Anybody Know The Story Behind This Image?

[CheckGear]

Sure...

 

Performance is subject to circumstances and environmental factors, not something that most would dispute.

 

I am simply stating that the ability to recover with 6 phoenix missiles was part of the original design specification (in the late 1960s) and it is inaccurate to state that the aircraft could not do it.

 

I've never seen a carrier launch or recovery with 6 phoenixes, only photo hops from land bases - like "Hey Joe" Parsons famous VF-32 photo (which I can't find an online link for - it's a good photo that took a lot of practice to get right).

 

The 6 phoenix load-out was intended to be a "doomsday" configuration - but the USN still wanted the aircraft to be able to recover with this load - at least in the beginning.

 

I think we agree on this. It's a bit like saying "the Tomcat was not a Mach 2 fighter", because the most recent NATOPS manual recommends a max speed of Mach 1.88 for engine-out safety. It could fly to mach 2, reached mach 2.40 in OPEVAL, but no guarantee that an F-14 that you pulled off the line would reach it that day, depending on aircraft condition, ambient temp, engine tune, etc. Still, it was a Mach 2 aircraft by the standards of comparison to other aircraft. Similarly, the F-14 has enough "bring back" designed into the airframe to allow it to trap with 6 phoenix missiles, and done so deliberately. Even if no-one ever tried. This high bring back was also a great benefit for FCLP practice, since the aircraft could practice with ~75% fuel load. A big upgrade from the Phantom which needed to burn down to fairly low fuel state before practice. Ironically, the increased empty weight of the F-14D made it the only variant without enough bring back for 6 phoenixes. Again, it was more or less irrelevant since no one was trying.

 

Is there something that I'm missing?

 

-Nick

 

Believe me, I'm not trying to argue; I'm just saying the ability of the Tomcat to do it is largely meaningless. In fact, it probably wouldn't be able to do it all, unless conditions were just right and when are conditions ever "just right?"

[Vampyre]

I don't know why you would assume a minor incident like this would put a Highly valuable Tomcat out of commission. A new Canopy and an Ejection seat and he was good to go! 164341 seen 4 years later in the Bone Yard at DM. -Woog

 

[ATTACH]117916[/ATTACH]

 

As the picture shows they did put it back together but it didn't make the 2003 war cruise with VF-213. Second hand info but an AME buddy of mine said that VF-101 put it back together and, as seen in the photo, evidently it was given to VF-31 some time after that. I was one of the "many people who came out to see the spectacle."

[313_Nevo]

'We seldom loaded our Tomcats with six AIM-54s. I saw F-14s armed that way only twice in my career, and that was before the war with Iraq. In May 1978, I flew a Tomcat armed with six AIM-54s, and I was surprised to see just how much of an impact these large and heavy missiles had on the speed, range and maneuverability of the jet as result of their weight and drag.

An F-14 loaded with six AIM-54s could not dofgiht, and its landing speed was much higher - closer to 290 kmh (normally 230kmh or 144mph), which posed a danger to both the aircraft and its crew.'

 

OSPREY COMBAT AIRCRAFT * 49 - Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat

[Fri13]

Here is the story about BNo: 164341, F-14D (from home of M.A.T.S)

 

On Nov. 6, 2002 this F-14 took off from Fallon Naval Air Station with a VIP in the back seat - a naval officer from the cruiser Anzio who was on what the military calls a "FAM Hop," or familiarization ride. In flight, when the pilot pulled a "negative 1g," the gravity force moved the officer nearly off his seat. He reached down to reposition himself and accidentally pulled the ejection lever. The cockpit canopy flew off and out went the VIP. The ejection system automatically opened the VIP's parachute. He landed safely in the Nevada desert and waited for his rescue. The F-14 returned to base.

 

dumping out the fuel:

That was interesting as a year ago I ended watching the JAG series and on last season or so there was an episode where the Admiral was required to have a "familiration" flight and he did exactly that accidentally on negative G and "got off". He didn't land on desert but in forest, at winter and just coming blizzard time. Rest of the episode was about searching him from forest while he basically got frostbite, hallucinations and accidents causing him to wonder away from the drop site.

 

Of course it was required to change little details for show but i didn't believe so would happen, until now. WOW!

 

ps. The JAG was interesting because how it showed the USA military daily working manners and internal politics and problems by point of JAG officers. Especially F-14 and later F-18 were nicely presented in show style.

[BlackLion213]

Believe me, I'm not trying to argue; I'm just saying the ability of the Tomcat to do it is largely meaningless. In fact, it probably wouldn't be able to do it all, unless conditions were just right and when are conditions ever "just right?"

 

Seems reasonable to me. We still agree on this. :)

 

-Nick

Edited May 26, 2015 by BlackLion213

[SDsc0rch]

i may or may not know who the back-seater was ; ) i may or may not have served on his first command ; )

 

i say back-seater because he wasn't a RIO - he was a surface warfare officer, CO of the cruiser in the battlegroup and thus would be "alpha whiskey" (air warfare, warfare component commander) on deployment and thus got fam flights in the various aircraft in the airwing

 

(interesting note - once jets launch from the carrier, they come under the authority of AW, a SWO on a surface ship ------ funny how that worked out.. i'm sure once they're over the beach they're under another controlling agency but at least for defensive purposes its AW)

 

what i heard was that he went to shift his position in the seat and inadvertently grabbed the ejection handle between his legs

Edited May 26, 2015 by SDsc0rch

[BabaGanoosh]

I heard a similar story when i visited the swedish air force museum last year. A general or other high ranking officer from one of the baltic countries i believe, was visiting an airbase and got to hitch a ride in an SK60 trainer. Before doing some high-g maneuvers the pilot told him to tighten his seatbelt. For some reason he pulled the ejection handle instead. The pilot made it back to base and the officer was able to phone for help from a house close to where he landed.

[Grundar]

i may or may not know who the back-seater was ; ) i may or may not have served on his first command ; )

 

i say back-seater because he wasn't a RIO - he was a surface warfare officer, CO of the cruiser in the battlegroup and thus would be "alpha whiskey" (air warfare, warfare component commander) on deployment and thus got fam flights in the various aircraft in the airwing

 

(interesting note - once jets launch from the carrier, they come under the authority of AW, a SWO on a surface ship ------ funny how that worked out.. i'm sure once they're over the beach they're under another controlling agency but at least for defensive purposes its AW)

 

what i heard was that he went to shift his position in the seat and inadvertently grabbed the ejection handle between his legs

 

 

I guess for the regular person, if you want to adjust your car seat you often reach under the front of the seat to adjust the position - maybe it was just momentary lapse of concentration/complete fear of reefing up in the back of an F-14 or simply him not being aware that that was the location for ejection or that sort of automatic, as it were, reach for where you adjust a seat.

 

Bloody funny story though, luckily it ended well for all those involved.

[turkeydriver]

I don't know why you would assume a minor incident like this would put a Highly valuable Tomcat out of commission. A new Canopy and an Ejection seat and he was good to go! 164341 seen 4 years later in the Bone Yard at DM. -Woog

 

[ATTACH]117916[/ATTACH]

 

Wasn't assumption, just wrong information. I thought I read mishap report saying the damage to the cockpit was too much to justify repair towards the end of its career and it was no longer a flyer. Glad I was wrong.

[Hummingbird]

Sh*t happens...

[CHRISXTR3M3]

That pilot must have had a great laugh to himself once he saw the canopy fly off and the rear seat missing

[Dirty Rotten Flieger]

Interesting story. Must have been quite embarrassing for the poor guy, and also quite a surprise the moment he was ejected while not expecting it! lol