Originally Posted by
Basil
SpazSinbad, thank you for that interesting Emergency Handling .pdf but despite anything the test pilots have advised, what you actually do on the day is up to the pilot. TF it all ended well.
'Basil' I'm agreeing with the 'what you actually do on the day is up to the pilot' however Pilot Notes may be 'out of date' according to later pilots and SOPs perhaps. These details I do not know while I thought it was clear I was just parroting a Pilot Note. However pilots making up stuff as they go along can be hazardous if Pilot Notes are disregarded. Starting out at NAS Nowra in the A4G Skyhawk era when fixed wing aircraft were changing from the British Pilot Note tymes (if they were by then available) to the comprehensive USN NATOPS safety culture - I would pick the NATOPS (even though it might have been noted as the BIG BLUE SLEEPING PILL). NATOPS are said to be 'written in blood' from not only test pilot experience but also pilot usage in extreme circumstances over time. This meant that EMERGENCY PROCEDURES would change sometimes.
For example in the early 1970s it was NATOPS procedure to carry out a 'short field arrest on empty underwing tanks' with certain U/C problems. By the late 1970s this NATOPS action had been changed to 'land on empty tanks on foamed runway - NO ARREST'. Not being in the RAN FAA by the late 1970s I can only guess that as noted in earlier NATOPS there was danger in landing short of the short field gear, to have the wire go over the nose of the aircraft, causing pilot death. My point is that Emergency Procedures change while the pilot quite rightly has the freedom to change actions - he may do so at peril perhaps. And I agree all is well that ends well in this case at Yeovilton.
Here is an example of 'all is well that ends well' KIWI TA-4K KAHU arresting - not quite per SOP - with U/C damaged and UP. The aircraft lands well short of the short field gear so it slides into the wire which thankfully catches the drop tanks and goes no further over them or the aircraft: [the 'fire' at end is from fuel vapour in the D/Ts]