One sunny afternoon at Norfolk’s much lamented Jaguar base sometime in the mid 90’s, a Charity event has been scheduled, to wit a race between two teams of willing volunteers, one RAF, t’other Army. Each will be hauling a Jaguar behind them and the Devil take the hindmost. It’s been done many times before and never a hint of a problem – but – SEngO wades in, raising concerns about the well-established practice of lashing tape (which will be used to haul the Jags) being tied around the main undercarriage legs.
T’will not do says he and insists that a better solution would be for the aircraft to be pulled whilst facing backwards, i.e. lashing tape secured to the shackles located at the rear of each leg, and the teams with their collective backs to the jet pipes.
An experienced Chief raises strenuous objection but this wisdom is ignored by our man who insists that he knows best…
So, picture the scene - two Jaguars parked side by side with perhaps an aircraft’s width between them, two teams of lusty troops braced and ready, with a firm hold on lashing tape and right at the back (or the front depending on your point of view), two lineys holding on to aircraft steering arms. – Waiting at the side of the flightline ready for the ensuing spectacle is the Stn Cdr, the Stn Execs and visiting Army VIP’s.
Well, I can tell you that a clean and lightly loaded Jag gets up to running speed surprisingly quickly, however, what our man had failed to anticipate was that with the aircraft moving backwards, the noseleg was effectively facing the wrong way. Now this isn’t a problem at a slow walking pace (i.e. winching back in a HAS) but to my knowledge, no-one had ever attempted it at the run.
All of a sudden (and without warning), the first aircraft noseleg decides it really, really needs to castor through 180 degrees; this literally spits the liney off the steering arm and causes the aircraft to veer rapidly towards the adjacent jet – which is now doing exactly the same thing!
"Brakes!", scream I (and others) – thankfully the brakemen were alert and we had lots of brake pressure so disaster was averted, but honestly, not by much.
The result? 2 lineys lightly injured (cuts, grazes, bruising), much egg on collective Stn face, 1 ego comprehensively shattered and the Charity aircraft pull abandoned.
I gather SEngO had a one way conversation with OC Eng and the Stn Cdr – wish I could have been a fly on that particular wall
