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Fuel fraction - the worst offender ?
Fuel contents, consumption, and endurance have always fascinated me for some reason, so perhaps I’m a failed navigator at heart, but when reading the pilot’s notes on any aircraft the fuel system always gets first look in. From the tank sequencing in a Venom FB4 to the quirky “never more than half full” fuel gauges in the MiG 15/17. But which of those early jets offered the smallest fuel fraction?
The Lightning always takes flak as being chronically short of fuel, but then I recall seeing that the early Hunter had something like 20 minutes of flying time on internals, the Harrier didn’t win many prizes of course, nor did the Starfighter, and the early F/A-18 was very unpopular for its short legs. There are of course many more. So was there one type that you flew which always seemed to be on the verge of a fuel emergency, and were there any close scrapes you experienced ? |
MilJet pilots are mindful of fuel state - especially I like to think that NavAv pilots are even more keen on getting back to 'the boat' with more fuel than they are allowed to land with - so they have to dump fuel. Always exceptions of course and in these days of ubiquitous air refueling by LARGE airborne fuel trucks one does not hear of 'fuel emergencies' much.
One notable exception in the RAN FAA was a sprog Macchi MB326H pilot (since deceased in a motorway accident in UK I'm told) managing to run out of fuel - after getting low on fuel at low level out to sea then sensibly climbing to return to NAS Nowra. Being in touch with the tower he had low overcast weather at the airfield which was not great for an engine out forced landing. But returning gliding from the south east he passed over Jervis Bay airfield, being able to see it through a hole in the undercast. Down he went through it to carry out a successful high speed engine out forced landing on a runway not suitable for jets (airfield only good for Jindivik targets all those years ago now - late 1970s or so). Anyhow he went to fly other RAN machines. For myself I have been overhead the carrier at max altitude with thankfully enough fuel to circle slowly waiting for the next recovery cycle (they promised me an hour after my ordinary CHARLIE time - whilst I got that news when still at altitude; but out of range south of any Hawaiian island airfields and NO TANKER). Did not stop the Hawaiian ANG to send out a pair of F-102As to buzz me closely as I ambled around and around 'making fuel' transgressing their ADIZ. All turned out OK though - wires back online within time stated. :} |
We carry an airliner’s worth of fuel but that’s not always enough! I suppose the FJ world could have too much fuel if they suddenly need to start pulling a few Gs?
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8th June 1982, first ever night deck landing. Planned to get back with 800lbs of gas but got into a fight with 4 Skyhawks and ended up landing with 300lbs (90 secs flying time) in a thunderstorm. Pilots' Notes say that up to 150lbs a side can be unusable!
No 2 was even worse off - but at least they kept the bar open for us! Swing the lamp! Mog |
Mogwi
With a story as cool as that who can possibly follow you?
End of thread! BV👏🏼 |
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In 1950 we were flying 35 min training sessions in Meteor VIIs with 40 mins fuel in the aircraft.
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Whilst mindful that any story will seem pathetic after Mogwi's tale in the spirit of continuing the thread I was an early student on the Tucano. We used to take the ac for a sortie with half tanks as it was pretty good for economy. I was sent off on a solo low level & at just about the furthest point from base realised that fuel was getting a tad low so pulled out & proceeded directly back. On the way back realised that things were getting really low & as I approached the airfield that there were a couple of first solos in the circuit. As it was a late Friday afternoon I thought that a 'fuel priority' call might cause some ructions & only draw attention to my predicament so I elected for a discrete join which fortunately wasn't delayed. As I recall I shutdown with about 25kg showing on the totaliser, I don't recall what unusable fuel there was. That was still probably good for 5 or 10 mins though, assuming it was all usable.
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ahhh but once you were in the pattern you should be able to glide in.................
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It all depends on where and when you expect to fight, doesn’t it?
IIRC the USAAC/USAF were always incredulous at the small fuel fraction of RAF fighters, but the RAF expected to fight close to home and have the enemy come to them. The same applied t8 the Luftwaffe with the Me-163 above. It equally held true for the Mig-19 in Vietnam; and the Mig-29 on the Central Front. The OR that led to the SR-53 was originally just for an updated equivalent of the Me-163 - a rocket powered fighter able to climb to 60,000 ft in 2.5 minutes to intercept M2 bombers, and then to glide back to base. It was only during the development they added the Viper jet engine as as an additional “get you home” capability. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saunders-Roe_SR.53 |
Heathrow Harry: I'm sure someone would have noticed my mistake then!!
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The taxi-in would have been a bugger.....
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Talking of deadsticks, wasn't it Winkle Brown testing the early Whittle jet who flamed out at attitude and managed to glide back to Farnborough turn off the runway and roll back to his parking bay, the groundcrew couldn't understand how the engine was stone cold.
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Swing the lamp! I’ve just re-read it. I love the anecdote about the masking tape! |
Salute!
I vote for the Double Ugly, AKA Phantom. That thing needed to hit the tanker going and coming and sometimes if it had to hold at the target area - CSAR, support of the grunts and etc. So we get to Thailand in 1972 with our Sluf and it sipped gas. We normally took two x 300 gal drops for maybe 13,000 pounds of gas at the roll. Then 10 x 500 pounders uless computed roll was over 85% of the runway. Combat radius of about 350 - 400 n.m with plenty leftover. So one day a flight had to land at Udorn due to bad WX or closed rwy at home plate. after refueling and taxi, they had to hold. After a few the tower asked what their abort time was. Huh? It was a Phantom thing. The intrepid flight leader looked down and noted about 12,000 pounds of gas or so and a fuel flow of 500 - 1000 pounds per hour. Figure 200 miles to Korat burning about 1500 -2000 pounds per hour, maybe 7 pounds per mile with climb included. So he advises tower that he didn't quite unnerstan the abort fuel thingie, but they could sit there for another 7 or 8 hours! Gums recalls..... |
Originally Posted by India Four Two
(Post 9939409)
I don’t think I’m giving away any secrets here, when I suggest that anyone wanting more information about Mogwi’s hair-raising deck landing, should get hold of Hostile Skies by David Morgan and read Chapter 11 - The Final Engagement.
I’ve just re-read it. I love the anecdote about the masking tape! David Morgan Part Three: Sea Harrier Over The Falklands - The Final Engagement "...Climbing rapidly through 20,000 feet, I checked my engine and fuel gauges and realised that we were going to be very tight for gas. We used a figure of 2,000 lbs of fuel overhead Port Stanley as a good rule of thumb for returning to the ship and my gauges were reading less than 1,400 lbs. As I overflew the battered runway, climbing through 25,000 feet between the odd burst of anti-aircraft fire, my low-level fuel lights came on, indicating 1,300 lbs remaining. At 40,000 feet, I called the carrier and told them that I was returning short of fuel and they obliged by heading towards us to close the distance. Even so, when I closed the throttle to start a cruise descent from ninety miles out, I was still uncertain that I was going to make it before I flamed out and took an unwanted bath. At 40,000 feet the sun was still a blaze of orange on the western horizon but as I descended, the light became a progressively worse. By the time I had descended to 10,000 feet, my world had become an extremely dark and lonely place. The adrenalin levels, which had been recovering to normal during the twenty minutes after the engagement, now started to increase again in anticipation of my first night deck landing. To compound the problem and to give final proof of 'Sod's law', HERMES had managed to find one of the massive thunderstorms and was in heavy rain. I realised that I did not have sufficient fuel to carry out a proper radar approach and asked the controller to just talk me onto the centreline, whilst I adjusted my glide so that I would not have to touch the throttle until the last minute. With three miles to run, descending through 1500 feet, I was still in thick, turbulent cloud when my fuel warning lights began to flash urgently, telling me that I had 500 lbs of fuel remaining. At two miles, I saw a glimmer of light emerging through the rain and at 800 feet the lights fused into the recognisable outline of the carrier. I slammed the nozzle lever into the hover stop, selected full flap and punched the undercarriage button to lower the wheels. I picked up the mirror sight, which confirmed that I was well above the ideal glide path but dropping rapidly towards the invisible sea. With about half a mile to run, I added a handful of power and felt the Pegasus engine's instant response, stopping my descent at about 300 feet. The wheels locked down as I applied full braking stop to position myself off the port side of the deck and seconds later, I was transitioning sideways to hover over the centreline of the deck, level with the aft end of the superstructure. I knew that I had very little fuel remaining, so finesse went out of the window as I closed the throttle and banged the machine down on the rain-streaked deck. Once safely taxied forward into the aptly named 'Graveyard' and lashed in place, I shut down the engine and heard Dave's jet landing on behind me. My fuel gauges were showing 300 lbs, sufficient for a further two minutes flying!..." http://www.globalaviationresource.co...idmorganp3.php |
A SHAR pilot who landed on with 300 pounds, after combat, at night, in a thunderstorm.
Mogwi, a hush just fell over the room. |
As a young first tourist helicopter pilot I once had an "interesting" night recovery to a farmer's field in Norfolk during a task deployment. The fuel bowser driver had got completely lost and never made the briefed RV. He was supposed to be in place well before dark to lay out a night landing NATO "T" for me to land at and refuel. Arriving at the briefed area, already at fuel minimums, we searched for ground lights without success until the first low level light illuminated. I decided to land asap but we had to go around from the first two attempts due to multiple HT cables seen on short finals.
I eventually landed (i.e. dumped the aircraft on the grass) with both fuel low lights on and the fuel pressure lights flickering - the boost pumps were beginning to suck air. I shut down immediately on lowering the collective lever. After shutdown we checked the fuel gauges - they read O kgs and 10 Kgs remaining. A couple of years later another Puma flamed out both its engines with about 30 and 40 kgs indicated, IIIRC. The Turmo engines burnt about 550 - 600 Kgs per hour between them (as much as 660 Kgs per hour was possible) and the tanks held a total of 1,000 kgs so we were usually short of fuel at first takeoff. I learned about flying from that. The holes in the cheese were lining up even before we found the bowser was not there. |
The masking tape anecdote:
After a while I decided that was a little to be gained by calculating the fuel every couple of minutes so I covered the fuel gauges with two patches of masking tape. At least I was not then quite so distracted. Thus, when I closed the throttle to start a cruise descent from 90 miles out I was still uncertain that I was going to make it before I flamed out and took an unwanted bath in the freezing water is at the south Atlantic Ocean. |
Low Fuel State
Police, not military.
From “Fatal Storm” by Rob Mundle … about the 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race that was swept by a cyclone (6 deaths, multiple yachts sunk / badly damaged) A police Dauphin helicopter crew winched a very lucky sailor from the sea about 300 metres from his yacht! In hover, the Radalt was fluctuating between 10 and 100 feet (90 foot waves). They flew to the nearest point of land (Mallacoota) into a (sometimes) 115 knot headwind. When they landed and pulled the engines to idle, one ran for 40 seconds, the other 1 minute. It took them 1 hour 22 minutes to fly about 65 nautical miles. The crew, David Key, Darryl Jones (pilot) & Barry Barclay, received multiple awards for this and rescues the following day. |
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