Use of split throttle as shown in Maverick--has this been confirmed as factual?

[VZ_342]

Maybe you've read an interview, confirming or denying the use of split throttles and control surfaces to be a "poor man's" thrust vectoring?

 

It's pretty amazing if true. Thoughts?

[Quid]

I've heard of a few Tomcat pilots using it under incredibly specific circumstances, one attested to in the book Bye Bye, Baby:

John "Stash" Fristachi, on flying against "Snort":  "I recall watching from the edge of the 500-foot bubble as both our jets became ballistic at 12,000 feet in W-72.  Somehow Dale managed to pirouette and point at me while ballistic.  That's when I realized that my suspicions about airborne maneuvering via split engine power were valid.  I later used the tactic in dire circumstances against the Viper or Hornet.  It was always a crowd pleaser."  (Hall, Lawson, Parsons et al.  Grumman F-14 Tomcat: Bye Bye, Baby. CA: Check Six, 2006.  83).

So, it was possible and it was done, but I'd hazard a guess that next to no-one actually used it because its tactical applicability was so limited, atop being a pro-spin control input.

[Quid]

Hello, @scommander2,

OP's question was WRT real-world split throttle usage.  I am aware of and have used split throttles in the early days of the F-14's release in DCS to test spin recovery, but it wasn't a real-world procedure, either in bold-face or unorthodox concepts like Hoser's manual wing sweep combined with counter-rudder which he used in the real world twice - he matched the throttles, he did not split them.  Plenty of things are done in DCS that were not done in the real-world, or were done very rarely.  Split throttles is something very few Tomcat drivers talk about, some (like Okie) completely eschewed the thought because you were cutting a bunch of useful thrust, while others like "Jambo" stated it was feasible with F110s, but with the TF-30s you were asking to cough an engine.  Suffice to say, I am more aware of Tomcat pilots who considered split thrust a disadvantage than those who considered it an advantage [EDIT:] outside of highly specific circumstances like in my original post.

Edited September 15, 2022 by Quid
Amplification

[scommander2]

Thanks and no problem that I understood the question.  Just thinking to have fun in DCS  

[draconus]

10 hours ago, VZ_342 said:

...use of split throttles and control surfaces to be a "poor man's" thrust vectoring?

Split throttle alone will only give you yaw force independent of the control surfaces authority. Thrust vectoring is really about pitching the nose without control surfaces help.

I found it useful for taxing out along with diff braking when your NWS is locked, like after using emergency landing gear

[Hiob]

Growling Sidewinder has done a couple of videos testing the effects of split throttle in the Tomcat. His results were, that you only should cut the AB on one side and not pull it back to idle - otherwise you risk either a compressor stall and/or a flat spin. Other than that, he found that it can indeed give you a slight edge in BFM.

That is of course inside DCS. If it applies (or would apply) to RL, probably can't be concluded from that.

[Spurts]

1 hour ago, Hiob said:

Growling Sidewinder has done a couple of videos testing the effects of split throttle in the Tomcat. His results were, that you only should cut the AB on one side and not pull it back to idle - otherwise you risk either a compressor stall and/or a flat spin. Other than that, he found that it can indeed give you a slight edge in BFM.

That is of course inside DCS. If it applies (or would apply) to RL, probably can't be concluded from that.

His videos on the subject were quite awful.  He went into the merge with one engine already pulled and often had the wrong engine pulled for the situation.  Only occasionally did he have the right engine pulled in the right situation and that is when it looked cool and made him look good.  If you are going to do this you should keep both engines in AB and pull one out of AB only when already at low speed and otherwise in conditions where the rudder isn't enough.  Nothing he did in his video was unachievable using rudders with occasional cross control lateral stick.

[Uxi]

I've done it a few times for fun.  Introduces some yaw as expected.  It's also a part of spin recovery procedures which I tried a few times,  too. 

Didn't do anything like the movie,  thigh didn't really expect it to, either.