Originally Posted by
ACMS
Airbus use a 100 kt call ( its not just for IAS crosscheck either ) BUT most of us check quite a few times the IAS is alive, especially looking for expected acceleration with a nice long trend vector...most of us if not all of us should notice no IAS way before 100 kts. Even at 100 kts there is still ample time to notice the discrepancy and STOP before V1
I would venture to suggest that they must have had some IAS indications that changed after airborne, perhaps as posted above the covers melted and then blocked after airborne?
I would be very surprised if a current professional crew got airborne without any airspeed indications at all.....
A long time ago I was the A/C on a C141overnight to the Canal Zone off-loading 150 troops with all their gear. The next morning when we arrived at ops, we were told it was a full cargo load back to Tacoma, WA. Routine, let us know when the port folks have finished switching out all of the pax gear- seats, O2 masks and associated lines, life vests, etc., so the cargo can be loaded. Apparently the port crew were civilians, it was Saturday, and we were on our own. No drama except that in the late 1970’s, the over-riding metric to evaluate one’s performance was blocking out on-time. Normally not a big deal, except we had the new Wing Commander sitting on our jump seat and he was fired up to look good. After a stupid pep talk, we sprung into action. The enlisted guys, to their credit, played along and with a lot of grunting and sweating actually got the bird ready to go with a not so bad showing of the officers as well. The heat index at Howard AFB reminded us how much we were missing the free air conditioning and ice water from the Great NW. Super rushed before taxi checklist, INS’s to NAV, taxi clearance from ground and away we go - on time! The Wing Commander’s time card was punched and we lined up for the copilot ‘takeoff.
It was hot, we were heavy, performance was nothing to write home about. As the PNF, waiting for the airspeed to get off the peg, acceleration felt normal. Cross- checking the co-pilot’s airspeed showed the same indication; he was still on the peg - 60 kts My eyes were darting from my airspeed indicator to the end of the runway, back to co-pilot’s airspeed. I was having a crisis. Don’t believe my instruments which are both in agreement, or trust my gut and abort. Abort. First question the FE asks and needs to know is at what speed the brakes were applied. As we taxied off the runway, the light bulb in my head went off, and I had the loadmaster open up the hatch and verify what I hoped he would not see - installed pitot covers. He did. We decided on 100 kts.which resulted in a 44 min ground cooling time. To be on the safe side, we decided to air cool the brakes as well after takeoff. This plan was shelved at 1000’AGL as we had #4 overheat. With the throttle at idle and the gear down, we weren’t climbing well enough to clear the terrain, so, gear up, away we go. 4-5 hours later we land and the C141makes a B-line for the left edge of the runway. We block-in. The scanner outside informs the #5 tire fuse plug has melted.
Where to start….
1. General Officer on the flight deck changes the crew dynamic. I had lost some amount of authority. Btw, general was current on the aircraft.
2. Checklist discipline was obviously terrible. We all sang the correct tune. There was Red X log entry that the FE and I glossed over.
3. FE does the walk around, A/C should back up. I was loading the INS, co-pilot was pushing pallets. The routine was f**
4. We are trained to notice things that are different, not the same.
5. High speed aborts are dangerous. We actually stopped only 500’ from the end. Abort probably initiated at 130 kts which was 10-15 kts above V-1.
6. If one fuse plug melted, how close were the others?
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