Why not award an AFC for this?
Is it is easier to cofer the characteristic of ‘gallantry’ in cases where the crew had the option to abandon the aircraft but chose not to?
Flight Lieutenant K Green Endorsement
On 12 November 2015, Flight Lieutenant K was the Captain of a Hercules C-130J operating from RAF Brize Norton. On recovery to the airfield, at approximately 5000ft the aircraft encountered a near simultaneous failure of its 2 Inertial Navigation Units above a solid layer of cloud.
Shortly afterwards the crew became aware that their Standby Attitude Indicator was also unserviceable. Flight Lieutenant K took control from the recently qualified and very inexperienced co-pilot.
Using a very faint visual horizon he levelled the aircraft and attempted to remain in visual conditions in the Brize Norton vicinity above the solid layer of cloud. A PAN was declared to ATC and the crew immediately began running a set of complex emergency drills in an attempt to regain an attitude source.
Unsuccessful, Flight Lieutenant K was left with only his air speed indicator, altimeter and E2 compass - insufficient instrumentation even for limited panel instrument flying.
In an attempt to navigate, the crew adopted a ‘no-compass-no-gyro’ procedure with ATC; however at night and in poor visibility, flight into cloud was unavoidable. Flight Lieutenant K now had neither a real nor artificial reference horizon available and the aircraft rapidly diverged from its intended flight path, accelerating by 30kts and descending by 500ft.
Pulling back on the control column increased the speed and rate of descent. Demonstrating exceptional awareness Flight Lieutenant K quickly diagnosed that the aircraft was entering a spiral dive. However, due to the absence of any reference horizon, he was unable to effect an immediate unusual position recovery. Crucially, by unloading the control column, he avoided tightening the spiral and drifting into an unrecoverable position.
Following a quick scan outside, lights on the ground illuminated a faint horizon against the cloud and, using this as a reference he was able to very skilfully recover to straight and level flight with very limited references.
The crew then declared a MAYDAY and, under the control of Distress and Diversion, Flight Lieutenant K, maintaining reference to the faint horizon, initiated a climb and transit north to an area where he knew of better weather. He then identified a sufficiently clear area that enabled a visual let down and safe recovery to RAF Coningsby.
The Flight Reference Cards do not cater for a double inertial failure, let alone accompanied by a failed standby horizon. Flight Lieutenant K’s innate flying ability was all that stood between the crew and an unrecoverable position.
He showed exceptional presence of mind and calmness to instantly assimilate the situation and make a snap decision to slacken his pull on the control column, even whilst the ac was descending. Flight Lieutenant K went on to demonstrate outstanding leadership and flawless captaincy whilst effecting the safe recovery of the ac.
He was quick to reassure his crew members, whilst also corralling the assistance of Brize Norton ATC, Distress & Diversion, as well as a nearby Typhoon aircraft. Using all of the assets at his disposal, Flight Lieutenant K commanded the situation impeccably, drawing the whole episode to a close with a night landing at an unfamiliar airfield just inside the crosswind limits of the aircraft.
His exceptional awareness, captaincy and raw handling of the aircraft undoubtedly prevented a total loss over a densely populated area