Another B-52 question
 

Having worked on many and varied passenger aircraft types, and spent many hours setting and tweeking the engine controls. I have always wondered if the B-52 suffered from Throttle Stagger?

The Buff's mini-powerplants probably don't develop enough power for it to be noticable!
;) :} :=

I flew the G model BUFFs. They had J57 TurboWASP, water injection engines. Every flight we'd do an engine monitor check. Set the thrust to a certain RPM, record the parameters. One of the parameters we measured was throttle stagger. If it was more than a knob width difference it was written up.

When hand flying the BUFF, you just line em up. If there was any stagger, you just ignored it and trimmed up the rudder. Throttles 4 and 5 stick up higher than the rest, and some guys would set their power and fly 4 and 5 for small power changes, like air refueling and ILS's.

"for small power changes, like air refueling and ILS's"

Aah! If only..................:p

Actually air refueling and ILS's are among the most stable flight operations I can think of. If you've ever seen an air refuleing operation in progress, they look like two parked cars. What was really something to see, was an air refuling operation coming at you head on! While you're doing it, you have very little sensatioin of speed. However, viewed from a distance with some closing velocity it's quite a site!

The tanker pilot, sets his power and speed at 255 IAS as I recall. Once you get through the bow wave and stabilized there's very little throttle jockying that takes place. In fact, to make my point to students, I often demonstrate a "Look Mom, No Hands" type of contact. My point was to demonstrate the inherent stability of the operation.

On ILS approaches we used to place bets on who could keep an airplane trimmed up the longest from the FAF inbound. We'd hack a clock crossing the FAF and go hands off. The winner was the one whose airplane was stabilized the longest. (10kts, 1 dot left or right up or down). I found these little contests, increased confidence and flying skills. If you're pumping the power up and down final you're having a bad day or you need to review the basic of pitch and power flying again.

"If you're pumping the power up and down final you're having a bad day or you need to review the basic of pitch and power flying again."

You've obviously been watching me!:confused:

Thanks DVT - I've done both several times actually. Just a little :p for 04/01 - a UK tradition.