Originally Posted by
FL575
Slightly off-thread, but...
I remember being at Brize for an RCDS (Royal College of Defence Studies) presentation many years ago, where an example of all RAF aircraft was expected to attend (and they had to be immaculate!). I was one of the earlier arrivals, and, standing by my ac, watched the Buccaneer approach and land in the slightly darkening grey day.
A nice smooth landing, quite nose high and bang on the centreline, and then the pilot dropped the hook. The sound effects went something like 'scrape, scrape, ping... scrape, scrape, ping...'
Some of the lights went about 30ft in the air, and the array of sparks was very impressive.
They had runway edge lighting at Laarbruch.
Presicely the same thing happened at Warton about a year ago. A Typhoon on finals elected to make a RHAG engagement as his nosewheel steering was suffering problems.
Typoon touched down bang on centreline 46 metres before the threshold. Hook damaged. Centreline lights destroyed. And because of the shattered hook, the (brand new) cable was written off too.
See the spring 06 (I think) Flight Safety Flyer for the full story.