Plane Tales

Let me take you back to the dim distant past and Captain Jeff’s start with his legacy airline, ACME, I mean Delta, no ACME, Delta, Acta, Delme… oh whatever. His career started, not in the Captain’s seat but somewhere in the bowels of flight deck, sitting sideways with control panels in front of him instead of windows, that stretched to the ceiling!  Jeff was an engineer on his favourite three holer, the Boeing 727. The loss rate for this iconic airliner was, unhappily, quite high.  As of 2019 the aircraft had suffered 351 major incidents of which 119 resulted in a total loss.  The loss of life resulting from these bare numbers has risen to over four thousand souls.  One addition to those sad statistics came from Flight 600.  This is the story.

The Boeing 727 Flight Deck

The 727 on its maiden flight

The famous S bend

With tail mounted engines the wings could be fitted with full span lift devices

The B727 was the first first airliner to have an APU

The 727 had rear mounted stairs that were used by the nefarious DB Cooper

Which resulted in the fitting of a Cooper Vane

The mechanics of a microburst

Our Captain Jeff

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Felix Goetting, Alex Beltyukov, Boeing, Tank67, Daderot, Juras14, Aero Icarus and NASA.

Two of the Saratoga’s F14 Tomcats were tasked to defend the carrier against a simulated attack during Exercise Display Determination 87. The leader of this small formation included a senior pilot and skipper of a newly arrived Junior Grade Lieutenant Timothy Dorsey. Many years later, Dorsey would be nominated for promotion to a one-star Rear Admiral, an appointment that required Congressional approval.  What stood in his way was an incident that occurred during that fateful day in 1987.

USS Saratoga

Timothy Dorsey

F14 Tomcats on deck

An F4 tanking

HUD film of the engagement

US Navy wings

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the US Navy, US Air Force and the US Gov.

Part 2 of my interview with my mate Matt, steely eyed rocket man extraordinaire.

Goonhilly

Gyros and spacecraft in Telstar

The interior of Telstar

The magnitude of space junk around the world

The first live TV pictures transmitted via satellite

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to NASA, I Alison, Rama, NASA, US Gov, the BBC and Andrew Bulko

At first glance he looks to be a rather scruffy and unkempt elderly chap but behind the heavy glasses there are two twinkling eyes that reveal more than you can imagine.  Indeed, appearances can be deceiving as this retired RAF Technician could have well been a steely eyed missile man as he controlled military satellites around during the Cold War.  Meet my mate Matt!

Sputnik

RAF Oakhanger

Inmarsat equipment on board a ship

Not every launch was a success

Telstar

Voyager

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Nigel Chadwick, NRAO/AUI, Saber1983, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Dale Griffin USGS, then Science Museum and NSAS.

In the tale, the Applegate Memorandum, I described the difficult birth that McDonnell Douglas had with the DC-10 when it’s safety record was permanently marred by a cargo door design flaw that plagued its introduction.  Sadly, this wasn’t the only issue that was going to discredit the aircraft in the eye of its passengers and they would ultimately condemn the world’s first 3 engined wide body as a dangerous failure.  Although the aircraft’s problems with its cargo doors could be firmly laid at the feet of McDonnell Douglas, the next disaster that the aircraft would have to cope with was not of the manufacture’s making, but of some operators who took it upon themselves to shorten engineering procedures.

Then incident aircraft N110AA

Cutaway showing the configuration of the wing mounted engines

The DC10 cockpit

The last moments of American Airlines Flight 191

The aftermath

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Dale Coleman, Jyra Sapphire, Jon Proctor, the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives, the NTSB, the US Gov and American Airlines.

I left you last time after we had returned with our Hornets from New Zealand having had a very productive and interesting few weeks working with the Kiwi A4 Skyhawks.  We soon settled back into our Squadron HQ at RAAF Williamtown and started to work up some Maritime Strike tactics against the ships of the Australian Navy.  These were early days for the Australian Hornets and the anti ship missiles that were to be purchased had yet to be properly integrated into the aircraft’s weapons system… and so continues the Tales from the Old Pilot’s Log Books.

The Hornets mix it with the Navy!

It was the P3 Orion’s job to find the ships and broadcast their positions

The RAAF had yet to equip their F18s with anti ship missiles but that didn’t stop us training

We flew affiliation sorties against the RAAF Caribous so I got the chance to observe from the other side of the engagement

Called in from leave to fly an engine air test I did so with my holiday beard still attached!

The rake of the Hornet seat didn’t suit my back leading to a nagging problem

On our way to Malaysia we staged through Bali

At RMAF Butterworth we stayed in the beautiful old RAF Mess

And could frequently be found in the Hong Kong Bar

Back home in Australia I started to suffer from vertigo and wondered if the dream had come to an end

The conclusion of a chat over a pint with Wood Duck, the Royal Australian Air Force Air Attache to the Australian High Commission in London.

Images of No 2 OCU when it was equipped with the FA18

The handover of No 2 OCU Hornets to the new commanding officer and the new F35 Lightning fighters.

RSAF Hawk trainers

As a fighter pilot on the newly formed 77 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force, now equipped with brand new FA/18s, we had many experienced pilots but before long we also acquired pilots on their first operational type.  One such pilot was Woody, or more formally known as Wood Duck and flying the Hornet was just the start of a long career in aviation that took him all around the world.  Now the Air Attache at the Australian High Commission in London, Woody and I met at a local hostelry and had a beer whilst talking about old times.

The Australian FA/18B

Flypasts performed by No 2 OCU RAAF whilst under Woody’s command

Woody as a youngster in the Hong Kong bar whilst on deployment in Malaysia.

RAAF Hornets in Butterworth

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the RAAF, the USAF, the RMAF and No 2 OCU RAAF.

So you want to be an airline pilot? You want to travel the world, visit strange and exotic countries and immerse yourself in the wonders of foreign cultures? You want to make a good living, bring up a family and plan for a wonderful retirement driving your luxurious RV around the wide open spaces of your beloved country? Has it crossed you mind that your chosen occupation might not be the safest way to achieve your dreams?

The Old Curmudgeon rides again

Airliner crashes are rare events

Ensure that you join a recognised union that can afford you legal representation anywhere in the world

I trust that you will recall the stories from my RAF Logbook which had reached the point of my first Hornet deployment to New Zealand to work with the Kiwi A4 Skyhawks of No 75 Squadron Royal New Zealand Air Force at Ohakea.

75 Sqn RNZAF formed with Wellingtons purchased by the New Zealand government

75 Sqn A4 Skyhawk

The Kiwi Red formation team

Inverted whilst in contact

An A4 in combat firing rockets

How to fly a flat scissors

An FA18 pulls into the vertical

The effectiveness of camouflage

Low level

Attacking a splash target

The Hornet at night

The disappearance of the hook was investigated

The perp was arrested!

75 Sqn RNZAF was sadly disbanded

Images shown under creative commons licence with thanks to the RAF, the New Zealand Defence Force, the USN, CNATRA, Bernardo Malfitano and Myself.