S211 Down Port Phillip Bay
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Australia OZ
Age: 75
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Yeah memories ARE fun usually.
Short story (with circumstances explanation missing) c.1973? Found myself lined up for take off RW 08 NAS Nowra watching the sun rise, waiting for known take off time for a Fleet Support sortie solo in a VC724 Macchi MB326H. YIKES! all the seat pins were still in the seat. Rather than a long taxi back to the line I decided to put my scoliosis to good use. Probably the straps were loosened a little and with my ease of rotating leaning left I could get at the pins, whilst rotating right was not so easy to put the pins in the slot. The MB Mk4 seat was really uncomfortable for me because it seemed to want to push me forward, I guess the parachute pack tended to do that mostly. During my Macchi flying time until mid 1974 I had permanent bruises on my shoulders from my EXTRA TIGHT need to be strapped in well. The original double visor helmets were the WORST! It tended to slip forward when under high G in the sweaty hot glass house canopy environment. GIF from RAAF Macchi MB326H Flight Manual.
Short story (with circumstances explanation missing) c.1973? Found myself lined up for take off RW 08 NAS Nowra watching the sun rise, waiting for known take off time for a Fleet Support sortie solo in a VC724 Macchi MB326H. YIKES! all the seat pins were still in the seat. Rather than a long taxi back to the line I decided to put my scoliosis to good use. Probably the straps were loosened a little and with my ease of rotating leaning left I could get at the pins, whilst rotating right was not so easy to put the pins in the slot. The MB Mk4 seat was really uncomfortable for me because it seemed to want to push me forward, I guess the parachute pack tended to do that mostly. During my Macchi flying time until mid 1974 I had permanent bruises on my shoulders from my EXTRA TIGHT need to be strapped in well. The original double visor helmets were the WORST! It tended to slip forward when under high G in the sweaty hot glass house canopy environment. GIF from RAAF Macchi MB326H Flight Manual.Last edited by SpazSinbad; 22nd Nov 2023 at 23:04. Reason: +grfx
'Speed below 150, speed brake in, landing gear down, three wheels, flasher out, fuel xxxxx(over 1000lb) threshold speed 105', hydraulics normal both gauges
And a double visor story for Spaz:
Alfie the Knuck was in the back seat under the hood for a Staff IFR continuation trip. Cloudy day, so he didn't put the dark visor down.
A little while into the flight, the front-seater heard "F**#@! that hurt!!"
"Whatsa matter, Alfie?"
"I was checking to see if my clear visor was down, and I poked myself in the eye!"
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Heheh. Fun times. I knew an Allan wot became an QFI. Did he dunk a plastic parrot in the oggin at POINT COOK EFATO? Both crew OK. Meanwhile in the PDF of the MACCHI FM (gif below) the owner made the star on the new bit (marked with black vertical line) wot we did not do early on. ALL PINS in during strap in then ALL PINS handed to pilot to put into the thingo.
At the risk of heading for the sightboard, an ejection seat story. I was the Airmanship lecturer at 2FTS at the time, giving a lesson on the Martin-Baker Departure Lounge.For the ejection seat lessons, the best training aid was an actual seat, mounted on a rolling trolley. This enabled me to show how each of the timing systems was able to be armed and activated (to allow the seat to get clear of the fuselage, decelerate below 3g. and be below 10,000 feet) to open the parachute. Everything was present, except the explosive charges that fired it off.
After showing the class a film of how the seat works, and demos of strapping in and unstrapping, I called on a volunteer (“YOU! Get over here!”) and I ran through the strapping procedure again. This seat wasn’t particularly comfortable, but the longest flight was only 2 hours, so it was possible to tolerate it for that long.
The lucky volunteer had everything on except the helmet and oxy mask, so he was well trussed-up. The next part of the demonstration was for him to simulate ejection by reaching above his head for the ejection handles and pulling the face blind out and down over his face. When the blind reaches full extension and is covering the pilot’s face, the ejection sequence is triggered and (in a real seat) the first part of a three-part explosion is fired.
Well, in this case, the ground technicians who re-packed the seat after the last demonstration, put a small cartridge in the ejection gun. When the poor student pulled down on the face blind, there was an almighty BANG! which scared the crap out of everyone in the room, including me. And when the initial realisation came that the seat hadn’t actually launched through the roof, we all looked at the student, still with the blind over his face – slowly and shakily he lifted one edge of the blind and we saw a very white face emerge. Everybody broke up laughing, except him.
After showing the class a film of how the seat works, and demos of strapping in and unstrapping, I called on a volunteer (“YOU! Get over here!”) and I ran through the strapping procedure again. This seat wasn’t particularly comfortable, but the longest flight was only 2 hours, so it was possible to tolerate it for that long.
The lucky volunteer had everything on except the helmet and oxy mask, so he was well trussed-up. The next part of the demonstration was for him to simulate ejection by reaching above his head for the ejection handles and pulling the face blind out and down over his face. When the blind reaches full extension and is covering the pilot’s face, the ejection sequence is triggered and (in a real seat) the first part of a three-part explosion is fired.
Well, in this case, the ground technicians who re-packed the seat after the last demonstration, put a small cartridge in the ejection gun. When the poor student pulled down on the face blind, there was an almighty BANG! which scared the crap out of everyone in the room, including me. And when the initial realisation came that the seat hadn’t actually launched through the roof, we all looked at the student, still with the blind over his face – slowly and shakily he lifted one edge of the blind and we saw a very white face emerge. Everybody broke up laughing, except him.
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Ahhh….bungers brought in from Butterworth, lit and thrown into a full lecture room, door slammed shut, listening to the fun…
YMAV
1900m at YMEN.
1330m at YMMB.
Makes sense. Also had more time for the dust to settle mentally. Familiar airport with better emergency and firefighting facilities and far less traffic than Moorabbin which was fairly horrid on Sunday, operating on 31/13. Would have been a cat amongst the pigeons for sure.
He was very clear about his desire to land on runway 26.
1330m at YMMB.
Makes sense. Also had more time for the dust to settle mentally. Familiar airport with better emergency and firefighting facilities and far less traffic than Moorabbin which was fairly horrid on Sunday, operating on 31/13. Would have been a cat amongst the pigeons for sure.
He was very clear about his desire to land on runway 26.
2. From FR24 it seems the majority of his flight (a) was over water towards the city, (b) was in constant contact with ATC, and (c) did not "overfly the city" at any time.
3. YMEN is the home base for this aircraft and the pilot is familiar and comfortable with the airport environment there, with support services for his aircraft readily available.
4. YMEN also has emergency services available and a long enough runway for this aircraft to land on.
Just because something "might fall off the aircraft" is no reason for him to choose a comparatively unfamiliar airport with regular passenger operations and no support services, miles away from help. No, YMEN was as good (or better) as anywhere for him to go.
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1. It would appear from his bio and the ATC audio that this pilot was not a novice and had a good understanding of the extent of damage to his aircraft.
2. From FR24 it seems the majority of his flight (a) was over water towards the city, (b) was in constant contact with ATC, and (c) did not "overfly the city" at any time.
3. YMEN is the home base for this aircraft and the pilot is familiar and comfortable with the airport environment there, with support services for his aircraft readily available.
4. YMEN also has emergency services available and a long enough runway for this aircraft to land on.
Just because something "might fall off the aircraft" is no reason for him to choose a comparatively unfamiliar airport with regular passenger operations and no support services, miles away from help. No, YMEN was as good (or better) as anywhere for him to go.
2. From FR24 it seems the majority of his flight (a) was over water towards the city, (b) was in constant contact with ATC, and (c) did not "overfly the city" at any time.
3. YMEN is the home base for this aircraft and the pilot is familiar and comfortable with the airport environment there, with support services for his aircraft readily available.
4. YMEN also has emergency services available and a long enough runway for this aircraft to land on.
Just because something "might fall off the aircraft" is no reason for him to choose a comparatively unfamiliar airport with regular passenger operations and no support services, miles away from help. No, YMEN was as good (or better) as anywhere for him to go.
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The home factor is critical. Don't forget that in addition to the damage to the aircraft, the guy had just witnessed the assumed death of a good friend. In addition to support for the aircraft, I'm pretty sure all of us would want to get into the support of loved ones ASAP too.
I see.
Yes, that's my point. I'm just wondering how some people here view their own decision making.
If you listen to the ATC audio the pilot of the "Viper" aircraft tells Melbourne control that he intends to make a visual approach into rwy 26 at EN from 2500 feet and asks that the runway be inspected for debris afterwards.
Ummmm, sorry? But if that was me I would not overfly a densely built up area if I had unknown damage under my aircraft. Why not go to Avalon, and ask for whatever emergency services are required there. And while you're at it declare a Mayday for yourself as well.
If you listen to the ATC audio the pilot of the "Viper" aircraft tells Melbourne control that he intends to make a visual approach into rwy 26 at EN from 2500 feet and asks that the runway be inspected for debris afterwards.
Ummmm, sorry? But if that was me I would not overfly a densely built up area if I had unknown damage under my aircraft. Why not go to Avalon, and ask for whatever emergency services are required there. And while you're at it declare a Mayday for yourself as well.
Being a Jetstar pilot, he potentially knew Avalon very well !
Commercial / financial / personal / maintenance reasons frequently seem to trump the safer landing options.
Like flying past a perfectly serviceable airfield when one engine has failed, simply because “legally you can” sounds like a good idea at the time… but.
Commercial / financial / personal / maintenance reasons frequently seem to trump the safer landing options.
Like flying past a perfectly serviceable airfield when one engine has failed, simply because “legally you can” sounds like a good idea at the time… but.
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So typical. Monday morning quarterbacks always know the safer option they would have taken after a collision in an aircraft they've never actually flown in circumstances they've never actually experienced. Let's all pile on to the surviving pilot!
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