The F-111 Ardvark was officially retired from the US inventory in 1998, but they’re still owned and operated by our cousins Down Under. One of the more crowd-pleasing events you’ll see a ‘Vark perform is the “dump and burn.” The hotshot maneuver (sorry, I couldn’t resist) starts with the crew opening the fuel dumps, which quickly causes the fuel to atomize in the air behind the jet. Kick in the blowers and the fire triangle is complete.
An FA-18 jock with too much time on his hands, and too much fuel to boot (!) tried the same thing once, operating off the ship. Had her going like a striped-assed baboon in full grunt, threw her into a hard, decelerating turn, deployed the speedbrake for good measure and then opened the dumps on the vertical tails.
Nearly burned his butt off.
There’s a reason why we leave test piloting to test pilots. Because raging around in burner with the speedbrake out and the dump masts venting was not a maneuver anticipated by the designers. Nor would the assiduous reader have found it referenced anywhere within the operator’s manual. At least, not until after this particular event.
Horses and barn doors.
Things get swirly behind a maneuvering jet, especially one at increasing angle of attack. Most especially in a maneuvering jet, in blower, at high angle of attack with the speedbrake out. Ended up being a Class “B” mishap, if I don’t misremember. (We call them “mishaps” rather than “accidents,” because while “accidents happen”, mishaps ought not to. Is the theory.)
Kid probably flies for a major airline by now. Where the opportunities for test flying are much reduced, even if not entirely eliminated.
The Pig is always a crowd pleaser…..
Riverfire in Brissy tends to turn out some nice shots each year.
I sure am glad I learned long ago not to drink anything while reading this blog
That quote would have resulted in grievous damage to my monitor and keyboard!
Any word what happened to this aviator who decided that he had to somehow bring the whole idea of going “Mach 2 with his hair on fire” to literal life? I sure am glad airliners keep the fuel dumps away from the engines and that none flying have afterburners if Johnny Firefly is going to be my pilot
Used to see Vigi’s do the dump and burn all the time. I’ve seen flame trails many hundreds of yards long.
Of course oil was 2 bucks a barrel then…
I’m still trying to get past the Hornet with “too much gas.”
Must be a new thing.
N
Indy is actually not a bad time to see miltary hardware out and about… blackhawks threading through buildings (we won’t mention the Huey crew that got done for the ‘Show us your tits’ sign), various RAAF stuff… it’s a cool time.
Down here we usually only get some FA-18′s and a QANTAS 747 for the F1.
Is the dump and burn usually limited to one engine to mitigate the escalation of a stunt into a mishap?
Idle minds wanna know – never mind, answered my own question (bangs head on wall after clicking links)
B-B-Qed CRAB: “Crab, crabfat – (RN) A member of the Royal Air Force (RAAF also). From the light blue color of the uniform, which is the same as that of the grease (known as ‘crabfat’) used on gun breeches, etc., in the RN. Accounts vary, but apparently the grease was called ‘crabfat’ because it resembled in color the ointment used to treat sailors for ‘crabs’ (pediculosis pubis, genital lice), and of which fat was a major constituent.”
http://www.btinternet.com/~a.c.walton/navy/smn-faq/slang1.htm
More polite?: “the RAF (when asked something, they shrug their shoulders and walk off sideways).”
http://www.pull-up-a-sandbag.com/Dictionary.htm
Get in real fast, they are retiring soon. I think that there are a handful of displays/flybys still scheduled.
Where the opportunities for test flying are much reduced, even if not entirely eliminated.
Remember the pilot-of-oriental-extraction who wondered what would happen if he popped a 747′s thrust reversers in flight — then did so on final into LAX?
I was at an airshow at Nowra last weekend, where the Pig was slated to arrive and do its famous show of turning taxpayer dollars into heat, light and noise. It failed to materialise. Rumour has it there were two events they were supposed to turn up to that day, but only one functioning Pig…
Re: the F/A-18 : A-4 bomb-release ‘mishap.” Been wondering about that since the first time I saw it.
I understand (from TV) that it was a concrete dummy. Whatever it was, the object has an odd shape. Anybuddy know if this was the bomb alone, or did the F/A-18 somehow release the rack along with the bomb?
In any event, it sure had aerodynamics unlike most dropped objects.
It’s been a while, but my recollection is that they were doing separation testing on a MER – multiple ejector (bomb) rack. It tumbled a bit more dramatically than the Skyhawk chase crew gave it credit for.
Bummer, that.
aka in the future as the “Kolvoord Starburst” when performed by five craft.
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Kolvoord_Starburst
C’mon, Jeopardy, a little backup here???
A ‘Roll Under Break’ is a dangerous feat. Do any US air arms do such a thing today? Banned in Oz for many years.
They call ‘em “tuck-under” breaks up here in CONUS, and they’ve been illegal since Christ was a corporal. Kind of like unicorns, people talk about them a lot, but no one has ever seen one.
One of my good friends from the Boat School was in his instructor’s trunk in T-34′s, way back in the way-back-when. The IP – universally loathed for his tendency to give “downs” for minor faults (a couple-three downs and you were out of the program) – did a tuck-under break on an cross-country flight to a civilian field, hoping to impress his assembled friends.
They augured in before the undoubtedly impressed audience, killing them both.
That’s the last tuck-under break I ever heard of.
Blue Angels used to do the Tuck-under break in the Scooter; really impressive. But then they don’t fly the opposing loop anymore either.
I’m with ya, Nose. Since when does the Bug ever have too much gas?
Grumman kind of thought ahead of the adventurous Aviator on the Turkey by having the dumps shut themselves off should the blowers get lit or the boards open up; a switchology thing.
I flew the FB-111 at the very end of it’s career, they were transferred to ACC and later a few made their way downunder to compliment the ones the Aussies already had. If you look closely, the left burner is lit too, the dump mast is directly between the engines so my guess is they had a left crosswind making it look like only the right burner was on.
There was a famous photo in the FB-111 community froma guy well before I got there. One of our crews was at an airshow where there was an “arrival competion” for whichever pilot/aircrew could put on an impressive arrival show for the airshow. This FB-111 aircrew came down the runway at about 50 feet and was dumping fuel in full burner and the flaming liquid JP-4 caught the rubber deposits on the runway on fire. They won a big trophy and when they came home and were asked by the commanders what they did to win the trophy they said, cleanest jet!
True story, would love to have a copy of that photo.
I thought one of the axioms of aviation is that the only time you have too much gas is when you’re on fire.
This video reminds me of the ’62 Thunderbird I have in the machine shed. It was after basic restoration that I thought I’d turn her into a classic late-50′s Hot Rod. So, having seen Grease at least once and installing a set of Lake Pipes with exhaust cut-outs, I rigged up the propane injection to the Lakes and tried it out.
In the driveway, folks — I’m not so stupid that I’d pump propane into my exhaust and try to make huge flames come out my exhaust in the darned shed!
Sheesh! Give a guy some credit, will ya?
I’m pretty sure that, had I been moving, the damage to the paint would have been less severe. Wind blowing the flames back instead of letting them climb right up my door and all.
Which, when you’re in your shiny Hot Rod and hit the button and both sides of the drivers area outside the glass become a solid Wall Of Flame, it makes it a little easier to understand the initial intentions of the F/A-18 pilot.
It seemed like a pretty good idea at the time.
– Max
That is called separation flight testing as Lex points out, a structured evolution from theory, to tunnel, to actual drop/deployment with TM. Surely all you TAC MANUAL (NATIP now) reading operating folks didn’t think all that data was mathematically derived?
That is why DT is expensive and test pilots are desired that don’t have that urge to see what happens if I ” pull the dump in burner attitude”. Even so $hit still happens as the video proves. Test pilots “live for the data”, not the thrill- that’s for the O’ Club hand wavers.
Class “B” alright…Downgraded by CO pencil whipping….
b2
‘”Test pilots “live for the data”, not the thrill- that’s for the O’ Club hand wavers.’
The Operation Officer of my squadron was a NTPS grad and did a couple of tours as a test pilot. A bunch of us nuggets asked him once–at the o’club– about all the excitement of that experience. He said, something like, ”test pilots are mostly just extremely good basic instrument pilots.” That cooled our ardor a bit.
That F-18, now that’s the video I want to see.
Then there was the Republic test pilot I knew. Back then the Thuds (F-105′s) were blowing up for unexplained reasons. I was flying photo chase in a F-100F and he had a full load including drop tanks. Our job was to try to get pictures if he blew up. We made several maneuvers that we photographed, then he came to a dive at about Mach .8 with a four G pullup. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay with him in the dive because I had drop tanks on my bird, so when he pulled up all I could see was a flash. I called him (he was still there) and he said his right drop tank had come off and clobbered his right aileron. When we caught up, the photo guy in the back seat said to look at his tail. Sure enough, the drop tank had made a corkscrew move, catching the aileron on the up pass and the breaking off about two thirds of the right stabilator going down. He sort of decided it was probably time to go home, which he did without further drama.
About two months later he found out what was causing the blowups, but he didn’t live to tell about it. Accident boards don’t talk much, but a friend told me that they were picking him out of the instrument panel with tweezers. Rumor said a structural failure due to a cost saving suggestion on some of the early production run airplanes.
Yes, test pilots do earn their money.
Craig- exactly. Did you mean odor?
Test piloting’s like a lawyer with language vice a writer with same, or a mathmetician with numbers vice an accountant..Sure it’s boring but who do you want flying sumpthing for the first time? Even the most minor test has risk- risk managed is always less expensive for the taxpayer than, ” Sure Master Chief, I’ll take that jet up!”
b2
Hey B2…have you gone off your meds again…?
and oh… Re your comment # 24 above …I’m sure that the word you really intended to write in the third and fouth lines of your comment was “versus” … and not “vice” … Verdad ?? malaprops, after all, being a consumation devoutly to be avoided…Please Advise. Best
PS, Re Comment # 21 above… Craigs use of “ardor” in that contex works for me… to use “oder”, in my humble opninion, would constitute another malaprop.
Snake,
“Verdad?” Is that wear WW1 ended?
Lawyer as language or Language as lawyer? Hey., I’m like Yogi! Don’t blame me, I don’t read the stuff!
b2
Being helo bubbas we was right proud of our odor– others not so much. And the Oder is a river in Poland. (What’s a boy gotta do to win the coveted Pedantic Peckerwood Award?)
Vice, Versus, Verdad. Only Julius Ceasar had the Gaul to say something like that.
Very punny guys! Good thing it’s early or I would be spewing Black Seal all over the keyboard from laughing so hard.
b2 interrogative your number 26:
wat?
Craig: according to my authoritative text on Roman-Gaulic relations (I speak of the Asterix and Obelisk books), Cesear never had the Gaul to do very much save make him look quite silly.
xairboss: Relevant to your interests and observation of the interaction between Snake and b2 – Duobus litigantibus, teritus gaudet.
If my Latin serves me correctly. Otherwise, coppula eam se non posit acceptera jocularum. Or perhaps temeas simium meum.
Your mileage may vary.
Drew -> casting his hat into the ring for the Pedantic Peckerwood award based on his non-contributions to this forum.
Hey don’t shoot the messinger…a proud Pedantic Pecker-Wood I am …just striving to do Gods work by raising the level of discourse around here…words matter… their accurate application matters even more…so there…
Re comments # 26 & 27 above… excellent puns…you odoriferous Navy Gomers continually surprise…along those lines I’m considering establishing a companion award to The Pedantic Pecker -Wood Award…I have a working title in mind, the first half of a phrase that I’m sure most of you have already heard and admired… I thinking of calling it “The Cunning Linguist Award”…any thoughts ?… Best
How about the Noam Chompski Award?
Okay, I’ll quit now.
Drew:
I flunked Latin my sophmore year of HS and haven’t been back since. Besides, airbosses are not necessarily known for their intelligence nor worldly knowledge.