F14A Perspectives from an Interesting Source

[Victory205]

https://hushkit.net/2020/04/07/interview-with-the-greatest-living-fighter-ace-f-14-tomcat-pilot-col-rtd-fereydoun-a-mazandarani/

[Nexus-6]

Yup, I read this one. It's a cool Q&A.

 

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[Bearfoot]

"In one instance, during a CAP mission on a moonless night around 0330 local time, I was returning to 8th tactical fighter base near Isfahan when I noticed another F-14 less than 200 metres away flying inverted with its gears extended upwards. I wasn’t sure about what was transpiring before my eyes since it was our standard operating procedure to turn off all aircraft navigational lights in combat conditions. I contacted the tower and they confirmed that my colleague J.Z. was on final approach. I gently radio’d him and said, “Hey, I think you are vertigoed! Just roll right and level off.” Thankfully, he listened and levelled off moments before landing. But this story will always be with me as a good example of what fatigue and combat can do to a pilot.”

 

WOW!!

[Stingray 537 Mongo]

"In one instance, during a CAP mission on a moonless night around 0330 local time, I was returning to 8th tactical fighter base near Isfahan when I noticed another F-14 less than 200 metres away flying inverted with its gears extended upwards.

 

That's incredibly fortunate that the pilot had the wherewithall to recognize he was literally upside-down.

 

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[Emmy]

Would love to know how that pilot didn’t know he was upside down because unless he was in a 1 G dive, he’d surely have felt himself hanging from the belts?

[Bearfoot]

Would love to know how that pilot didn’t know he was upside down because unless he was in a 1 G dive, he’d surely have felt himself hanging from the belts?

 

[Not a pilot, but from a bio/physiological perspective ...]

 

The lights on the ground can look like stars in the sky, and the visual signal can have such a strong influence on the mind that it disregards or sometimes even reverse-reads the body's inertial sense (from the vestibular system). Not exactly the same, but related, VR nausea "goes away" when you learn to ignore your vestibular system telling you that you are not moving when eyes are telling you that you are.

[Stingray 537 Mongo]

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The lights on the ground can look like stars in the sky, and the visual signal can have such a strong influence on the mind that it disregards or sometimes even reverse-reads the body's inertial sense (from the vestibular system).

I had this happen to me the first time I drove through the smokey mountains in Tennessee. I had been driving for 10 hours straight after being awake for 12 hours prior to starting my trip. I remember looking out the right side of my car and thinking "man, those stars are really low on the horizon".

 

It took me a minute to realize I was seeing a town in a valley. Sleep deprivation does weird things to your brain.

 

 

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[Emmy]

I’m fully aware of how the various night illusions work.

 

I just liken it to a Spiral in IMC where there’s no obvious acceleration cues unless and until it tightens to the point you start to get heavier in the seat.

 

You can’t be 0G inverted unless you’re descending. You can’t be 1G inverted without being in a significant descent. If you’re 1G, your VSI is trending down and the altimeter is unwinding, then that might be a clue. Pretty bad scan going on.

[AH_Solid_Snake]

I’m fully aware of how the various night illusions work.

 

I just liken it to a Spiral in IMC where there’s no obvious acceleration cues unless and until it tightens to the point you start to get heavier in the seat.

 

You can’t be 0G inverted unless you’re descending. You can’t be 1G inverted without being in a significant descent. If you’re 1G, your VSI is trending down and the altimeter is unwinding, then that might be a clue. Pretty bad scan going on.

 

 

I'd be wary of disregarding this as just "bad scan", the exact problem has occured in both IMC and night flying too many times to just dismiss it as a problem.

 

 

All the training in the world can start to fall to the wayside if your little pink brain starts getting tired or the instinctual parts begin to take over, its why we call it disorientation.

 

 

Recognising it and correcting it is possible sure, but the best trained person in the world isnt immune to it - I guess there's similarity there to high altitude hypoxia training.

[Stingray 537 Mongo]

Here's a link to the Wikipedia article on spacial disorientation. Towards the end is a paragraph on non-visual cues that is pertinent to this conversation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_disorientation?wprov=sfla1

 

The tl:dr version is that yes, it is possible to be inverted and not know it at night because our inner ear isn't all that hard to trick when the change is gradual.

 

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[Victory205]

One illusion that startled me a couple of times at night was looking back at a flight as it broke into the landing pattern. You would see two lights that appeared to be wingtip lights of a single aircraft as the flight separated.

 

Hard to describe, but for a couple of seconds, it appeared that you were looking at a single aircraft getting big really fast, seconds from a collision with your own. Scared the bejesus out of me until I realized that I was looking a two airplanes a mile away.

[grant977]

Sounds like he flew heatblur jet.... Only kidding but the way he describes the Phoenix and the way the 14 is in act is haunting similar to my experience. Bravo heatblur on your masterpiece.

[USAFMTL]

So he was....inverted.....I'm so sorry. I'll see myself out......:D

 

Thanks for the read Vic!

[Uxi]

"I opened fire with the gun twice, but didn’t think he was hit. I told my RIO to keep reading the altitude as we hurtled towards the earth. I kept hearing him read the altimeter: “2500ft, 2000, 1800, 1500, 1000, 600, 300” and then I pulled the nose up hard pushing the throttles to zone 5 afterburner, avoiding the ground. "

 

Would be very nice if we could tell Jester to do that.

[IronMike]

So he was....inverted.....I'm so sorry. I'll see myself out......:D

 

Thanks for the read Vic!

 

 

 

 

Oh, oh, someone owes 5 bucks to the coffee mug.