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Air Display 'C*ck Ups'

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Air Display 'C*ck Ups'

Old 24th Jun 2017, 11:20
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Then there was the Frightening that was authorised for a flypast at Neatishead to mark the retirement of the last Branch Officer wg cdr FC -John Platts? We all sat around at Neaters and frantic calls to the Lightning "where are you?" "Just pulling up between the towers", was the response. Pity really, it was Bacton gas terminal. Lots of irate phone calls ISTR
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Old 24th Jun 2017, 13:06
  #282 (permalink)  
 
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Mosquito Barton

I was a cadet on the infield of the crowd line for the Mossie's display but must've been very close to whoever filmed this clip as the angles were identical to what I remember.

https://youtu.be/Ag5ut3tP3ZM



My other recall was the SAR Wessex guys were in the process of scrambling before it hit the ground - they were airborne very sharpish but vaguely recall the crew vaulting the fences etc from different directions.

And as for cock ups I was relaxing on the berm behind a Hunter at Bruntingthorpe CWJ 2009

The Victor wound up and blasted off with lots of dust and lovely hot AVTUR I lost sight of it for a few seconds behind the fin. Then a think bubble appeared above me

"he's been under power for a while"

Just as a girl on my left stood up with her eyes wide I jumped up in time to see it lift off and then land on the grass level with me about 50' to the left of the centreline. Close shave Grommit indeed - if you look closely it flew over some concrete blocks by total luck.

Naturally she didn't want the Vulcan hogging the glory.

https://youtu.be/n3HaeYVlBw8


Last edited by Senior Pilot; 1st Jul 2017 at 10:43. Reason: Fix YouTube embed
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Old 24th Jun 2017, 14:18
  #283 (permalink)  
 
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An account of the inadvertent Victor flight in 2009 at Bruntingthorpe from pilot Bob Prothero, the takeoff roll is described 90 seconds into the clip:



Another account of the incident from The Telegraph:

Retired RAF pilot saves bomber from air show disaster

A retired RAF pilot, Bob Prothero, wrestled a Cold War bomber away from a crowd of spectators and houses after his co-pilot accidentally made it take off at an air show.

10:24AM BST 08 Sep 2009

The Victor bomber, named 'Teasin' Tina', was only supposed to taxi down the runway and stop for a photoshoot before returning to the hangar.

But Mr Prothero's 'co-pilot' - an engineer with no flying experience - accidentally hit the throttle and the 75-tonne bomber lurched 150 feet into the air.

Mr Prothero grabbed the controls as the Victor bomber veered off the runway and climbed into the air on a collision course with the crowd and a nearby housing estate.

The 70 year-old, who last flew a Victor in the 1980s and whose flying licence has long expired, brought the plane down safely in a field at the end of a runway without any casualties or a scratch to the aircraft.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) launched investigation into the incident at the Cold War Jets day at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, near Lutterworth, Leicstershire, on May 3.

A report later blamed the co-pilot, who has not been named, saying he ''froze'' under pressure and forgot to hit the brakes.
Mr Prothero, a grandfather-of-four, described his heroics as ''the most terrifying nine seconds of my life''.

The former RAF Group Captain, speaking from his home in Portsmouth, said: ''I was petrified. There wasn't time to think about anything. Everything was pure instinct on that day.

''It all happened extremely fast. I was shouting at the co-pilot to pull the throttle back. For some reason he never did and I saw the nose rise into the air, I thought 'oh God here we go, how are we going to get out of this one?'

''So I had to make a snap decision: 'Do I try to land the plane or do I fly round in a circle and land properly'? I put the nose down and noticed that we were well and truly airborne but because of the crosswind we were not over the runway.

''I thought, 'where are we and what can we do to rescue the situation'? Thankfully, I managed to pitch the plane back towards the runway and away from any spectators. My only concern was getting the plane down as quickly and safely as possible. It was the most terrifying nine seconds of my life.''

The incident took place during a display at the Cold War Jets day at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome.

In a two-minute video posted on YouTube, the Victor is seen swerving to the left after takeoff and veering back to the right before touching down one-wheeled on the grass verge.

One onlooker is heard asking: ''Should it be doing that?'' while others are heard shrieking in disbelief.

The aircraft is designed to use a drag parachute as a brake, but Mr Prothero didn't have time to deploy it. Instead, he was forced to ditch the plane into a field at the end of the runway, coming to a stop in a cloud of dust.

He said: ''Although I touched down on the grass I still managed to keep it under control. All that was left to do was get out and kiss the ground. Nobody could really believe what had happened. There were people slapping me on the back and congratulating me on not crashing the thing and ruining the day.''

David Walton, managing director of the aerodrome, said: ''It was a brilliant piece of airmanship from Bob. If the aircraft had stalled the day could so easily have ended in tragedy.'
'
The co-pilot, an engineer who works on the upkeep of the grounded bomber, was drafted in to control the throttle for the air show.

The CAA - which launched an investigation because neither Mr Prothero or the co-pilot are officially licensed to fly - confirmed that it will not take legal action.

Ian Weston, head of enforcement, said: ''The aircraft took off because the engineer did not shut down the engines when told to do so by the pilot. The pilot attempted to shut the engines down but the aircraft lifted off.

''The problem arose as a result of the engineer 'freezing' at a time of high stress. This is a recognised state of mind which can affect certain individuals.''

The British-built Handley Page Victor was part of the nation's 'V-Bomber' nuclear deterrent during the Cold War and also served in the Falklands and the Gulf War.
Retired RAF pilot saves bomber from air show disaster - Telegraph
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Old 26th Jun 2017, 08:46
  #284 (permalink)  
 
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Not quite a "cock up" but definately a "whoops".

Many years ago I was "volunteered" to take part in a guard of honour for a little ceremony in a lay-by just off the A98. The site was close to a wartime airfield from which Mosquito aircraft flew some daring missions, and to mark the significance a memorial was being unveiled in the aforementioned lay-by.

To describe the topography, the road was higher than the lay-by, and the fields to the side of the lay-by swept down quite a bit, so by the time the guard of honour were in position we could see through the trees which lined the lay-by and down over the fields.

Part of the ceremony was to be a fly past by a Mosquito, which was either one of the few remaining or the last survivor, and was timed to coincide with part of the ceremony. The lay-by was crowded with locals, old aircrew who had flown out of the airfield and some of the local dignitaries, all looking at us and with their backs to the fields.

When the time approached for the fly-past the guard of honour were searching the skies for the approaching Mosquito. Remember we could see what was happening , the crowd couldn't, so when the Mossie roared overhead at max-chat and what appeared to be 50 feet, there was much confusion in the crowd and a couple of local dignitaries harumphing around the place. Good job the local police closed the road for the actual service..

Mind you the old boys were walking around with great big smiles.
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Old 27th Jun 2017, 21:43
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The 1969 Wildenrath flypast fiasco was not quite as Binbrook described in #280.
The practice on the day before was cancelled as the formation was due to descend to the holding point, due to thunderstorms.
On the Sunday all was going well until about 10 mins to the hold when we were diverted some 40 miles south to avoid the Falcons drop. This meant that we arrived at the start of the run in still in a descending turn with two Lightnings plugged in. As we turned into sun the vis was pretty much zero. At this point one of the Lightnings had managed to stay plugged in, but get to about 10 feet from THE POD before he made an emergency break ( it wasn't you was it Binbrook?). The rules at the time were to have both receivers plugged in or both in the refuelling position astern the hoses. Stupidly we tried for the two in contact option. This meant that we were rapidly approaching the airfield as the hose retrailed on the brake, and the receiver then tried to remake contact in the turbulent air. By the time he made contact we were 2-300 yards south of the required track. I called for a 10 degree turn but the captain decided to turn onto the ILS. By the time we had got the bank on and off again we were behind the crowd, not a success but definitely not at Bruggen. I do not remember any conversation about radar.
The 1968 BoB flypast was also a failure as both Lightnings had spoked the baskets, and had to RTB, so we continued the route and flypasts as a singleton.
It was only after we had lost a Buccaneer at the Paris Airshow in 1971 that common sense kicked in and we no longer did flypasts with the receivers in contact.
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Old 27th Jun 2017, 22:44
  #286 (permalink)  
 
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Apologies if it's been mentioned, I haven't read the complete thread. Has the Shackleton that scraped along the runway u/c up at the 1957 BoB show in Gibraltar been mentioned? I believe that it was going to do a low and slow when one of the inboards went into overspeed and somehow the same side outboard was stopped and feathered instead.
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Old 28th Jun 2017, 07:41
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TT
I stand corrected. It's a long time ago and you were a participant whereas I was merely an interested spectator in the tower, watching it all go wrong in what seemed like very slow motion.
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Old 28th Jun 2017, 14:43
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Originally Posted by Pontius Navigator
Pointing outbound is the display pilot's nightmare when they get the call expedite.

.
Yes, Happened at Boscombe Down mid 90s at the OM sunset ceremony (might have been a BoB ceremony). We were in the tower waiting for the timing call from the Mess for the tornado to start his run in. Call came through that band were behind schedule and could he delay. This was duly relayed to the pilot (Might have been D... S.......d if memory serves me correctly). Just as he established outbound towards Andover we got the call that all was BACK on schedule. Again duly relayed to the pilot. We watched on the radar as the aircraft came bolting in and it was really shifting. Next call we got was that he was pulling up and wanted higher than the 15,000. This was not a problem as Boscombe had autonomous radar status so he was given an unrestricted upper level.

All fine and dandy. but... Things in the cockpit were not as expected. As the pilot crossed the airfield boundary, his mind was directed to the fact that he was still in full burner and accelerating close to transonic speeds. Throttles were pulled back but there was the risk still of peeling a boom off over the Officer's Mess. Luckily (unluckily some might say) this didn't happen and a perfect dry-power climb ensued - the burners were lit up again briefly to give the desired effect for the spectators below. I watched this from the ATC balcony and damn impressive it looked too

Found out about how close a boom had been talking to the pilot in the bar afterwards.

PS
I have just read through all the previous posts and the SR-71 tales always make me smile. Reminders of the low pass down Watton High St ..but that is another story.
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Old 28th Jun 2017, 16:17
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Not always military these testical elvations

RR Hucknall, mid 1969, boss and self been prop swinging a Cosmic Wind (small formula wotsit aircraft) hot day, poor engine ventilation under very tight cowling and it just wouldn't catch. With one last disgusted swing before calling off, the blessed thing whirled into life. Now the pilot, he of steely gaze, decided that with the engine running he wasn't going to stop for man nor beast hared off at 45deg to runway, narrowly missing the port wing tip of the BBMF Hurricane. Hauled it into the air causing a sharp intake of breath from the Britannia on short finals.

Satco dancing a fandango on the tower steps screaming at me to 'get his name and reg No I'll murder the.... (not nice word). The Cosmic Wind is by now emulating its name sake and dwindling to a dot.

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Old 28th Jun 2017, 16:22
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Wing Cmdr John Ayshford was the uncle of an old girlfriend of mine, he is sadly now deceased, and I spent many happy hours talking about his flying years with him. In his younger days he had been a Meteor display pilot and he recalled one incident where he was so exhausted at the end of a routine that a maneuver requiring him to fly down the runway and perform a low level roll resulted in him rolling inverted and then staying there (a hesitation roll perhaps ?) - he flew down the runway unable to roll upright until out of sight of the airfield. On landing he exited the cockpit somewhat embarrassed but was met with cheers from the crowd who thought his inverted flying was amazing.....

RIP John.
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Old 28th Jun 2017, 16:42
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SATCOS WHIPPING BOY,

Good memory!!! It was in a clean F2 and it was just about technically night. The plan was to fly over precisely as the band stopped playing. The pilot had declared that once past the IP (near Andover) he would be committed. The call of 'Leaving the IP' was made but then a '2 minute delay' request came about 5 secs later. Pilot thinks 'I can do that'. The 'back on time' call from ATC came after almost exactly 180 deg of turn. Significant use of reheat, g, manoeuvre flaps and slats and expletives ensued. The run had been planned for 350 KCAS to allow for timing adjustments. Other than expletives (and wholly unjustified cursing of ATC!) the next thing said was ".98" from the back seat. Reheat cancelled, pull up over OM, select max reheat again (but only one lights due to short time since cancelling it), remember something being said about "150" but reply transmitted that well above that by then! And despite that only 25 secs late overhead.

The suspicion was that the SAOEU had set this up as a spoof but it was a genuine misjudgement by the gentleman making the timing call with respect to how long the band had left to play.

Happy days.
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Old 28th Jun 2017, 17:47
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There are some things in life that will leave a lasting impression. Having watched many swept tonkas display across the screen and leave an afterglow trail, when you see one leaving dots that would be more at home on a Pac Man game you know it is going to be something special :-)

The gentleman on the timing radio was the Tower WO, a top bloke. His excuse was that the band gave him the wrong time duration for their musical interlude. I may be wrong but the "0.98" was supported by the scream of "BURNERS!"

Great tour, great memories and great people.
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Old 28th Jun 2017, 18:00
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Originally Posted by RedhillPhil
Apologies if it's been mentioned, I haven't read the complete thread. Has the Shackleton that scraped along the runway u/c up at the 1957 BoB show in Gibraltar been mentioned? I believe that it was going to do a low and slow when one of the inboards went into overspeed and somehow the same side outboard was stopped and feathered instead.
I passed though Gib in the late 1970's in a U.S. Navy plane. The BOQ or Officer's Mess or whatever it was called was near the front gate and the bands competed on either side of the border during morning flag raising ceremonies.

We had a few pints with our generous RAF hosts and a couple of airshow tales emerged.

Someone told me a Shackleton airshow story, perhaps an embellishment of the 1957 incident described above. Or, was this another incident?

Supposedly the AEW Shack was doing the Gib airshow and was making multiple passes, feathering an engine each time until the last pass which was planned to be a high speed run with only one engine screaming at full power. As they set up for the last pass, one engine was feathered, inadvertently the other was shutdown and a four engine glider sailed past the crowd and ditched in the Mediterranean off the end of the runway. The crew got out and attendance was twice as high at the next year's airshow. Or so the story went.

Also, I was told of a Phantom driver trying to upstage an in progress Harrier demo with an unscripted high speed pass at an airshow or VIP performance somewhere. The planes collided but the pilots got out. This sounds a lot like an account posted here years later by fantom.
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Old 28th Jun 2017, 18:10
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A short explanation of the vagaries of the Vulcan fuel system is necessary to understand what went on on this occasion. The 1&2 tanks were in the forward fuselage and their pumps were the ones on the essential bus bar. Thus, if it all went t.. u.. that's where you wanted the bulk of your fuel. The auto refuel catered for this at part loads and the normal tank use sequence in flight also allowed for it. Thus as fuel was used the centre of gravity moved slowly forward. No problem in flight, but it was desirable to have it a bit further aft for landing in order to improve pitch control.

At the time of the incident, late 1960s, it was normal practice to switch on the fuel transfer pumps at some point late in the display to move the c of g into an optimum position for landing. Switching the pumps off was covered in the pre-landing checks. So far so good.

On the day in question, instead of taking off and going straight into the display or commencing after a shortish transit we had a long transit to perform our first display and an even longer one before the next display after which we would land. Therefore our fuel load was a higher than normal on departure.

The first display was uneventful and we duly arrived for our second show of the day in good order. The c of g was a bit further forward than usual but we had thought about this and agreed that we would turn on the transfer pumps a bit sooner than usual in the sequence. The first caution was here, we were going to do something different from normal during a display. On arrival at the hold we were informed that there was a 6 minute delay on our display time. Fine, now came the bright idea! Let's transfer some fuel now and then we can revert to normal in the display. Second caution, don't do anything you haven't thought about or practised! No sooner had we started to transfer fuel than the hold was cancelled and we were needed on stage as soon as possible.

The display went OK but something seemed slightly different about the aircraft. When it came to the point when I would normally switch on the transfer pumps I realised why. They had been on since leaving the hold and the c of g was well on its way back to Waddington all on its own. The aircraft was now getting decidedly "twitchy".

I quickly reversed the transfer pumps in an effort to retrieve the situation, but the approach was interesting and the flare at light weight even more so!. Once on the ground the nose wheel felt disturbingly light as we taxied very gingerly to our parking spot. We were still transferring fuel forward when we arrived.

What did I learn that day? Well the practice of putting on the transfer pumps during the display wasn't really that clever. It probably wouldn't be done now, but that's what we did back then. But most importantly, don't do anything in a display that you haven't thought through and thoroughly discussed beforehand and don't do anything that you haven't done in practice. Even the most innocuous things can catch you out.

YS

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Old 28th Jun 2017, 18:42
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Who mentioned Watton High St? Not display related, but came out of an instrument approach on a misty night and so delighted to see lights I lined up on them - just for a moment or two.......before I realised it was the street lights
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Old 28th Jun 2017, 19:31
  #296 (permalink)  
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AirBubba, no Shackleton AEW was lost until one piled in up in Scotland.
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Old 28th Jun 2017, 21:05
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Originally Posted by Pontius Navigator
AirBubba, no Shackleton AEW was lost until one piled in up in Scotland.
Thanks, with the accents and the beer I probably got an exaggerated version of the 1957 mishap. Or, some other airshow ditching of a large propeller plane. I do remember passes done with some of the engines feathered on four engine prop planes at airshows in those days.

And, for the F-4 vs. Harrier story, fantom has previously posted these pictures:

http://www.pprune.org/military-aviat...ml#post8011614

I can't find any record of a corresponding RAF Harrier loss, was it repaired perhaps? Was the Harrier really doing a demo at the time?
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Old 28th Jun 2017, 22:10
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Originally Posted by Pontius Navigator
AirBubba, no Shackleton AEW was lost until one piled in up in Scotland.

Just done some digging. The Shackleton in the 1957 Gibraltar adventure was an MR2. WL 792 of 224 squadron. Date was 14th September 1957. The starboard outer went into overspeed and the co-pilot put his hand up to stop the engine as the captain did the same with the result that the captain's hand was deflected onto the engine stop for the starboard inner. T'would seem that both hydraulic pumps are on the starboard engines. With only flaps deployed the captain elected to do a wheels-up.


As a mere layman I'm puzzled as to how and why the good engine on the starboard wing couldn't be re-started. I was under the impression that a Shackleton could fly on two engines, indeed I've seen video of a Saffer one doing a flypast on one.
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Old 29th Jun 2017, 09:44
  #299 (permalink)  
 
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Airbubba's 4,3,2,1,...0 story may have had it's origins in an incident at a display at RAF St Eval in the very early 50's when a Coastal Command Lancaster did almost that. In this case, however, the recovery was successful, albeit below cliff height ,and the Lancaster exited at low level over the sea.
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Old 29th Jun 2017, 10:54
  #300 (permalink)  
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Or the Lincoln at Farnborough with 4 feathered.

Leave you experts to Google that.
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