Had two real scares in the van at Leuchars. F4 roars off Rwy 27, suffers a double hyd fail and electrical fail, cant talk to anyone, who then turns downwind, turns finals and arrives at a hell of a rate into the approach end cable. It really was not his day because the cable decided enough was enough and promptly broke, the sound as it whipped past the caravan haunts me to this day. the bang from the electrical box that powered the van was even better!! Meanwhile our mighty F4 staggers back into the air and if memory serves me right went into the 22 app cable successfully.
The other time was an F4 returning from some foreign jaunt late on a Friday in really ****ty weather, 09 was in use and the vis was so ****ty i didnt see him the first two times, i did the third time, I saw an F4 well left of the centreline, low and very nose up, I commonly had the van door open and, following a quick "overshoot" call on local I was off and running!! Yes it probably would not have done me any good should the unthinkable have happened, but you got to try! The BCU man was about 50 meters away on the grass unaware of the unfolding drama and he assured me later it was a very close call. I called Local and the DP explained to them what i had just seen, and the aircraft buggered off to somewhere with better visibility and a Caravan Controller who had a more normal heart rate than mine!!