Originally Posted by
rigpiggy
I think it would overtemp well before a surge
There is a photo somewhere back in this thread of one of the two aircraft on the taxi out. Not sure if it is the accident aircraft, maybe someone has a means of identifying it further, but the right side inlet on that aircraft does not have the cover on, nor are there any stretched bungee cords coming down the outside of the inlet. At that point, you wouldn't expect to see it in place anyway, but for it to become a problem later, there would have to be something holding it back from reaching the engine. I don't know if there are any grabby things down that inlet tunnel, but it is hard to imagine something that large staying hung up some where before the compressor all that time at takeoff power before going into the compressor.
Pretty knowledgeable commentary on the Canadian site from a Canadian military guy. He points out that in that takeoff, the pilot would have been entirely focused on lead's left wing. The only warning he might have had would have been aural, or maybe a light out of the corner of his eye. Or, he saw the bird flash by on the way in.
By now, the RCAF knows what initiated the zoom as the pilot would have told them. They are suggesting bird strike, so I'd doubt Capt. MacDougall told them something different, if his recall is intact. I'd expect Capt. Casey was monitoring the gauges.
Looking at the Pelton video frame by frame, there is some evidence of an object in the sky that would be consistent with striking the aircraft some frames later. It appears for several frames over No. 1's wing, and briefly in front of No. 1.