Tnx, Bubba,
The hook may have been down for two reasons.
- approach trap at reasonable speed
- departure end due to high speed on one motor
My VooDoo single engine approach speed was so high that the drag chute would rip off if you pulled the handle too soon. And our hook was a wimpy thing for the other end of the rwy at a slow speed.
On my LEF failure I advised tower that I might need the other end trap because I was 40 knots above normal approach for weight, etc. I had no idea of the immense drag until after planting the thing and slowing down without a touch of brakes. Mid-field turnoff as you can see on the video.
Whole incident disturbs me, and my feeling is the hydraulics or whatever went tits up and the jet rolled real quick.
I can tell you that my LEF did not fold until I was passing 160 knots or so on takeoff, just as gear coming up. I stopped at about 180 or 190 due to vibration and uncommanded roll tendency to assess the situation and stayed there! You know, still flying so don't change much. Turned out I had about 1 pound of roll authority, and almost blew it at the end if I had slowed down below 170 knots. Our Vipers had recorders and the engineers could see what control pressures I used, and when.
I feel bad about those guys, and I hope the thing was complete loss of control due to motors or other things, and not a late decision.
So Gums throws a nickel on the grass, actually two.
Last edited by gums; 16th Mar 2018 at 22:53.
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