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International
Plastic Modellers Society Dunedin Inc Serving the modellers of |
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NZ 6201 26 June 1975 |
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Captain F Carter (USAF) in Skyhawk
….. “After
takeoff from RAAF Williamtown on a night Adex the nose gear indicated unsafe. Airspeed was
maintained at 180- 200 knots KIAS while my wingman joined to check me over.
He stated that all the gear as up, so I attempted to recycle. Upon lowering
the gear all indications were normal and this was confirmed by my wingman. I
retracted the gear and none would come up. My wing confirmed that the gear
was still down. I put the gear handle down and got positive down and locked
indications on all wheels. My wingman checked me over and confirmed all the
indications. I contacted Williamtown Approach and
asked for radar vector to dump fuel for landing. Approach vectored me out ot sea at 9000ft and told me I was cleared to commence fuel
dumping. I
moved the switch to dump and shortly thereafter (2-3 seconds) both hydraulic
lights (flight control and utility) started to flicker on and off. At the
same time I got violent rudder yaw about 45 degrees and roll. The rudder
input rolled me inverted and I could not control the aircraft. I immediately
disconnected the flight controls. Shortly thereafter the rudder input ceased.
I then jettisoned the fuel tanks which contained 2500lbs of fuel. I declared
an inflight emergency and informed approach that I
must land asap. I was in contact with 75 Squadron
Ops on VHF and they read the NATOPS procedure to me to confirm that I has accomplished all steps. Meanwhile the uncontrollable
random inputs continued. They would roll the aircraft to the inverted
position and would yaw the nose through 45 degrees.
I was prepared to eject because I didn’t think I would be able to control the
aircraft on an approach. The only reason I didn’t eject at this time was that
as fast as the rudder would subside, I could recover the aircraft. I was in
cloud at this time and attempting to steer the aircraft towards Williamtown so that I could point it out to sea and eject
over the base. I decided to stay with the aircraft and after a time I would
attempt an approach. I stopped dumping fuel at 1500 lbs and set up for a long
straight in. An approach and arrest was not possible as there were no
facilities. On first approach I could not land because the aircraft was
yawing so violently I could not get it lined up with the runway. I circled
wide with about 15o bank; I lined up with the runway and flew
finals at approximately 170 knots. The rudder inputs continued. I had
previously tried the use of stability augmentation to no avail, so the auto
pilot was turned off. At 200 feet on final the aircraft rolled 90o
of bank but I was able to recover. It was yawing still and a touchdown I was
again 45o off heading. The runway was wet. I deployed the chute as
I was touching down at approximately 140 knots. The aircraft started broadsiding down the runway to the right. I tried to
straighten with the use of left brake and blew the tyre. This straightened
the aircraft with the runway. I then started to drift off to the left due to
the cross wind, so I blew the right tyre which again aligned me with the
runway but I was still drifting left. I called that I was going off the
runway (speed estimated at 25 knots) but I was able to stop with the left
wing hanging over the edge. The aircraft was secured. (Later the pilot was awarded the Air Force
Cross). |
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Contact Site designed and maintained By Mark Rogers |
Created : Saturday,
06 October 2007 |
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