Salute!
Tnx for good poop , F-16Guy.
Glad your example had a better buncha advice for the pilot than the poor sob at Shaw. and on a similar vein.....
I had a wierd gear retraction exercise back in the early days, and we didn't have a lotta help from GD before resolving the issue and didn't have a lotta tried and true procedures yet. Wingie confirmed my problems after formation takeoff, but the upshot was nose gear up and one main up. At the time, a single main gear only configuration was no arrestment, bail. After one recycle we had safe NLG, safe left main and right main stuck in the well but doors open. Obviously a hydraulic proglem be it upstream valves or the actuator itself stuck in the retract position. I didn't like the idea of another recycle as I could wind up with only one MLG down, no nose gear. and so on and so forth. Because the gear "fell out" in the Viper from gravity and airflow, and because the doors were open, I suggested leaving the handle down and going to gear limit speed and using gees. Guess what? It worked! Nice to be able to pull 4 or 5 gees and still be below gear speed limit, huh? Only down side was I busted the actuator valves and the thing was leaking like crazy in the de-arm area. Glad I stopped before losing hydraulic fluid for brakes .
Being early days, we were still learning, and the problem was ice crystals in the hydualic actuator that pulled the gear up. The Viper actuators were not like those in the Double Ugly or Even the Eagles ( aka Rodan or Battlestar Galactica). Our new stuff had tiny orifices, and that included the servo actuators for the flight controls, so clean fluid and no contamination was the cure.
New procedures were implemented and we also preheated other things when it got real cold - like the jet fuel starter bottle and more. The Norwegians appreciated this early episode due to their basic climate.
Gums sends...
Last edited by gums; 15th Nov 2020 at 19:14.
Reason: added word