Can anyone confirm or deny the following story?
A group of Italian Starfighter pilots are converting to the Tonka.
First flight of the day is Senior Pilot from detachment.
End of Runway, full take-off power, releases brakes and off.
Halfway down runway, wheels up, belly/runway interface(
). Afterburner engaged, aileron frantically flapping(!!!) as pilot tries in vain to still carry out the take-off.
End result - large ditch along centre of runway.
Pilot's "excuse" was that in the Starfighter the wheels would not retract whilst on the ground but the Tonka did not have this feature. In Italy the Starfighter pilots had been trained to select Wheels up before rotating so as to reduce workload on the climbout.
This story was told to me by a BAe Engineer who apparently witnessed the whole thing from the tower.
Would love to know if this is real or not