have no antiskid
The correct answer is a defi- a. Nothing, the antiskid protection below 30 knots.
nite maybe, c. It could be that will protect you. The antiskid system is smart
it's not working, but more than b. The wheels will lock. but not foolproof. The best way
likely, the wheel on the paint c. You will get normal to use the system is by not de-
stripe is trying to skid, so the braking. pending on it to work. Don't
system is relieving pressure to If you've been paying atten- develop sloppy habits by
both wheels. Wait until you get tion, you would know that the accepting hot or long landings
off the stripe and try it again. right answer is b. You get just because you have a long
Question 6. You have an in- brakes at five seconds (5/50 dry runway in front of you.
operative WOW switch. What guarantee) and the wheels Practice for the day when
type of antiskid braking do you think you're below 30 knots so you're looking at a short, wet
have on landing? they lock. runway. Know what the anti-
a. Normal, starting five sec- Now for summary. skid system can and can't do
onds after touchdown. 1. The antiskid will not for you. And when you need it,
b. None. give you any braking power use it.
c. None below 50 knots until you've been down five Happy landings! ~
wheel speed. seconds or have 50 knots of
d. None above 50 knots wheel speed (5/50 guarantee).
wheel speed. 2. The antiskid detects a Captain Patch graduated from the
I hope you said c. With the skid by monitoring wheel University Gf Washingi;J}n in 1974. He
WOW switch inop, the timer completed UP1' at Lauplm Air Force
spin-down rate and wheel
Base, ,.xu, in Pebrualy 197'1, where
never gets activated, and the speed differences. he was also an ineUUctor' pilot in the
system is looking strictly for 50 3. When the system detects T-37. He leW F-106s at McChord Air
knots wheel speed. Once your a skid, it can relieve pressure Force Base, Waahingkm, af)d ia now
wheels slow below 50 knots, to both brakes or dump all flying F-158.
you don't fill that square any-
more either; hence, no brakes.
You'll have to switch to pulser,
off, or select emergency brake/
steering to get any braking. If
you're coming back to land and
you suspect an inoperative
WOW switch, please do not
turn off your antiskid; It may
still work and should still give
you touchdown protection. Just
be prepared to lose brakes at
about 50 knots. If you do, then
turn off the antiskid.
Question 7. You come back
for a heavyweight landing on a
wet runway and grease one on
a little hot. Unknown to you
the airplane is hydroplaning.
Seven seconds later .you're still

6 MARCH 1984
FLEAGLE
SALUTES-
Capt Curtis Bottesch and
1st Lt Jeffrey J. Blessing,
21st Tactical Air Support
Squadron, 507th Tactical Air
Control Wing, Shaw Air Force
Base, South Carolina. Captain
Bottesch and Lieutenant Bless-
ing were flying a night low lev-
el mission in an 0-2A when
electrical fumes filled the cock-
pit. The pilots turned off both
engine alternators and the bat-
tery. Unable to isolate the
problem, they recovered the
aircraft without electrical
power. The crew used outside
references for navigation aids,
a flashlight to see their in-
struments, and a PRC-90 sur-
vival radio to declare an
emergency with the local ap-
proach control.

Capt JohnS. Krebs and

Capt Rodney N. Casey, 72d
Tactical Fighter Training
Squadron, 56th Tactical Train-
ing Wing, MacDill Air Force
Base, Florida. Twenty-five
miles from base, while re-
turning from a syllabus BFM
mission in their two-place
F-16B, Captain Krebs and his Their early analysis and supe- pulled back on the yoke during
instructor pilot, Captain Casey, rior airmanship allowed them a max power climb, his seat
noticed a slight rumble and vi- to safely land the aircraft be- back snapped and gave way,
bration as the throttle was fore catastrophic engine failure and he immediately fell back-
moved. Despite the absence of caused by broken turbine ward to a prone position. While
cockpit indications, the pilots blades and complete loss of oil. lying helplessly on his back
sensed engine problems; they under six Gs, Captain Hen-
sent the wingman to a chase Capt Howard L. Hen- dricks released the yoke and
position, set the power at 80 dricks, 549th Tactical Air rolled the aircraft with rudder.
percent, and climbed to a posi- Support Training Group, When the nose fell back
tion for a flameout pattern. Patrick Air Force Base, through the horizon, the pilot
Trailing progressively thicker Florida. Captain Hendricks was was able to regain control, ac-
blue smoke, the engine held flying an 0-2A on a routine complish a controllability
together all the way to landing. functional check flight. As he check, and land the aircraft.

TAC ATTACK 7
 NTEREST ITEM S,
Tac tips

Good intentions I know what it says

D uring the landing roll following a func-
what does it mean?
tional check flight, the FCF pilot noticed there
were no brakes after he lowered the F-15's nose W e recently had an F-4 crew do an admira-
to the runway. After he turned off the antiskid, ble job of safely recovering a "three bag" aircraft
brakes were still not available, so he pulled the from a serious takeoff emergency. Actually, it
emergency brake handle and slowed the Eagle to wasn't your standard "three bags full" fuel load,
walking speed. but we'll get into that later. Just after gear and
Not wanting to tie up the airfield's busiest run- flap retraction, the pilot noted the left engine
way, he turned onto a taxiway where he planned Fire and Overheat lights illuminated. He per-
to have the aircraft pinned and towed back. Un- formed the boldface emergency procedures while
fortunately, the steering and brakes totally failed continuing the takeoff. When he pushed the pan-
before he completed the turn, and the jet ended ic button to jettison all external tanks, only the
up in the dirt. centerline was released. When the aircraft was
safely airborne, the pilot maneuvered the Phan-
tom back around for an uneventful landing.
The fire was caused by a leaking centerline
tank (failed seal) which was venting fuel through
the open aux air doors into the engine compart-
ments where it ignited. Once the burning tank
was jettisoned, the fire extinguished. Leaking
centerlines and resulting engine fire indications
are not new - but only jettisoning one external
fuel tank when trying for all three bears looking
into.
After the aircraft pulled into the chocks from
the first sortie, the pilot told the crew chief that
he'd had problems with one of the external wing
The emergency brake/steering system in the tanks feeding slowly; he requested that the out-
F-15 can lull you into a false sense of security board tanks not be refueled. That presented a
since there's a chance of its accumulator being problem because normally either all or none of
continuously replenished. But how can you be the external tanks on the F -4 can be pressure re-
sure UTL B is operating? If you ask the emer- fueled. The refueling crew was resourceful, how-
gency system to do more than its primary job of ever, and jury-rigged the aircraft to make it
stopping you straight ahead, your emergency think it was only carrying a centerline; they dis-
may not be over. connected the outboard tank cannon plugs to pre-

8 MARCH 1984
·MISHAPS WITH MORALS, FOR THE TAC AIRCREWMAN - - - - •

vent the tanks from filling. They properly docu- through the pump's housing and spewed fuel into
mented the disconnected plugs in the aircraft the engine compartment, often causing cata-
forms with a red diagonal. strophic fires.
Since this was the last flight from the deployed There was no effective test that maintenance
location (the pilot was flying the aircraft home on crews could use to determine which pumps were
this mission), everyone figured the slow-feeding about to fail. Likewise, there were no consistent
tanks could be fixed on home turf. The ground warning signs in flight to alert aircrews of the
crew also reckoned that the pilot knew exactly problem-until a ragi~g engine fire erupted. So
what he was doing. They thought he should have all the afterburner fuel pumps had to be modi-
thoroughly understood their write-up in the air- fied.
craft forms.
When the pilot read the write-up, he just didn't
•
make the connection that the same cannon plugs
that control refueling the outboard tanks also
High-G maneuvering
•
contain the jettison circuits. He probably could
have reasoned the answer to such a question, but
a pa1n in the ... back
the write-up just didn't stir the thought.
The maintenance guys and gals usually hustle An attached F-16 pilot had flown regularly
to help aircrews get their steeds airborne. Let's with the squadron but hadn't done any high-G
be sure we understand what we're asking. (over 6) maneuvering for a couple of months.
When the Aggressors flew their F-5s into town,
he was one of the first pilots scheduled for a
multi-bogey melee.
During the second engagement of his first mis-
Good news for F-4 iocks sion with the Aggressors, the Falcon pilot was
looking over his right shoulder while in an 8.5- G
According to AFLC Public Affairs, the safety defensive turn. When he'd forced one of the trail-
modification of the afterburner fuel pump on ing F-5s to overshoot, the F-16 pilot, while still
each J-79 engine in the Air Force's F-4 fleet is pulling Gs, abruptly reversed his body position to
complete.
The afterburner fuel pumps had a defective
hollow shaft within them. The shaft, which holds
a spinning impeller (a small propeller that cre-
ates suction to move the fuel) was supposed to
shear comple~ely if the pump's bearings failed.
The walls of the shaft were too thick, so when
the bearings failed, the shaft only bent, and the
still-attached impeller continued to rotate.
Eventually, friction from the impeller wore

TAC ATTACK
TAC TIPS
check his left seven o'clock. He felt a twinge in
his lower back, but thought nothing of it. Per-
haps the adrenalin masked the pain for the re-
mainder of the fight .
After the mission, however, his back felt like
he had a charley horse. He figured it would soon
go away; and since he wasn't on the schedule to
fly during the next week, he decided not to visit
the flight surgeon. Six days later, when his back
still wasn't better, he hobbled in to see the Doc
and found that he had pinched a nerve in his
lower spine. After medication and therapy, the
pilot is once again healthy.
Attached aircrew members aren't the only ones
liable to layoffs between flights. Most of us have
grumbled because of days when we just can't
seem to get airborne because of desk/RSU/SOF
tours, broken jets, or miserable weather that
even grounds the ducks. These circumstances are
frustrating, but it's long vacations, non-flying
TDYs, and extended periods of DNIF that are
more likely to produce long intervals between
flights. Extended layoffs can contribute to neck
and back injuries when resuming high-G events. sion and recovered to the VFR pattern, so they
Easing back into the high-G environment at your didn't think of the instrument books again - un-
own pace can help. til the canopies were opened after landing and a
And by the way, when you're hurting, go to the letdown book fell from behind the IP's seat into
flight surgeon. Don't put it off. He can even help the right engine. Cough, cough, sputter, Master
with real pains in the .. . back. Caution Light. Then they both thought about the
books.
Map cases have spilled their contents into the
cockpits of fighters for a long time. And it seems
jet engines have had an afinity for letdown books
Paper chase equally as long. Taking a few seconds to make
sure the map case is secure during a fence check
before the fight begins will pay dividends. Un-
D uring an engagement on a basic fighter lucky pilots may still have to gather all the
maneuvering mission, when the pilot unloaded books from time to time. If or when you lose the
the aircraft, the map case in the aft cockpit flew fight because you lost sight of your adversary be-
open. Instrument approach books and maps were hind a flock of letdown books, knock it off; after
everywhere. The instructor pilot, in the rear you've gathered them, inventory the contents of
cockpit, tried to catch as many items as he could the map case before opening the canopy back on
while they were still floating around and above the ground.
him. But there were a bunch of books, and he on- We get real concerned about what is and isn't
ly had two hands and a few moments of unloaded in the map case when the weather's poor. On
flight. So he gathered as many as he could (he mission profiles like BFM, where there's a possi-
thought he had them am, and stowed them once bility of a paper chase, having a good idea of
again in the map case. They continued the mis- what's supposed to be in there might help.

10 MARCH 1984
TAC SAFETY AWARD
INDIVIDUAL SAFETY AWARD
SsaT HAROLD W. POE, an F-15 pneudraulics
systems technician in the 94th Aircraft Main-
tenance Unit, 1st Aircraft Generation Squadron,
1st Tactical Fighter Wing, Langley Air Force
Base, Virginia, shares this month's Individual
Safety Award honors.
While performing an operational check on an
F-15 hydraulic system, Sergeant Poe noticed a
leak had developed. Hydraulic fluid under three-
thousand pounds per square inch (psil pressure
began dripping and then spraying from the cou-
pling fitting adapter that connects one of the
high pressure hoses of the TTU 288/E hydraulic SSgt Harold W. Poe
test stand to the aircraft.
Sergeant Poe shut down the unit and closely sented the problem to the Aerospace Ground
inspected the area of the leak. He found that the Equipment supervisor who decided to have all
adapter was not fitted to the high pressure hose hydraulic test stands inspected; faulty hoses were
according to technical data. Realizing that this removed and refitted.
problem could exist elsewhere, Sergeant Poe then Sergeant Poe's prompt response and initiative
inspected other hydraulic test stands assigned to prevented possible injury to personnel and has
the 94th AMU and discovered that they also had earned him the Tactical Air Command lndi
improperly fitted adapters on the hoses. He pre- Safety Award.

INDIVIDUAL SAFETY AWARD

Also sharing the Tactical Air Command Indi-
vidual Safety Award this month is TSGT
MICHAEL A. LUGO. He is a unit weapons loading
technician with the 4507th Consolidated Aircraft
Maintenance Unit, 507th Tactical Air Control
Wing, Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.
Sergeant Lugo was the flight line weapons ex-
pediter during the postload inspection of an
0-2A. when the timer assembly of one of the
LUU-2A/B flares popped out. Sergeant Lugo
caught the timer assembly approximately four
inches from the flare and pressed it back into the TSgt Michael A. Lugo
flare body, preventing the parachute from being
deployed. While holding the timer assembly Later inspection by munitions storage area
pressed into the flare body, Sergeant Lugo called personnel indicated that the incident was caused
for someone to bring him a roll of masking tape, by a faulty flare. If the parachute had deployed,
and directed other people to notify the main- the flare would have ignited and burned which
tenance coordinating center, 507th weapons safe- would have destroyed that aircraft and en-
ty and the NCOIC of the 4507th CAMS weapon dangered personnel and other aircraft.
loading. While these people were notifying the The quick reaction and professional response of
appropriate agencies, Sergeant Lugo taped the Sergeant Lugo prevented the possible loss of
timer assembly into the flare body and held it in valuable Air Force resources. He has earned the
position until help arrived. Individual Safety Award.
chock talk incidents and

Cockpit comes clean lot returned to base. Because of his symptoms

and the incident the previous day, he felt there
was still something wrong with the aircraft.
Crew chiefs, you probably thought it never The aircraft was impounded again. Once more,
happened, but one afternoon, a pilot became sick environmental health folks tested for noxious
and vomited while he was flying. When he land- gasses and found none. As they investigated fur-
ed, the F-15 was impounded. The pilot's sickness ther, the cleaning fluid became suspect. Analysis
showed the product contains a couple of chemi-
cals with long names: Dimethyl Benzyl Am-
monium Chloride and Dimethyl Ethyl Benzyl
Ammonium Chloride, both in concentrations of
0.15 percent. According to the poison control
center nearest the base, these compounds can
produce moderate dizziness, euphoria, vertigo,
some sedation, and a metallic taste in the mouth.
We're not saying that this particular product is
the only culprit. We're suggesting you look for
these chemicals in any locally purchased general
purpose cleaners that your unit uses. Better yet,
have the cleaners used in the cockpit analyzed.
One more thing. There are no official guide-
was later attributed to his imprope1· diet. No dis- lines governing the length of time to air out a
crepancies were found in the aircraft. The next cockpit after maintenance that introduces fumes
morning when the aircraft was released, the crew in the cockpit. A good rule is to wait until no
chief finally had a chance to clean up "the cockpit. odor can be smelled.
This unit routinely used "Spray Nine," a general
purpose cleaner purchased locally, to wipe down
the cockpits of their aircraft.
Shortly after the scrubdown, an eager pilot
arrived at the jet for his morning flight. During
All present and
his preflight, he noticed a very faint smell simi-
lar to ammonia. He didn't consider it important
accounted for?
and pressed on with the flight.
During the mission, he noticed his G-tolerance An A-10 failed a functional check flight when
was lower than normal, he was slightly dizzy, its left engine stagnated at 58 percent core rpm
and he had a metallic taste in his mouth. The pi- after an airstart. The FCF pilot made an un-

12 MARCH 1984
INCIDENTALS WITH A MAINTENANCE SLANT _ _ _ _ _ __

eventful single engine landing. Maintenance The workers accounted for all the rivet stems
workers found and replaced a leaking fuel by- but one. Supervisors didn't see the lone foreign
pass valve, and the next day the Warthog flew object when they inspected. Forty-nine out of fifty
again. The second FCF pilot observed identical is a great batting average, but when it comes to
results. working around jet engines, only one mistake is
After the aircraft landed, troubleshooters re- costly. It may be a nuisance to interrupt the
placed the main fuel control. During the sub- work we're doing to continually retrieve scrap
sequent engine run, the idle core rpm was higher residue; but on a big job, it really helps insure
than normal and did not respond to fuel control that spare parts aren't left behind to become FOD .
adjustments, so another fuel control was in-
stalled. Same story. The clue bag was empty now,
so they pulled the engine and shipped it to tear
down.
When the engine was disassembled, some
FO trap
blades in each stage of the compressor were
nicked or rubbed. Impact marks matched those of O ne F-4 maintenance unit has noticed that
a 5/32-inch diameter stem from a pop rivet. a lot of apparently unrelated aircraft malfunc-
Maintenance supervisors reviewed the aircraft tions are traceable to one cause. The Central Air
forms to see what jobs had been done that would Data Computer (CADC) has been the common
have required using this size rivets. Several re- thread to discrepancies involving flight controls,
pairs have been made in the previous three cockpit instruments, and weapons delivery sys-
months, but only one involved the suspect rivets tems in their Phantoms.
replacing the engine nacelle nose assembly. Many of the CADCs in their jets have been
That operation required drilling out and in- ruined by foreign objects getting lodged in the
stalling about fifty such rivets. electrical circuitry innards. Part of the problem
One of the stems (residue from the work) was
misplaced and probably rested against one of the
fan stator blades. Undiscovered, the stem was
later ingested into the compressor inlet during
engine start (when the turbine was spinning too
slowly for bypass airflow to blow it away. The
damage reduced the efficiency of the compressor
enough to show up at 15,000 feet during the
FCF, but not enough to hinder ground starts. A
couple of A-10 pilots are glad the A-10 has two
engines.

TAC ATTACK
CHOCK TALK gine, the pilot was able to safely land the Thun-
derbolt II. He shut down the engine that was
may be that the computer invites FO because of stuck with the T-handle after touchdown.
its location down low under the seat in the rear Maintenance workers found a throttle-mounted
cockpit. button (the one that controls slewing and track-
In one of their jets recently, a small piece of ing the Maverick missile) had fallen into the
metal mesh (used to shield the insulation around right throttle quadrant and jammed the throttle.
an electrical wire ) dropped inside the computer. When the button was removed, the throttle
Three line replacement units were ruined by the moved freely.
tiny culprit. The button is held in place by two set screws
The unit has submitted a suggestion to install that were loose. No one had recently performed
a protective cover over the CADC, but it may maintenance work on the throttles so the button
take a while until you see one. In the meantime, must have been loose for some time and finally
sounds like here's a good place to routinely -in- gave up.
spect for foreign objects when the seat is re- We hear a lot about foreign objects damaging
moved. It might also be an area to investigate engines and falling into the stick well and bind-
when troubleshooting. ing the flight controls. Another important area to
check for foreign objects is the throttle quadrant.
Can you imagine the dilemma a single engine
fighter pilot would have had?
Button-up
O ne part of the interior of a number of jets
that takes a lot of unintentional beating is the
throttle. It's sometimes in the way of the very That wraps it up
control head that needs to be replaced, or it gets
banged up when the ejection seat bucket is being
removed, or it gets in the way of tools or equip- A n Aardvark pilot decided to ground abort
ment laid on the left console. Occasionally one of the F-111 he was preflighting because of exces-
the switches on the throttle is bent and later sive free play in the left horizontal stabilator. In-
shorts and sparks and scares the pilot during his stead of less than an inch, the stab moved four or
pre-engine start checks or the crew chief working five inches.
in the cockpit at night. Troubleshooters found the bolt and bushing
An A-10 pilot was returning from a mission that secure the forward horizontal tail servo-
and discovered as he began a descent that he actuator (HTSA) pin laying loose inside the ac-
couldn't retard the right throttle below 94 per- cess panel. This pin connects the actuator to the
cent rpm. By varying the thrust on the other en- airframe. If the pin had been lost in flight , the
aircraft would have been uncontrollable.
About a week earlier, the servoactuator for the
left stabilator was replaced because of a hydrau-
lic leak. The jet flew three times the next two
days before this pilot discovered the problem.
The tech order requires the technician to safety
wire the bolt holding the HTSA pin. But no one
could find any residue of safety wire in the access
compartment. Either the wire broke off at two at-
taching points and couldn't be found in the com-
partment, or the bolt was not safety wired.
If the bolt wasn't safety wired, the supervisor
who inspected the work missed it. So did the
crew chief; checking the pin is a required step in
both the post and through flight inspections.
14 MARCH 1984
 Protection for the Eagle

pass down the probe, through the pitot heater The formation lights on the aft fuselage
wiring, into the aircraft power system. This may and the anticollision lights on the leading
or may not destroy the radome. Lightning canal- edge of the wing near the root were con-
so weaken small pieces of the radome, or even sidered to be in a safe zone, free from vul-
blow them away. Where a radome does not have nerability to lightning strikes.
a pitot tube, lightning may attach to the tuning
wire, attachment rings, or just go through the
radome to the radar antenna itself.
Those are the vulnerable areas on an aircraft.
For any specific aircraft, one of the first things
we need to know is where the lightning will most
likely attach. In 1970, tests to find these so called
attachment points on the F-15 were done using
model aircraft at the Lightning and Transient
Research Institute in Miami, Florida. Since then,
McDonnell Aircraft Company has developed its
own lightning research facilities and has con-
tinued testing. Test results have shown that the
aircraft nose has the highest capture area (about
135 degrees). The horizontal stabilator was next,
followed by the vertical fin , canopy, and the cen-
ter fuselage engine area, which had the smallest
capture area (approximately 10 degrees).
Once the attachment points are known, light-
ning protection can be implemented. Here are
some areas in the F-15 that receive special atten-
tion:
• Lights. Lightning arrestors have been in-
stalled on all-the lights that might be
struck and could couple current into the
aircraft, that is, the wingtip and forward
formation lights. The wing and tail posi-
tion lights, the tail anticollision lights,
and the in-flight refueling light were pro-
tected by modifying their mounting shell.

TAC ATTACK 19
Lightning protection The F-15 lightning protection program has
for the Eagle been one of the first total programs for a fighter
in which lightning protection was considered
Antennas. F-15 antennas were designed from the very beginning in the initial design
so that a strike to an antenna would be phases and was included in production aircraft.
diverted to the aircraft frame rather than Many steps have been taken to insure that any
through the coaxial cables within the air- lightning encounters produce a minimum amount
craft. of damage. But, since your aircraft is not im-
Fuel System. A flame arrestor was in- mune to lightning, you can help the situation tre-
stalled in the fuel vent and dump line in mendously by staying well clear of thun-
the F-15. Foam was installed in the wing derstorms. Your aircraft is vulnerable when you
fuel cells for explosion suppression. The are flying even 25 miles from the radar precip-
external fuel tank was designed with ade- itation echo if there are other cells nearby and
quate skin thickness and bonding to ex- cirrus above you.
clude internal sparking. Plastic was used During your weather briefing, find out if any
on the air inlet and fuel outlet probe to part of your trip will be in the clouds, near CBs,
eliminate sparking at the tank-to-aircraft or in precipitation. Try to arrange it so as few of
interface. those "ingredients" of a lightning strike as pos-
Probes. Lightning arrestors were in- sible are present, even if that means a delay or
stalled on the heater lines of all probes. rerouting. And your awareness of weather
Electrical system. The F-15 electrical sys- shouldn't end with the weather briefing. Check
tem incorporates a split bus that provides again just before you leave to see if there are any
greater protection for the generators than last minute changes. Also check frequently en
could be expected in a parallel generator route and listen to weather broadcasts, so you'll
system. The leak paths for lightning en- be continuously aware of the location of threat
trance into the system are the lights, areas with respect to your flight plan.
probes, and antennas, for which pro-
to his present assignment where he works for TAG
tection had already been provided. W and Air Weather Service LAWS), a MAC organization,
Radome. No effective protection has been Colonel Zak has been an AWS Staff Meterologist for Space
found that doesn't detract from the Division, AFSC, Buckley ANG, Colorado; part time meteo-
radar's performance. An investigation in- rology faculty member at Metropolitan State College, Denver,
to the flight safety impact of a radome Colorado; and a Department of Defense Representative to the
Prototype Regional Observing and Forecasting Service at
strike determined that a small radome Boulder, Colorado. He has 19 years of military service and
hole, such as might be produced by a holds a BS and MS in meteorology from the Pennsylvania
lightning strike, was not a significant State University and a PhD in Meteorology from Texas A&M.
flight safety item.
 Short shots Driving While Hung Over. Some Swedish re-
searchers have found that driving while hung
over could be just as bad as driving while intoxi-
cated. The researchers threw a party for 22 vol-
unteers, serving beer and wine, punch, and appe-
tizers. The volunteers slept in the lab, and the
next morning they were served breakfast. Then
they hit the obstacle course to test their driving
abilities. Nineteen of the twenty-two scored
worse with hangovers than they did while sober.
Their ability to drive was reduced by an average
of 20 percent. And those who said they felt fine
were just as likely to drive poorly as those who
said they felt awful.

My Aching Back. Backaches are the leading

cause of activity restrictions for people under 45.
Self-Testers for Blood Alcohol Concentration. They're second only to the common cold for time
Self-testing kits are now being sold that tell lost from work. What's the real problem? The
whether you've had too much to drink to drive. National Safety Council says that 85 percent of
But don't think you're safe if the reading is below all back pain is linked to muscular weakness, not
your state's limit, usually 0.1 percent. The kits a specific injury. How can we prevent it? Change
are accurate when they show a positive alcohol our habits. Eat right - an overweight person's
reading, but they aren't reliable when it comes to spine has to support that extra load. Exercise
how much alcohol is in your system. The kits regularly- if it feels good, do it. If it doesn't,
don't get the "deep lung" breath sample neces- stop. Maintain good posture - straining to hold
sary for accurate readings. And they don't allow that rigid, chest out, shoulders back position in-
for the fact that the maximum blood/alcohol level creases pressure on the lower back. Concentrate
for some people occurs 15 minutes after drinking on the lower end, not the upper end. Sit properly
and 3 or 4 hours later for others. - knees should be slightly higher than your
hips. Sleep correctly - don't sleep flat on your
Lifting Heavy Objects. Lifting from the floor is back, turn onto your side or put a pillow under
worse than from knuckle height; so if you have your knees.
the choice, don't store heavy loads on the floor.
Unbalanced lifts, where you have to handle loads Audio Headsets. Manufacturers are now pro-
with one hand or you have to twist while you're viding safety pamphlets advising people not to
lifting are two reasons for back injuries. And use the headsets while operating a motor vehicle.
keep in mind that almost all recommended lifting And more than 12 states restrict headset use by
techniques take more energy, so keep in shape. drivers. Make sure you hear the word of the law
in your state.
Thinking About Aerobic Dance? Aerobic
dance is becoming one of the most popular ways Don't Pop the Cork. Champagne is used for
to exercise today, but there is a potential health almost any celebration - weddings, promotions,
hazard- the instructor. According to Dr. Ken- births. But popping the cork can be dangerous. It
neth Cooper, founder and director of the Aerobics could hit someone in an eye. To open a bottle the
Center and Clinic in Dallas, Texas; "Almost any- right way, tilt the bottle to a 45-degree angle,
one can lead a class without any type of edu- pointed away from you and every one else. Re-
cation, and that is simply not safe. Aerobic-dance move the foil and wire muzzle. Then put either
instructors should be required to have some basic your thumb on the cork or a cloth napkin over it.
knowledge in exercise physiology, should .be cer- Grip the cork and twist the bottle, not the cork,
tified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPRl, until the cork slips out. And never use a cork-
and must have some type of medical consultant screw to remove a champagne cork - the bottle
with whom to work in questionable cases." could explode.

TAC ATTACK 21
DOWN TO EARTH

Seat belts score

another save
By Capt B.J . Stanton
U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado

I'II never forget the morning of November

10, 1983. My routine was normal. At 6:30 a.m.
the sun wasn't quite up yet.
After dressing and readying myself for work, I
got into my pickup and cranked it up for the
drive to the office. After a brief warmup, I was on
my way. Soon I was out of the maze of residential
streets and onto the four-lane divided boulevard
that connected my housing area with many oth-
ers, some of which were still under construction.
Nearly 400 yards down the boulevard was an Within a fraction of a second my pickup began
intersection where another large avenue crossed. to roll counterclockwise and I was looking for-
At 50 yards from the intersection my speed ward through the cracked windshield. The next
was a little more than 30 miles per hour. Sud- time my truck made solid contact with the pave-
denly, there was a car coming toward the inter- ment was after it had rolled over 180 degrees. It
section on my right. But something was wrong - came down on the passenger side of the roof and
I had the right of way but the other car wasn't caved it in somewhat, the passenger area becom-
slowing down and we were on a collision course. ing smaller still. The truck rolled again, and by
To complicate matters, the glow of the sunrise sheer luck the second roll ended with the truck
blinded him. It took at least a second before I upright.
slammed on the brakes, but it was academic at During the entire procedure I was gripping the
this point. A crash was inevitable. steering wheel with both hands, looking straight
I remember very clearly the events that fol- ahead. My position and posture never changed.
lowed. At the instant of impact there was an My seat belt and shoulder harness had kept me
immediate deformation of the right interior por- securely in place.
tion of the truck cab, along with the cracking of To speculate the outcome without the seat belt
the windshield. The right door bulged toward me. is quite simple. Upon the initial impact, inertia
The passenger area shrank. I was thrust laterally would have caused me to slide right out of my
as my truck gave way to the force of the colliding seat and over to the passenger side. My legs,
car. however, would have remained in the clutch and

22 MARCH 1984
 •
Make wear1ng
•
a r1ng safer
W earing rings can be dangerous, especially
when working around machines. The ring could
get caught on or by something and yank your fin-
ger off, or a least a part of it.
Now you can make wearing rings safer by cut-
ting slots in the ring. Then, if the ring gets
caught by something, it will break away instead
of tearing your finger up. Slotting is simple and
inexpensive, and it doesn't spoil the ring. You'll
need a jeweler, unless you have a fine-metal saw.
And if your jeweler isn't familiar with slotting
rings, here's the instructions and a diagram.

accelerator area. I would have been stopped by

the passenger-side door, which was now leaning
into the passenger compartment.
The other driver came running over and
yanked my door open. Are you OK? Are you all If tb ri,.. is co. .ht It ...,• ..t.
right? I'm so sorry, mister," he blurted in a trem-
bling voice. He unlatched my seat belt and I 1. Enlarge the ring to the correct size if it's
slowly got out of my truck. I walked away look- too tight.
ing back at the spectacle of rearranged metal and 2. Cut two slots partially through from the
glass. The time was 6:40a.m., less than ten min- inside at the 2:30 and 10:30 positions.
utes since I had left home. 3. At the 6 o'clock position, cut through the
After being thoroughly checked at the hospital, ring completely. From the inside of the ring,
I was released with only minor cuts and bruises. cut a slot straight down for l/3 of the diameter,
Moving about required a certain amount of effort then angle the cut diagonally to the right for
because of strained muscles, but at least I was in the remaining% of the diameter. For a ring
one piece. with a thin diameter, make the whole cut di-
So what's the point? Let me restate it: I slowly agonal.
got out of my truck and walked away. The rea- Slotting a ring is not a substitute for the
son: seat belts. regs. When rings are prohibited don't wear
-Courtesy Air Force News Service them at all.

TAC ATTACK 23
WEAPONS WORDS

Breaking up When we find ourselves among less familiar

workmates, that's the time to be especially aware
that we don't know what the others are going to
W hew! The exercise was finally over'. No do at a given point in the operation. Assuming
more gas masks, sirens, or sortie surges, at least that a new partner will perform a certain step
for a while. Now to download some of this extra (because that's when or how Charley always does
hardware and get back to business as usual. it) can be costly. And what are the others expect-
First thing in the morning of the day after the ing from you? Taking a little time to discuss the
exercise, a load crew went to an A-10 to down- nuts and bolts of the download in detail before
load an AGM-65B Maverick missile~ starting would help. And the load chief who rec-
Because the exercise disrupted everyone's nor- ognizes this situation as an opportunity to exert
mal working hours, schedules were still messed leadership and direction is worth his weight in
up. The three weapons loaders who formed this unwritten mishap reports.
crew didn't usually work together; they were
each members of other three-man crews. Because
of the unfamiliarity working with one another,
they began working cautiously, right by the
The ad lib iettison check
checklist; at least that's how they started work-
ing together. W hile two weapons load crew chiefs were
Later, the number two man was down retract- cleaning MER/TER breeches during postflight of
ing the ejector feet while the number one man an F -4, they began talking about jettison checks.
was positioning the launcher rack under the One crew chief told the other that when he was
launcher. It happened so quickly that no onere- overseas, he had seen people do battery-powered
alized they were simultaneously performing two jettison checks. The other crew chief said that he
steps. When the load chief raised the launcher had never seen a battery-powered jettison check.
rack, no one was in position to clear the aft end So the first crew chief said he'd demonstrate one.
of the missile. Crunch. The stand banged into the They climbed up to the cockpit. The first crew
Maverick's middle bottom fin and bent it enough chief turned on the engine master switches, set
to require depot repair.
Working together as a crew helps develop pre-
dictable patterns. Each member generally knows
what the others are going to do at any given
point in the operation. AFR 66-5 recognizes this
cohesion and strongly encourages loading crew
integrity (training, certifying, and working as a
crew). Although we try, we can't always main-
tain that ideal in the real world. Short-notice
TDY's, illness, exercises, and other circumstances
occasionally require breaking up a crew.

24
the external stores jettison switch to stores, and
moved the master arm switch to arm. Then he
hit the external stores jettison button. The
370-gallon fuel tank on the right outboard
station crashed to the ramp.
When the tank hit the ramp, fuel spilling out having to leave.
of the standpipes caught fire. The two load crew When he returned, he thought one of the other
chiefs climbed down and ran over to the CB fire team members had installed the latching plate
extinguisher. They didn't know how to use the and safety bolt. Sure enough, the other two team
extinguisher, and they had trouble unwrapping members thought he had done it.
the hose, so they couldn't get the fire out. A When the rocket motor was lifted and posi-
maintenance worker from another unit saw the tioned over the trailer, it fell down onto the
fire and put it out with a different extinguisher. trailer. It didn't hurt the trailer, but the rocket
In trying to fight the fire, one of the load crew motor didn't fare so well; a four-inch crack in the
chiefs got CB agent in his eyes. He was treated
at the base hospital and released. No airplanes
were damaged, thanks to the maintenance
worker who knew how to use his fire extin-
guisher.
We don't need to point out the obvious lesson
here. But after you've reflected on the lack of
wisdom involved in using unauthorized pro-
cedures and the failure to safety pin the tanks,
ask yourself whether you could use the fire ex-
tinguisher that's available to you if you had to.
Are you sure? How about fire extinguishers at
deployed locations that may be different from
those at home?

fairjng rendered the rocket motor unusable.

Interruptions in the midst of complicated tasks
The other guy are frustrating but inevitable. They don't have to
lead to expensive mistakes though. In this case,
While a crew was preparing to transfer a everyone assumed the other guy accomplished a
rocket motor from its shipping container to an critical step, but no one asked. Tech order check-
MF -9 trailer, one of the team members was just lists can also help us recover from interruptions
about to install the safety bolt when he was because we can check that each step is complete
called away. He didn't get the bolt in before before moving on. But we gotta use 'em.

TAC ATTACK 25
WEAPONS WORDS

Misplaced initiative Racks away

A load crew working the graveyard shift re- A couple of F-16s took off for a surface at-
ported for duty. The maintenance operations tack mission which included dropping several
center tasked them to download some training live 500-pound bombs. When they arrived at the
ordnance from one of the F-111s. One of the trio range, the aircrews found that a thunderstorm
arrived at the airplane earlier than the others. had stolen their scheduled range time. In fact,
He didn't have anything else to do with the free the weather in the whole area, including the
time, so he decided to get a little ahead on the home 'drome, wasn't pure. Because of the extra
assignment. Since he didn't have any tech data weight of the bombs and the wet runway back
with him, and his load chief wasn't there, he home, lead really didn't want to haul all that
didn't want to tackle anything major, just a iron back for a landing. So he led the flight to
couple of routine, uncomplicated tasks to help the approved jettison area where he planned to
pass the time. So he removed the fins from the pickle the bombs before returning to base to fly
GBU-12A/B practice bomb that was supposed to instrument approaches.
be downloaded. The leader selected the selective jettison posi-
When the load chief and his co-worker still tion on the stores control panel for rack stations
hadn't arrived, the lone tech nician began remov- 3 and 7 (where the bombs were loaded) and
ing the computer control group from the nose of turned the master arm switch on. When he re-
the bomb. As he removed the arming wire, with- leased the bombs, the TER-9As went along for
out attaching the safety device, the thermal bat- the ride too.
tery discharged. Whoomph! One fried computer
control group.

Way back before takeoff, the pilot set up the

SCP to jettison the racks and bombs in case of a
takeoff emergency . He didn't reselect the "wea-
pon" position again before jettisoning, so the de-
livery system did what he told it to do. This is a
How often we get burned when we try to save case of having good ideas but failing in execu-
time by cutting corners! Impatience, no tech data, tion . Another second to recheck all switch set-
and no supervision is a combination that spells tings would have saved a set of racks- and
disaster, not efficiency. more than a little pride.

26 MARCH 1984
 SPIT IT OUT
By Capt Allen E. Kohn
63 TFTS/FSO
MacDill AFB, Florida

Failure to communicate
precisely led to embarrassment
for a pilot on a cross-country
flight. He was the number two
man in a flight of two F-16s
preparing to land from an over-
head pattern. A rain shower
had just passed over the base
and the runway was wet. While
in the final turn, flight lead
asked tower, "Is the cable in
the raised position?" The
10,000-foot runway was cause of a malfunction. As a landing on wet or slippery run-
equipped with BAK-12 cables last resort the pilot turned off ways. Keep in mind that you
approximately 1,200 feet from the antiskid and attempted probably won't feel any de-
the approach and departure moderate braking. That's when celeration above about 70
ends. The approach-end cable the tires blew. Fortunately he knots.
was not connected, but the de- was able to get the aircraft Lastly, there is the com-
parture-end cable was. Tower's stopped while still on a hard munication problem. Fighter
only reply was "Affirmative." surface. jocks are trained to make radio
Both F-16 pilots interpreted Three factors contributed to transmissions (RIT) as concise
this to mean that the approach- this mishap; elimination of any as possible. When flying in
end cable was connected and one of them would have prob- large exercises or in a crowded
they would have to land past it. ably prevented it. The first was traffic pattern, well disciplined
Number one had to go the tail hook failure. The sec- RJT is a must. But too much
around because of insufficient ond was the perceived lack of brevity can result in mis-
spacing behind another flight. deceleration on a wet, slick understanding. Don't make the
Number two landed past the runway and the pilot's decision same mistake; use enough
approach-end BAK-12, blew to override the antiskid pro- words to get your message
both main tires trying to stop, tection. The third was the com- across without ambiguity. It
and ended up in the departure- munication problem. could keep you out of the over-
end overrun. The pilot had ex- As pilots we can do very lit- run and out of trouble. __;:;;-
ecuted a normal landing ap- tle about faulty tail hooks.
proximately 1,500 feet down However, we can do something Captain Kohn is a 1975 graduate of
the runway. When he lowered about the other two problems. the Uniwrs.ity of Michigan. He com·
the nose at 100 knots and ap- Turning off a good antiskid pleted UPT at Columbus Air Force
plied the brakes, he felt no de- continues to be a big problem Base, Miaaiaaippi. and uptJI'Ilded to the
F-4 at Mad>ill Air Foree Base, Florida.
celeration. (Sound familiar?) in the F -4. The F-16, however, He had eubaequent tours in the F-4 at
He changed brake channels but has a pretty reliable antiskid Ton-ejon Air Base, Spain, and Kunsan
still did not feel the aircraft de- system as well as backup anti- Air Base, Korea. While at Kunsan he
celerate. He then called for the skid protection. Falcon drivers tranait.ioned to the J.o'-16. Currently he
cable and lowered the hook, would be wise to give the anti- is an 1<'-16 RTU IP at MaeDill Air
Force Base. Jl'lorida.
but the hook didn't extend be- skid a chance to do its job when

TAC ATTACK '27

IT'S ONLY THE STANDBY ALTIMETER

By Capt Edd P. Chenoweth

366 TFW/FS O
Mountain Home AFB, ID

"W e won't need it- the

primary altimeter looks OK,
and the weather shouldn't be
all that bad. Besides , we're
number two. We won't need
one at all." How many times
have you heard that about a
backup instrument or worse,
how many times have you
thought those same thoughts?
Recently, an F-111 crew
called for a red ball because
their standby altimeter indi-
cated well below the field
elevation. Good decision. The
standby altimeter error was not
discovered until after engine
start and now takeoff time was
approaching. The right engine
was shut down and the mainte-
nance specialist handed a new
standby altimeter to the WSO.
After exchanging the new one
for the bad one, the crew com-
pared the primary and standby
altimeters. Both indicated field
elevation. "Chief, they look OK
to me. We're gonna crank up
and get out of here." Bad de-
cision. Any work on the pitot-
static system requires an ex-
tensive checkout before flight'
to check for leaks . A simple
comparison with field elevation
just won't hack it.
Here's why: the pitot static

28 MARCH 1984
system is a sealed system. A pitot-static system, such as a route to meet the tanker, the
leak anywhere in the line will disconnected line, would be flight lead noticed a thousand -
affect all components in the quickly noticed. But a slow foot difference between his
line by an amount proportional leak could go undetected for primary and standby altim-
to the size of the leak. In crew several sorties. It's likely that eters. He queried the wing-
dog talk, if there's a leak some- the first indication of a leak man (flying the mishap air-
where in the line, then the rest could be something that you craft) who reported that the
of the system is tango uniform. wouldn't associate with the altitude on the leader's standby
The bigger the leak, the bigger pitot-static system. A good ex- altimeter was correct. It wasn't.
the error. ample might be an engine that The flight lead assumed that
The pitot-static system in compressor stalls while you're his primary altimeter was mal-
most jets supports not only the turning and pulling the aircraft functioning. The flight changed
airspeed indicator, altimeter, during some range work. The leads, and climbed to what they
VVI, and the standby altim- stall may have resulted from thought was the assigned alti-
eter, but also the central air bad CADC data being sent to tude. ATC confirmed that their
data computer (CADC). And in the fuel control and engine mode C indicated the assigned
the F-111, the pitot-static sys- bleeds. Or the ranger's call that altitude. During the rendezvous
tem also supplies inputs to the your bombs are unscorable at as they rolled out in trail about
translating cowl pressure sen- twelve might be the result of two miles behind the tanker,
sor and the escape capsule's Q- false data sent to true airspeed the flight broke out of the
sensor. indicator and bomb-nay system. clouds and saw they were co-
Erroneous CADC data can I'll let you build the rest of this altitude with the tanker.
affect a number of seemingly hypothetical scenario. Don't Once on the tanker's wing,
unrelated systems including forget the landing gear warn- the aircrew found out that
IFF, engine fuel control, bomb- ing, stall warning system, their airspeed was reading
nav system, lead computing op- cowls, and AOA indexers. sixty knots slow as well. The
tical sight, terrain following ra- With all these systems that original flight lead verified
dar, angle of attack indexer, could be affected by a leak in with the tanker crew that only
and several warning systems. the pitot-static system, what his standby altimeter was in
Incorrect pitot-static data fed to happened to the crew in this error. So he was able to lead
the Q-sensor for the F-111's es- incident? Nothing. Everything the incident aircraft home.
cape capsules could be deadly; worked as advertised even The moral of this story is if
the flight manual warns, "If though the pitot-static line to you have to change any compo-
ejection occurs in the low speed the new standby altimeter nent of the pitot-static system,
mode at actual aircraft speeds hadn't been fully tightened. you're gonna be in the chocks a
greater than 300 knots, high The surprise was waiting for while. Get a thorough check of
spinal loading, serious struc- the aircrew who flew the air- the pitot-static system for
tural damage, and recovery craft on the next flight. This leaks. Don't let anybody, in-
parachute failure may occur." crew took off on the wing for cluding yourself, convince you
A complete failure of the an air refueling mission. En to take the jet without the
check. As a matter of fact, the
pitot-static system isn't the
only system this logic applies
to.
ain eth- uated from
ahoma State University in 1974
is currently working on a masters
anagement. He flew the F-4 in
an and Korea and has been at
ntain Home Air Force Base, Idaho,
ce March 1981 as an instructor for
F-111. He's also been wing flight
officer since January 1983.

29
LETTERS
Dear Editor
First off, I wish to express my thanks on the out-
standing job you accomplish each month, in your pub-
lication. I personally learn a lot of interesting facts from
your very informative articles. Reading your November
issue, I ran across an article that has me really puzzled. the good work you do each month and keep 'em flying.
The crew chief safety award for Sgt. Delarosa is the ar-
ticle I am refering to. It says: "One time Sgt. Delarosa Nancy A. Rittgers, SSgt, USAF
was completing an intake inspection on an F-I6. He F-16 Crew Chief/431X1
didn't find any damage to the engine, but he did smell a 51st TFW /MAEM MT
strange odor. He asked the aircrew to shut down the air-
craft . .
Dear Sergeant Rittgers
Having worked on F-16s a little over two and a half You're correct. When we condensed the story, we in-
years, I know for a fact that you cannot perform an advertently mixed tenses. The award citation should
intake inspection with the engine running. According to have said that Sgt. Delarosa completed an intake in-
T.O. 1 F-16A-2-10JG-00-1, you are not to stand any spection without finding any damage. But once the air-
closer than 25 feet in front of or 5 feet to the side of the crew started the engine, he noticed a strange odor
intake while the engine is running. coming from the intake and asked the aircrew to shut
I am sure that Sgt. Delarosa is very deserving of this down the engine. Thanks for pointing out our mistake.
award. Since TAC Attack deals with the safety issue, I
feel this article should be corrected. Thanks again for Ed

There's a million stories out there

in the Tactical Air Command.
Send me some of them.
Editor, TAC Attack
Hq TAC/SEP
Langley AFB, VA 23665

MARCH 1984
 T c_,._

Tac tally
TAC ANG AFR
THRU JAN THRU JAN THRU JAN
JAN 1984 1983 JAN 1984 1983 JAN 1984 1983

CLASS A MISHAPS 2 2 4 0 0 2 0 0 0

AIRCREW FATALITIES 2 0 0 0 0 0

TOTAL EJECTIONS 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0

SUCCESSFUL EJECTIONS 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

TAC'S TOP 5 thru JAN 84

TAC AIR DEFENSE
class A mishap-free months
132 57 FIS
85 5 FIS
82 48 FIS
41 318 FIS
32 87 FIS

TAC-GAINED FTR/RECCE TAC-GAINED AIR DEFENSE' TAC/GAINED Other Units k

class A mishap-free months class A mishap-free months class A mishap-free months
141 188 TFG (ANG) 115 177 FIG 174 182 TASG (ANG)
133; 138 TFG (ANG) 81 125 FIG 158 110 TASG (ANG)
1321 917 TFG (AFR) 64 119 FIG 154 USAF TAWC
110' 114 TFG & 174 TFW (ANG) 48 107 FIG 146 84 FITS
1051 112 TFG (ANG) 39 147 FIG 142 105 TASG (ANG)

CLASS A MISHAP COMPARISON RATE

(BASED ON ACCIDENTS PER 100.000 HOURS FLYING TIME
,

TA 1984 3.4

C 1983 6.9

AN 1984 0.0
G 1983 0.0
AF 1984 0.0

R 1983 0.0

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

US GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1983-639-023 /9