Tac Attack December 1985

Angle of Attack

D aily, we are doing more difficult jobs more

professionally and safer. Our recent
Gunsmoke attests to the quality of TAC's people
He combines this broad experience with desire an
ability to continue to improve TAC's safety recon
while improving our mission effectiveness. It is a
and aircraft. This year extremely skilled aircrews pleasure to pass the reins of TAC Safety and this
and equally talented supervisors of flying and page to him and to return to the field and the
squadron leaders have recovered very sick aircraft smell of JP-4. There is life after HQ TAC.
that could have been crash statistics had the team
not been as highly qualified. Our ground support
folks have caught critical problems in quick check,
extinguished aircraft fires and professionally
launched hundreds of thousands of successful, safe
sorties. The attitude and positive approach charac-
teristic of the "high visibility" exercises have
caught on-you're doing it better and smarter on a
daily basis. Th.e environment that seems to give us HAROLD E. WATSON, Colonel, USAF
the most trouble recently is the small Chief of Safety
deployment/cross-country mission. I've put together
a "threat briefing" for you this month in hopes of
reducing similar losses in the future. We can make
this happen.
Also this month we're turning our attention
toward a very timely subject-cold weather oper-
ations and how to cope as well as a "nickel on the
grass" about formation flying.
This is my last Angle of Attack as I turn over my
office and my forum for communication with you
to Colonel "Coupe" DeVille. He has been the chief
of flight safety for the past 18 months. He came to
TAC Safety from an extensive tactical background
and brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise.
TAC ATTACK DECEMBER 1985
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

FEATURES------------~
5 Tallyho the Threat
A "threat briefing" for your mission planning.

12 Flying in Winter-A Brisk Experience

Winter operations require more planning and
care, but the results are fine-tuned, all-weather
capabilities.

16 IN THE CENTER
F-IllA

18 Here's Another Nickle on the Grass

Formation flying. The challenge. The cost. The
results.

DEPARTMENTS---.
8 TAC Tips
11 Aircrew of Distinction
15 , 21 Safety Awards
22 Down to Earth
24 Short Shots
25 Fleagle Salutes
26 Weapons Words
28 Chock Talk

TACRP 127-1
TAC Attack is not directive in nature. Recommendations are intended' to comply with existing directives. Opinions ex-
pressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the positions of TAC or USAF. Mishap information does not identify the
persons, places or units involved and may not be construed as incriminating under Article 31 of the UCMJ. Photos and
artwork are representative and not necessarily of the people or equipment involved.
Contributions are encouraged, as are comments and criticism. We reserve the right to edit all manuscripts for readability
and good taste. Write the Editor, TAC Attack, HQ TAC/SEP, Langley AFB, VA 23665-5001; or call AUTOVON 432-3658.
Distribution F(X) is controlled by TAC/SEP through the PDO, based on a ratio of 1 copy per 10 persons assigned. DOD
units other than USAF have no fixed ratio; requests will be considered individually.
Subscriptions for readers outside DOD are available from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.C. 20402. All correspondence on subscription service should be directed to the superintendent, not to TAC/SEP.

VOLUME 25 NUMBER 12
 .1146"rirm7?uauFi..n.

WO 0119P11
uismirmaimisimaaml.
0/0"61.41
Letters

HON VERNE ORR

SECRETARY OF THE
AIR FORCE

GEN ROBERT D. RUSS

COMMANDER This is an old idea, but it's still
Dear Editor
Once, years ago, a colonel red- true in 1985.
penciled, nearly to death, a piece
Best wishes
I had written. I reaccomplished
it, and with seeming disgust he Richard B. Pilmer, Col. USAF
said: "I don't know why you Chief, Human Factors Branch
want to publish this anyway-it's Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service
only a service journal." Scott AFB, Illinois
Strangely, there are others who
have similar disdain for these
COL HAL WATSON publications. But now and then, Dear Colonel Pilmer
CHIEF OF SAFETY from nearly nowhere comes a Just wanted to drop a line to
letter of appreciation. It's like say I enjoyed your article in the
MAJ DON RIGHTMYER giving a lecture to 200 students to May 85 issue of TAC Attack
EDITOR stop smoking and to have one of regarding "Burnout." Recently
them say, "I was almost ready to stepping into a supervisory
MARTY DILLER quit and you helped me." position, it gave me and my
WRITER-EDITOR The author of the enclosed fellow co-workers a few pointers.
letter [see below] came out of the Thanks again.
STAN HARDISON Air Force blue without solici- Respectfully
ART EDITOR tation. I never met him. For that
Douglas M. Shea, Sgt, USAF
matter, I've never talked with you
SRA KELVIN TAYLOR Mountain Home AFB, Idaho
in person. But we talked to him,
STAFF ARTIST _'
and he appreciated the words.
111111116 Keep talking. Writing Dear Colonel Pilmer
"Burnout" [May 85 TAC Attack Thanks for the nice words and
TAC Attack (ISSN 0494-3880) is
published monthly by HQ TAC/SEP, was your piece too. If one little for making a good point: If we
Langley AFB, VA. POSTMASTER: tip on health and safety sense reach just one person, it's worth
Send address changes to TAC prevents one aircraft accident it. Something for all our potentir''
Attack, TAC/SEP, Langley AFB, VA somewhere in the Air Force in 20 authors to think (and write)
23665-5001. Second-class postage
paid at Hampton, Virginia, and ad- years-it's worth all the trouble. about.
ditional mailing offices. It more than pays our wages. ED

4 DECEMBER 1985
 TALLYHO
THE
THREAT Col Harold E. Watson
Chief of Safety

B efore a combat mission, the

intel folks provide us with
a detailed threat briefing in the
to be suppressed en route to our
assigned targets.
Controlled flight into terrain
best tradition of "forewarned is (CFIT) accounts for nearly all of
· forearmed." In this, my last arti- our losses on surface attack mis-
cle as the TAC Chief of Safety, I sions. Whether in peace or at
would like to summarize some war, the ground has a Pk higher
threat intelligence based on our than the most sophisticated
last two years of experience. SAM or AAA. Our CFIT crashes
have been with perfectly good
aircraft and aircrews striking the
It has never ground while engaged in a rou-
tine task successfully accom-
been safer to fly plished many times before.
These aviators allowed naviga-
than it is today. tion, switches changes, maintain-
ing tally (or trying to get one) to
take priority over aircraft con-
It has never been safer to fly trol and terrain avoidance. In
than it is today. Our mishap rate the past 24 months, 16 aircrews
in TAC, and in the Air Force, is fatally errored by inadvertently
the lowest in history. Yet, there ignoring this basic priority.
are remaining threats that need G-induced loss of consciousness
TAC ATTACK 5
 Tallyho the
threat

LLYHO THE THREAT

(GLC) is a constant threat. With ly difficult tactics mission would

as much attention as this subject be our biggest problem. Not
has received, I'd like to think
we've made progress. The un-
true. We have had one student
lose control in the last two
There is no
nerving fact is that, although years-on a BFM ride. The rest substitute for
GLC Class As are decreasing, in were IPs.
three recent GLC episodes, the Misorientation (oriented, but pilot ability to
pilot was going uphill at the on the wrong thing) has account-
time and was fortunate enough ed for twice as many losses (6) fly excellent
to recover. Awareness, anticipa- already in 1985 as in all of 1984
tion, proper straining and (3}. (In these mishaps, some un- basic
willingness to use fewer Gs
when necessary will defeat this
expected event, usually a minor
deviation, took place and the
instruments.
threat. crewmember became totally pre-
occupied attempting to resolve
the problem.) Interestingly, all of Beyond these threats, there
this year's misorientation mis- are some "warning lights" before
G-induced loss haps have occurred during de- takeoff-deployed operations,
ployed operations. There must be schedule changes and contempt
of consciousness a lesson here. Higher mission de- that is born from familiarity are
(GLC) is a mands, increased desire to suc-
ceed and, in some cases, cockpit
the leaders.
Our mishap rate deployed is
constant threat. and instrument design require
increased surveillance of aircraft
twice that at home. We must in-
sist on doing the mission de-
attitude and flight vector. There ployed with the same quality of
is no substitute for pilot ability supervision, preparation, tech
The threat of loss of control to fly excellent basic instru- order discipline and standards of
should really be an insult, yet it ments. T AC pilots do this very execution that we use at home.
accounts for another one-sixth of well when they try- the problem Red Flag is certainly a high risk
our total losses. Instead of brief- is being aware of the need to environment, but it is one of our
ing sound, identifiable objec- try. I urge you to take out an ex- safest deployments. Let's make it
tives, and knocking off the fight cellent insurance policy-use the our case study for all operations
at the prudent point, the atti- "unexpected event" as a warning away from home, regardless of
tude of press-on-at-any-cost has light. Don't let it fixate your at- how small they may be.
led to simultaneously running tention. Keep track of the flight Over 45 percent of our opera-
out of airspeed, altitude and vector (basic instruments)-espe- tions factor crashes had a signifi·
ideas. One might expect that the cially during "unexpected cant change to the mission, air-
inexperienced pilot on a relative- events." craft, range, aircrew or a com-
6 DECEMBER 1985
 bination of these within two
hours of takeoff. We must be
spring-loaded to assess the
"rhythm of the scheduling
board." Leaders must continually
judge rhythm , and aircrews must
take time to accommodate the
changes, even if it requires slip-
'g or canceling the sortie.
ve have seen a shift in t he
'-rrrishap pilot population. No
longer does the new guy with
less than 200 hours in the jet
have the highest mishap rate.

No longer does
the new guy sons. Burning the candle at both know our aircraft, its systems
with less than ends is not the least of these.
Difficult tasks become more so.
and our mission. But, we can
never afford ourselves the luxury
200 hours in However, when these categories
of pilots crash, the investigation
of being contemptuously com-
fortable.
the jet have the board often finds that the crash While we can be encouraged
occurred during rather routine by the history of the declining
highest mishap phases of flight. These findings mishap rate (down to one-third
rate. suggest that the experienced pi-
lots may be so comforable in the
that of May 1978), we can con-
tinue to improve our record by
jet that they are allowing their recognizing the threat, applying
minds to drift to the next en- proven suppression tactics and
Rather, flight leads, instructors, gagement or range pass; think- avoid doing the areas of highest
flight and squadron commanders ing about the debrief; or taking risk. Success thus far has come
are experiencing more mishaps care of cockpit tasks like from strong, positive leadership
',an the new guys. The recent switches, radio changes, etc.; and and mission orientation. Future
·crew duty day FMI (functional not noticing that they are in a successes will certainly come
' -xnanagement inspection) indenti- critical environment, usually from t he same effort.
fied some of the probable rea- close to the ground. We must

TAC ATTACK 7
Tac tips INTERESTING ITE~

How about an attaboy

T wo fearless F-4 aviators (they'll remain
nameless to keep their hat size down) were
third in a flight as they redeployed from a weapons
checks and eventually found quite a bit of engine
compressor blade damage, some beyond repair.
Had it not been for the two guys that mentioned _.. .
training TDY. After breaking ground, they were their aircraft's problem, even though they thought
rapidly catching up with Two, so the pilot termi- it was caused by an obvious reason, this saga might
nated afterburner to avoid the other plane's have had a different ending. When your jet doesn't
exhaust. As the pilot brought the engine out of work as advertised, make sure you get it down on
burner, the engine stalled; he retarded the throttle paper so that maintenance folks can make sure
there's not something else wrong.
Attaboy, guys. Great work.

All slushed up
A n A-7 was redeploying from a close air sup-
port exercise in the dead of winter. The pilot
encountered slush on the taxiway and during the
takeoff roll. At the en-route RON base, the
temperature hovered between -10 and -16 degrees
Centigrade throughout the night and up to time for
departure on the last leg home. Mter takeoff, the
to idle and the stall cleared. The aircrew figured nose gear failed to fully retract and showed unsafe.
the stall must have been caused by a momentary It was extended again and the aircraft was landed
blast of Two's exhaust. Safely on the ground at without further difficulty.
home station, our intrepid duo went through A good look at the nose wheel well and aircraft
maintenance debrief and mentioned the inflight exterior showed that the slush thrown up on the
compressor stall problem. Right on, guys! Engine first sortie had covered all the gear components.
technicians followed up the write-up by running The temperatures at both bases and at altitude
the stall/flameout checklist. Sure enough, the turned it into ice-nice and solid. During the
engine stalled again. They moved to more in-depth second takeoff, the ice prevented the nose wheel

8 DECEMBER 1985
AS, MISHAPS WITH MORALS, FOR THE TAC AIRCREWMAN

uplock assembly from working properly. The condi- After pulling the pin, the crew chief directed the
tion caused the gear doors to work out of sequence pilot to continue his taxi. The pilot used excessive
' nd close first, allowing the nose gear to lodge thrust to start the Falcon rolling and blew a ladder
;ainst the outside of the doors. lying behind him into another aircraft parked two
This incident could certainly have been headed spots away. The ladder hit the aircraft's centerline
off with a thorough preflight. Another part of this ECM pod and damaged the nose radome beyond
problem could have been prevented by the pilot repair.
cycling the gear according to all-weather proce-
dures in the Dash One. Finally, an awareness of
where he'd taxied the aircraft and what the effects
might be was essential.
Avoid slush and standing water if you can. But,
when you have to move through slush, water and
snow while the temperatures are below freezing,
take action to prevent it from hanging around on
your aircraft and becoming solid matter again.
And open your eyes on your preflight.

Blow me away
Y our jet's exhaust is no small thing. Not only
is it hot back there, but there's a lot of force
present that can do serious damage if used improp-
Something should have clicked in both the pilot's
and the crew chief's minds when they stopped the
jet halfway through the turn. In fact, whenever
erly. The leader of an F-16 flight began to taxi you're ready to taxi or run an engine up for any
from his parking spot and completed about 30 reason, first clear the aircraft's tail. And remember,
~egrees of turn when the crew chief signaled him it doesn't take mil power or AB to taxi. If it does,
stop. The crew chief had noticed a tank pin that check to see if your gear's down. Manage your
"-.dadn't been pulled during launch and wanted to power wisely and keep track of your tail, so the
catch it before the flight went any further. boss isn't looking for a piece of yours.

TAC ATTACK 9
 cockpit? Hopefully, you haven't conditioned your-
tac tips self to view a Fire light as a bailout signal. They
are certainly never something to be taken lightly.
When they come on-take proper actions, check
other instruments and have someone else look you
over if possible. When it's time to leave your jet be-
hind-do it- but don't let stray electrons lead you
into hasty and premature decisions.

Lit up like Christmas

W hat would get your attention? No, we're not
talking about a bad attitude, but your undi-
vided attention in the air. How about an illumi-
Pickle-pickle-pickle
n upgrading fighter pilot-to-be h~d some real
nated Fire and Overheat light for every engine
you've got-whether it's one, two or four?
A couple of Phantom recce jocks saw just that on
A problems grasping the proper operation of
his jet's pickle button. The results may read like a
a single-ship, day, low-level sortie. About 15 comedy, but the potential for real problems is obvi-
minutes after takeoff, the pilot selected the center- ous.
line fuel tank. Three minutes later, both Fire and On the fledgling's first pass, he pushed the wrong
Overheat lights came on and then began flashing. button and didn't get a bomb off. Drats. How
embarrassing. Well, it wouldn't happen again. So,
after he located and identified the correct button t
mash, he kept his thumb on it during all succeed·
ing passes . Great motive but WRONG. Sure enou5
on the second pass he got a bomb off the plane. So
far , so good. Then, on downwind just before he
turned base, he unintentionally pressed the pickle
button again and another bomb came off outside
the range boundary.
Fortunately, inadvertent releases usually impact
without damaging anything, but that's not themes-
sage here. This young fellow had been thoroughly
briefed on the proper operation of armament
The pilot quickly checked his EGT and other controls and the dangers of unintentional releases.
engine instruments but everything showed normal. We all have-during weapon system upgrade as
As the crew began climbing and brought both well as during periodic weapons and safety
throttles back to idle, the lights began flashing sessions. Most of us heed those warnings, but it
faster and then came on steady. The EGT remained still doesn 't stop an occasional stray bomb from
within limits with no other abnormal indications. being dropped.
Suspecting a centerline tank fire, the pilot raised We hope you don't fly around with your thumb
the air refueling door to depressurize the system poised on the pickle button. It's like a gun
and all of the warning lights went out. The fire trigger-only use it when you want to employ the
detection system checked good. An airborne check weapon. Wait until you're in a place where a
by another jet didn't show any external damage or bomb coming off would land on range property
leaking fuel, so the pair declared an emergency and before fully arming up. If you do that, you won't
landed. have to worry about another problem-driving
The spurious warning lights were eventually around armed up over populated or nonrange
traced to a faulty fire and overheat control unit. areas. Not smart. Getting your bombs on target
Like any other machine or part, it can and did fail. is a real thrill. Dropping your bombs where you
Here's the point: How did you feel at the thought don 't want them to go gets the wrong kind of
of all those red lights coming on at once in your attention and ruins your whole day.

10 DECEMBER 1985
 AIRCREW OF DISTINCTION

0 n 9 June 1985, CAPT MICHAEL E. CRIDER,

was number two in a pair of F-106s deploying
to Tyndall AFB, Florida. Everything went as
planned until they rendezvoused with a tanker for
inflight refueling. Several hook-ups were accom-
plished, but his interceptor would not take fuel.
Before reaching the bingo fuel for Tyndall, Captain
Crider discontinued the efforts to refuel and the
flight departed the tanker.
While climbing to FL 330, Captain Crider heard
the fuselage tank feeding out early, indicating a
possible trapped fuel condition. At level off, 150
miles from Tyndall, he noticed an imbalance with
the left side fuel tanks reading 500 pounds lower
than those on the right side of the aircraft. The
right #3 tank, however, was 200 pounds lower than
the corresponding left tank. This uncommon
coupling of imbalances momentarily masked the
critical nature of the situation.
Captain Crider continued the climb to FL 410 as
he analyzed the situation and tried to get trapped
fuel to feed after declaring an emergency. He deter-
mined that Tallahassee, 68 miles away, was the
closest suitable recovery field . At FL 410, the right
#3 tank had dropped to 400 pounds. It was now
obvious that the right #3 tank was the only one
feeding the engine. Captain Crider made an idle
descent from 40 miles out to a 12,000-foot high
key for a flameout approach. Contending with _lA

thunderstorms in the area and cloud layers from

3000 feet to FL 180, he executed the approach and
broke out of the clouds halfway through the final
turn. At three-fourths of a mile on final, engine
RPM began decreasing, the main generator dropped
off line and secondary hydraulic pressure dropped
as the engine flamed out from fuel starvation.
Captain Crider quickly extended the RAT and com-
pleted the landing. His accurate analysis, prompt
reaction and superb airmanship saved a valuable
aircraft. .->-

TAC ATTACK 11
 PREPARATION
Preparation for any flight be-
gins long before you ever step to
your aircraft. During winter
months, it's important that you
keep physically fit, rested and
ready to fly. It's easier to catch a

cold during this season, but bal-

anced meals and adequate sleep
will go a long way toward keep-
ing you healthy.
Flying in Winter
Start your flight planning
early. Plan your missions thor-
oughly because you probably
won't be able to accomplish as
much as you're used to because

I f true winter weather hasn't

already hit your neck of the
woods, then December's arrival
escapes the rigors of winter,
whether its the extremes of de-
ployment to Brim Frost or the
of more frequent marginal
weather and higher bingo fuels .
For medium altitude cruise legs,
means it can't be far off. The below freezing temperatures and remember that the jet stream
time to prepare for it is now, ice that hit the South in recent shifts to the south, increases in
while you're in the cozy warmth years. Here are a few pointers on velocity and is at a lower alti-
of the aircrew lounge, not after winter flying and aircraft opera- tude. Expect stronger en-route
you find yourself in some of the tions to get you thinking in the winds. Pay particular attention
"finest" weather the year has to right direction. The rest is up to to the altitudes where you can
offer. Virtually no area in TAC you. expect to pick up icing and make
sure the weather is within your

12 DECEMBER 1985
A BRISK EXPERIENCE
personal limitations. Consider flying gloves dry for cockpit use. ence as you make your way to
the terrain you'll be flying over, If you have to spend a night on EOR. Keeping clear of other air-
and make sure you have the sur- the ground, heavyweight gloves craft and obstacles can be tricky
vival gear you'll need if you have and a watch cap will be worth if ramp and taxiway markings
to jettison the aircraft. their weight in gold. are covered with snow and ice.
Spend some time checking Why all the fuss about dres- So, keep it slow and allow more
your destination and en-route sing properly for preflight? If room for turning and stopping.
airfields. Diverting for a lot of you're doing your walkaround in
reasons is more likely during 20-degree weather, with the TAKEOFF AND EN ROUTE
this time of year, so be prepared. wind blowing hard enough to If everything checks out,
Don't get caught short on fuel or frost your long johns, you'll tend you're ready to go fly. Line up
ideas when the time to go some- to rush. That's exactly what you on a dry spot if one is available.
where else arrives. don't want to do. Dress so you Brakes may not be adequate to
give your aircraft the extra close complete a full runup, so be
PREFLIGHT AND GROUND look that is essential. Pay special ready to complete the checks
OPERATIONS attention to static ports, control during the first part of the take-
When you're ready to brave surfaces and gear wells. Ensure off roll. Check to make sure the
the elements and preflight your that the aircraft is completely
aerospace vehicle, dress properly. deiced, including frost on the
As a minimum, wear long under- windscreen and canopy . Care-
wear and gloves in addition to fully check fuel and hydraulic
your other flight gear. Again, lines for leaks caused by contrac-
tion of fittings and shrinkage of
packings.
After you're sure your jet or
prop-job is airworthy, it's time to
climb in. Be careful of an icy
ladder lest you bust your butt.
Keep your gloves on. A bare
hand on very cold metal can ac-
tually leave skin behind.
Engine start and runup require
special precautions. Oil tempera-
tures and pressures must be pitot heat is on, and that you've
within specified limits, so keep selected the correct setting for
an eye on the gauges. Cold, thick cockpit and canopy heating. Di-
fluids just won't flow if they rectional control can be a prob-
haven't been preheated enough, lem during the roll, so watch
and it's not uncommon for lines, out. Make sure your feet are off
consider the type of terrain hoses or seals to give way. the brakes-a locked wheel on
you'll be flying over. Prepare for When your chocks are pulled, ice can cause a blown tire, or
•he worst, and you1l be ahead of go easy on the throttles. Engines worse, if you hit a dry spot. On
he game. Use gloves with put out more power in cold takeoff, you'll accelerate faster
woolen inserts while preflight- weather. Taxiing on an icy sur- than normal. Don't be in a rush
ing, and keep your lightweight face can be an exciting experi- to get your gear retracted. Stay

TAC ATTACK 13
 Flying in
winter

FL ING IN WINTER

below gear limit speed and allow sure it won't result in excessive Once you get your aircraft un-
the slipstream to blow off any fuel use or prolonged flight in ic- der control and clear the active,
slush or snow thrown up by your ing conditions. Know what don't get complacent. Taxi-back
tires, otherwise you may have you're descending into. Before is often trickier than going out
frozen gear problems on landing. beginning your descent, turn on for takeoff. With the same
Don't forget that you can get en- your defrosters in time to pre- thrust and a lower gross weight,
gine ice at high power settings vent windscreen frosting. Care- you may have to ride the brakes
and low airspeeds even when not fully evaluate landing condi- more. It may be better to shut
in visible moisture. So use the tions: RCR, crosswinds, landing down and get towed in than to
anti-ice as directed by your surface, approach visibility and slide off the taxiway. Stay ahead
flight manual. barrier location. Be prepared to of your aircraft until you're safe-
When you're airborne, keep use all of the information ly in the chocks and you shut
ahead of the weather by main- sources available such as down the engines.
taining a constant watch on RAPCON, Center, ATIS, Tower, Climbing down from your
weather conditions at home sta- the SOF and PMSV (the weather - plane can be as tricky as getting
tion and divert airfields. If you man). in. Don't blow it and become a
have to fly through icing condi- Be prepared to locate the run- human hockey puck because
tions, use the anti-icing system way when you break out. A run- you're in a hurry to get to main-
early to prevent ice buildup. It's way obscured by snow may be tenance debrief. If you RON at a
much better to keep it off in the difficult to acquire. Fly an on- stop en route, make sure you, or
first place than to try getting rid speed approach-those extra transient alert, do all those extra
of it once it's there. knots may be good for the wife, little things required in cold
kids and family dog; but that weather. Look over the Dash
LETDOWN AND LANDING also means longer landing rolls, One for guidelines before you
As you approach your destina- which you don't need. Plan a leave home.
tion, don't be too eager to accept firm touchdown to help dissipate We've just hit on a few of the
descent en route unless you're some of the energy. Brakes won't important areas of flying and
be as effective on a wet, slush, operating aircraft during the
or snow covered runway as on a winter. As always, it boils down
dry slab of concrete; so the drag to the same old fact. You have
bag and/or maximum aerody- the responsibility for ensuring
namic braking is a must. In a the safe handling and operation
stiff crosswind, be patient and of your aircraft. Don't let cold
hope the brakes will hold. If you temperatures, ice, snow or freez-
do start to slide, make the most ing winds or some outside agen-
of your nosewheel steering, rud- cy press you into a corner or
der, ailerons and differential catch you with your long johns
thrust. Don't be hesitant about down. Adequate preparation,
going around, diverting or snag- both physical and mental, is the
ging the cable. Once you have di- key to coping and enjoying the
rectional control, you may want thrills of winter aviation.
to shut one engine down (if you
have more than one) to get rid of Aed from an article by Capt
residual thrust. vernber 19

14 DECEMBER 1985
 TAC Individual Safety Award_

AIC MICHAEL K. JONES was selected to receive

this award because he discovered burn damage to a
fuel cell area on an F-4D that was very difficult to
detect and would not have been discovered had it
not been for his attention to detail and decision to
investigate further.
Airman Jones had just removed the bladder from
the fuel cell cavity and was inspecting the cavity
for serviceability when he saw a slight discoloration
of the paint. Although he was working against a
1eadline to complete the job, he decided to take a
oser look. His closer look revealed a minute
\--amount of ash, which later was determined to be A1C Michael K. Jones
burnt sealant. NDI (non-destructive inspection) was 31 CRS, 31 TTW
notified and a conductivity test was performed Homestead AFB, Florida
which revealed massive heat damage to the fuse-
lage bulkhead and cavity coming from the engine fuel cell cavity. Had this aircraft attempted to fly,
bay area. only a few more minutes of hot bleed air on this
The damage was caused by an improperly fuel cell would have resulted in a massive fuel leak
installed gasket on the #1 engine bleed air duct and high probability of a serious fuselage fire or
which runs in the engine bay underneath the #4 explosion.

limt_HEADS UP
Next month, in the
JANUARY
issue of TAC Attack,
you can look forward
to seeing SrA Kelvin
Taylor's stipple
-Q,ndition of the OA -37B
S THE CENTER.

TAC ATTACK 15
F-111A Aardvark
HERE'S ANOTHER
ON THE GRASS
Col Coupe De Ville
Chief of Flight Safety

"The squadron is up to its

ears in Blue 4s but real-
ly hurting for flight leads; so as
soon as I meet 51-50 flying
time, I'm gonna be checking you
turkeys in on channel 1 . .. "
Sound familiar? Well, I can re-
member when good flight leads
with loads of experience were
plentiful. Back then, as Blue 4,
you had time, plenty of time, not
only to gain flying hours but to
season as a fighter pilot. Things
have changed and we have come
a long, long way in terms of
training and readiness. There are
a few areas, such as seasoning

Things have
changed and we
have come a
long, long way in
terms of training
and readiness.
and judgment, however, that
could stand a little more atten-
tion.
I think we have the same
amount of talent and leadership
skill in the trenches today, but,
because of the way we do busi-
ness, our mode of seasoning has
changed. That's all. The need for

18 DECEMBER 1985
NICKLE

good flight leads remains the ter wings level on short initial how you should be thinking all
same. The challenge-it's the "flying fingertip on a regular ba- the time. Fingertip helps build
same. The jets-some difference, sis." You need to plan for it. this type of habit pattern.
but they still demand the same Brief it and fly it daily. There Plan to make one instrument
amount of respect. (There are are other ways to fine-tune the approach in fingertip after every
some who don't think so, but basics, but this old fighter pilot mission, then beat up the pat-
that's another story.) My point found fingertip the easiest and tern if you like. I know, some-
is, the need for good flight leads times you won't be able to, but
will never be exhausted-regard- you can plan for it just in
less of how we go about flying If you want to be case-this "plan" has come in
<d fighting. handy for me many times-in
1egardless of which side of the a better pilot, fly Vietnam it paid off, once big
'--oar you sit on, it's the quality of time (a good war story). If you
the suds that counts. We all more fingertip. rock him in at the radar pickup
want to sip the best, but not all point rather than the FAF, you'll
are willing to pay the price. have to crosscheck more.
Coach Vince Lombardi said it the best. My bottom line-if you SHACK! You begin to think,
best: "It's the basics that want to be a better pilot-fly think, think ahead. Find yourself
count-if you can't block and tac- more fingertip. Here's how. continuously building backup
kle, you can't win football games. Plan a formation takeoff for a plans-and when you finally
You can play but you won't win." majority of your missions but need one, you grin 'cause it's a
Same principle applies to us: We don't go tactical at the departure piece of cake. After a while you
can fly, but without mastering end. (Wingies, don't you love the begin to notice how easy it is to
the basics we will never make lead who immediately rudders role out 240 degrees-not 238 or
Top Gun. I can't promise you'll you out to route at 500 feet and 241, but 240 degrees, the new
make the Gunsmoke Team with then turns into you while giving assigned heading. "On course, on
the techniques I'm going to share a channel change.) Keep him on glide slope" starts to sound like a
with you; but, I can promise you the wing until you reach the broken record during our GCAs.
will be a better leader, wingman edge of your radar coverage. You will be flying smoother in
and pilot. So here's my nickle on Give him a few cross-unders and all phases of the mission and
the grass. turns on each wing while clear- with much less effort.
What I'm proposing is that you ing. Yep, I know you will now You will also be telling ap-
get back to flying basic fingertip have to crosscheck like hell to proach, tower, center, etc., what
formation on a regular and rou- nail that level off-need to plan you have planned, and let them
tine basis. Plan to fly it every ahead-watch heading lead work it rather than the other
mission, but perhaps not in the point-anticipate power reduc- way around. Your judgment im-
1me way you have been. tion-can't call a channel change proves because you have been
I don't call being ruddered out now-where's the sun-have got working and continually evaluat-
t the departure end and rocked to lead that level off, etc .... be- ing your options. It begins to be-
to close on the glide slope or af- cause he's right there . That's come second nature. All because

TAC ATTACK 19
 RE'S ANOTHER NICKLb
THE GRASS

of that guy out there welded to cent of the time-react. He sel- to fly fingertip, YAK ... need to
your wing. Everything begins to dom has the chance to fly with clear, YAK ... need to ma-
matter a little more-doesn't it? the leader. What happens in fin- neuver, YAK ... YAK ... YAK.
Result: we work harder at being gertip is another story. Granted, some bases have more
the best leader in the squadron. If he wants you to see him flying activities than others, but
And if you fly fi ngertip on a glued into position, he has to there has to be a slack period.
regular basis, it's a sure thing. think and fly as a team member. Times when even the most
OK, so what's in it for Blue And, if you are good, he'll imi- MACA-minded would venture a
2/4? Well, let me splain it to you tate you right down to the way formation takeoff and fly finger -
this way. After he knows he's you pull on the G suit. He'll try tip to the drop-off point. Tiines
gonna have to keep the light on to fly with you every chance he that beginning a formation ap-
the star longer than a burner gets. He'll ask to fly more forma - proach in fingertip at the 25
blowout, he begins thinking tion. But if you yank and bank DME or prior to the IAF would
along with lead radio calls, chan- and make him look like a gooney be safe. Clearing requires well
nel changes, descents, roll rates, bird (the feathered one) on an defined areas of responsibility
power changes, configuration SFO at Wake-he'll avoid you for any formation. Good judg-
changes-you name it. The point like the plague. On the other ment should dictate when flying
is he's beginning to think, When hand, if you'd rather not give fingertip is not wise.
did he start this turn? (because him the choice, keep him in For those who give this some
he never felt you begin it). I'll route or tactical. With him out serious thought and practice, call
have to ask him how he does it. there you can relax a bit. Slack me three months from now and
Now that was a smooth ap- off on the basics. He will still tell me I'm wrong. You woii 't be
proach. Wonder how he does it? think you have golden hands be- able to. For the rest of you
There is an easy explanation. cause you found the target. And amarougians, I've got a few nic-
In tactical, chase, route or any that takes pure skill these days kels left.
position other than fingertip, he with only one INS and one air- Oh, one more thing. Besides
does his own thing. He doesn 't to-air radar, doesn't it? helping you become a better pi-
need to think along with lead as I can hear the MACA (mid-air lot and leader-fingertip is
closely because he has time to re- collision avoidance) birds fun-yep, FUN .. . Fun to
act. That's what he does-75 per- squawking now: Too congested watch, fun to fly . ..->
Here's another nickle on the grass
fiiiii"---TAC Flight Safety Award of the Quarter-,_..,.
CAPT FREDERICK W. OFFUTT'S accomplishments
as a flight safety officer (FSO) are characterized by
innovative initiative and effective action.
As a squadron FSO, Captain Offutt's squadron
had the lowest inflight emergency and reportable
mishap rate in the wing. He developed operations
and maintenance interface programs which were
used to exchange flight safety information, and, to
recognize outstanding crew chiefs, he developed
aircrew critique forms. His expert capabilitil:ls as an
investigator on an F-5 Class A mishap resulted in
his being requested to investigate a subsequent A-
10 Class A mishap. During the A-10 investigation, Capt Frederick W. Offutt
he helped discover inadequate technical data and 479 TTW
the first known failure of the Aces II ejection seat. Holloman AFB, New Mexico
From the squadron, he moved up to the position
of assistant chief, wing flying safety. In this posi- For two months, Captain Offutt was acting chief
tion, he initiated a program that improved safety of wing flying safety. The TAC MEl reflects his
inspections and training for local FSOs and pro- accomplishments: It mentioned that the assistant
vided the guidance to establish a meaningful squad- chief is superbly managing the wing safety
-•m trend analysis program. He also obtained the program and that all major programs exceeded
formation briefed in the Midair Collision Avoid- T AC requirements. Two squadrons received an
·flCe program. Each of these programs received excellent on their flying safety program and two
very favorable comment in the recent TAC MEl received an outstanding; the wing flying safety
(management effectiveness inspection). program received an overall outstanding rating.

,__TAC Ground Safety Award of the Quarter_---.

Tsgt DWIGHT G. ROYAL is unit safety NCO for
the 57th Aircraft Generation Squadron (AGS), the
largest AGS in TAC. Sergeant Royal does an out-
standing job as unit safety NCO and has achieved a
significant reduction in the mishap rate, both on
and off duty.
Sergeant Royal conducts interesting monthly
safety meetings and briefs details concerning any
ground incident occurring in TAC that is pertinent
to the 57 AGS. For commander's call, Sergeant
Royal dramatizes how to avoid accidents through
the use of safety skits. TSgt Dwight G. Royal
His newcomer briefing spotlights specific hazards 57 AGS, 57 FWW
within each work area and driving hazards on Nellis AFB, Nevada
Nellis AFB. His research into various tech orders
and tech data has resulted in rewriting local policy three classes of fires that occur in maintenance
1etters, checklists and several operating instruc-
areas and what type of fire extinguisher to use; the
,wns. other card explains mishap notification procedures
Two of his innovative ideas are excellent: He de- so that mishaps are reported and investigated
signed two wallet-size cards. One identifies the quickly and correctly.
DOWN TO EARTH ITEMS THAT CAN AFFECT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY

If you drink, don't drive

There is no safe way to drive after drinking, as you can see from the charts below. They were prepared by
the California Highway Patrol, the Office of Traffic Safety, the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs
and the Department of Justice. Take a look at the chart that includes your weight and go to the total number
of drinks. One drink is a 12-ounce beer, a 4-ounce glass of wine of a 11/4 -ounce shot of 80-proof liquor, mixed or
unmixed. And the impact of alcohol on the body is different if you drink on an empty stomach, are tired, sick_
or taking medication; so add a few more to the actual count.
Now follow the drink column down to an amount of time. If you stay in the white, y.ou're OK. If you're
the gray, you could be illegal, and your chances of having an accident are 5 times higher than if you had had
no drinks. If you're in the black, you're illegal; your chances of having an accident are 25 times higher. Coffee
doesn't lower your blood alcohol concentration (BAC), only time does. If you have some holiday cheer this
holiday season, take a taxi.

BAC Zones: 90 to109 lbs BAC Zones: 11010129 lbs BAC Zones: 130 to149 lbs BAC Zones: 15010169 lbs

TIME TIME TIME TIME TOTAL DRINKS

TOTAL DRINKS TOTAL DRINKS TOTAL DRINKS
FROM 1st FROM 1st FROM 1st FROM 1st
DRINK 8 DRINK 8 DRINK 8 DRINK 8

1 hr 1 hr 1 hr 1 hr

2 hrs 2 hrs 2 hrs 2 hrs

3 hrs 3 hrs 3 hrs 3 hrs 1

4 hrs 4 hrs 4 hrs 4 hrs

BAC Zones: 170 to189 lbs BAC Zones:190 to209 lbs BAC Zones: 210 t0229 lbs BAC Zones: 230 lbs & Up

TIME TIME TIME TIME

TOTAL DRINKS TOTAL DRINKS TOTAL DRINKS TOTAL DRINKS
FROM 1st FROM 1st FROM 1st FROM 1st
DRINK 8 DRINK 1 2 415161718
4 DRINK 1 2 3 4 5161718 DRINK
111111011611
1 hr 1 hr 1 hr

2 hrs 2 hrs 2 hrs

3 hrs 3 hrs 3 hrs

4 hrs 4 hrs 4 hrs

(.01 /0-.04%) SELDOM ILLEGAL EI (.05°/0-.09%) MAY BE ILLEGAL NI (.10% Up) DEFINITELY ILLEGAL
HERE ON THE GROUND _ _ _ __

Office safety
Tech order violations
0 ften we fail to pay as much attention to office
safety as we should. Offices are heated and
air conditioned, lighted and ventilated. There are
can be ((shocking"
usually very few machines that have exposed SSgt Allen Taylor
moving parts, few or no toxic substances being ADTAC/SEG
used and limited noise exposure. For these reasons,
,ffice workers and their supervisors sometimes
become complacent about their work area.
People do get hurt in offices. They strain their
T he development and maintenance of a healthy
respect for energized electronics is a must. In
my efforts to generate a periodic newsletter on the
backs lifting something too heavy or lifting the subject to our radar maintenance personnel, I soon
wrong way, they smash their fingers, run into desk felt like the preacher directing his message to the
corners and open drawers, and mostly they slip and choir. I mean, what could I tell these specialists
fall. The biggest troublemakers are chairs, litter, about the hazards associated with their jobs that
objects in aisles and walkways, telephone and elec- · they don't already know? Not much, but as you can
tric cords, open drawers and slippery floors . How see from the following mishaps, the problems are
does your office stack up? the same as they are for any technical field: tech
• What's in the aisle or hallway that a person order violations, inattention, carelessness and poor
could run into or trip over? Those old chairs you've supervision.
been trying to get rid of. Or maybe last year's • • •
filing. A transmitter control console operator and
• Are the floors slippery? A professional wax job assistant were trouble-shooting a power supply
actually prevents slipperyness. Is carpet worn? circuit breaker. They attempted to isolate the
Look especially at steps. malfunction by removing components fed by the
• Stairways should have secure rails. Do yours power supply and were re-energizing the circuit
jiggle? breaker to see if it would still trip. AFOSH stand-
• Office furniture should be arranged near outlets ards and tech orders require the use of grounding
to minimize the use of extension cords. Cords run- sticks after each test to ensure that no voltage is
ning over floor areas should be enclosed. present on any capacitor. After powering down the
• Purchase a ladder or stepstool so no one has to system, worker number one was distracted by a
use a chair. telephone call. When he returned, he proceeded to
• Where's the nearest fire extinguisher and does connect a capacitor bank but forgot to discharge
qveryone know how to operate it? Contact your lo- the capacitors with the grounding stick. He
al fire prevention office for hands-on training. discharged the capacitor between his right forearm
• Are exit doors blocked? If they are, you know and stomach.
what has to be done. While performing a trouble-shooting procedure
Courtesy ATC
TAC ATTACK 23
Down to Earth

on a G-band radar transmitter, this person inserted stacked diode shelf. While the equipment was still
a probe, and his hand, approximately 15 inches energized and without a ground rod, he reached in
into the modulator section of the transmitter, to pick up the wing nut. A five-inch arc jumped
which happened to be in the immediate area of from the stacked diodes and entered his right hand,
50,000 volts and 15 amps. He received an electrical traveled across his shoulders and exited his left
shock, but was not injured. bicep . He did not lose consciousness but experi-
Two workers were removing a high voltage shield enced numbness in both arms due to the high
on a power supply cabinet to re-do the painted amount of voltage which was estimated to be 5000
stencils. Worker number two was reinstalling the volts DC with 3 amps of current.
top shield which is held on with three wing nuts. • • •
One of the nuts dropped behind the shield onto the For now, the preacher rests.

shoes; the white-collar worker, videoshades-

they're goggle-type glasses that protect computer
users' eyes against glare. Here's one that's great for
someone's bathroom or kitchen; easy-to-install-in-
an-outlet GFCis (ground fault circuit interrupters).
They shut off current to an appliance to prevent a
serious or deadly shock. Toy chests with lift-up
lids need to have spring-loaded lid supports. Some-
one with a toddler could use plug guards that fit
over plugged-in plugs. Older relatives could use a
battery-powered computer cap that fits on stand-
ard pharmacy containers and flashes and sounds an
alarm when the next dose of medicine is due. Why
Short shots
not a gasoline safety can? There's one on the mar-
ket that has porous foam inside to retard the build-
up of vapors. And for the person who really does
have everything, a Fleagle T-Shirt. But you'll have
to write us an article to get it. Next year, OK?

Woodstove regulations are coming, probably

Need some ideas for Christmas gifts? How about within the next 18 months. The Environmental
a fire extinguisher. Look for one labeled with Protection Agency plans to set stove-performance
ABC. A means it's good for a wood, cloth or paper standards to curb the amount of pollutants wood-
fire, B fights gas and grease fires and C is for elec- stoves can emit. Woodstoves and inserts would
trical fires. Or a smoke detector. Don't discount have to be equipped with catalytic combustors
someone who has one-one isn't enough. A smoke which will add about $200 to the cost.
detector is needed on each level of a home or at both
ends of a single-story house. How about a fire What's the most dangerous room in your
hose that attaches to a faucet and fits under the house? The bedroom. Getting up in the middle of
kitchen sink. New generation electric blankets the night to go to the bathroom is especially haz-
turn off the current in case of hot spots or over- ardous when the lights are off. Solution: Night-
heating. FQr the blue-collar worker, buy safety lights or better bladder control.
24 DECEMBER 1985
\-- FLEAGLE SALUTES
bird had gone into the #2 engine gency engine shutdown proce-
and several others had struck dures. Because of their imme-
the left wing, causing a BDU-33 diate response to the fire , it was
practice bomb to explode while extinguished prior to the arrival
still on the. aircraft. As the of the fire department.
aircraft vibrations worsened,
Captain Kolodny set up for and
completed a flawless single- SSgt Bradley D. Worch, 49
engine approach and landing. AGS, 49 TFW, Holloman AFB,
NM. While servicing the aircraft
hydraulic system on an F-15,
Capt Bruce S. Toma, 159 Sergeant Worch noticed that the
FIS, Florida Air National Guard, fluid in the servicing cart ap-
was flying in an F-106 when he peared to be contaminated. Fur-
experienced problems as the two- ther investigation revealed that
ship flight was rejoining follow- the servicing cart contained a
ing intercept practice. As mixture of hydraulic fluid and
Captain Toma applied military water. He recalled seeing the
power to carry out the rejoin, same cart in use on at least one
the throttle stuck at that setting. other aircraft, so he immediately
All attempts to free the throttle notified the flight-line expediter
Mr. Eduardo Tovar, Jr., Air- were ineffective due to a main and the production superin-
1ft Repair Inspector, 4 79 fuel control failure, so he was tendent; two aircraft were re-
rW, Holloman AFB, NM, had directed to proceed to N AS Cecil moved from the operations
just returned from the flight line schedule.
Field where 12,500 feet of
when he detected a bad odor. He runway would be available.
began looking for the problem Speed brakes and high G turns
and found an electrical short in were used to dissipate airspeed Lt Col Joseph Moynihan,
a wall switch . The light switch down to gear lowering speed. Capt George W. Muldoon, Jr.,
then began to spark, so he found Following F-106 Dash One proce- Capt Suzanne Dunn-Poorman,
the circuit breaker aQd turned off and CMSgt John Olsen, 965
dures, he turned off both main AWACS, 552 AWACW, were
the power supply. The fire chief
fuel shutoff switches when land- deployed to Riyadh, Saudia
commended Mr. Tovar's actions
commenting that shutting down ing was assured. Arabia, in their E-3A AWACS
the power had saved the build- when they experienced a serious
mg. SSgt John R. Brewer, SrA generator malfunction followed
Larry S. Mansfield and A1C by an engine fire. Shortly after
Charles M. Walden, 48 FIS, takeoff, the number 7 generator
Capt Stanley C. Kolodny, Langley AFB, VA, were trim- indicated overspeed followed
354 TFW, Myrtle Beach AFB, ming a newly installed engine in shortly by abnormal fuel flow
South Carolina, was flying on a T-33 when a fire developed in indications on the number 4
the wing in an A-10 formation the aft section. Amn Mansfield, engine. The genera tor was dis-
takeoff and had just retracted who was controlling the ground connected and then a fire warn-
his gear and flaps when he heard operation, noticed smoke rising ing was received on the same
several thumps, an explosion and from the aft section after being engine. Six-foot flames were
felt the aircraft begin to vibrate. informed by Sgt Brewer, who observed coming out of the
Flying at less than 200 knots, he was performing the engine run, engine and the engine cowling
\illfully maneuvered away from that the Overheat light had was lost. The crew accomplished
.s leader and realized that their illuminated. Sgt Brewer notified the appropriate checklists for
flight path had taken them maintenance operation center of engine fire arid flew a flawless
through a flock of birds. One the fire and performed all emer- 3-engine approach and landing.
TAC ATTACK 25
WEAPONS WORDS
Bombs away
T he A-10 was loaded wall-to-wall for its range
sorties: a TGM-65 on station three and TERs
with three BDUs each on stations four, eight and
will release on target the first time. Obviously, if
this had been a combat mission, three bombs might
have hit someone on the head, but they wouldn't
nine. Six p'asses on the range were made with have exploded and done their best work. Keep an
proper releases; but, on the seventh pass, both the eye open for connections that aren't secured
TER and the three BDUs on station nine were jetti- properly both during preflight and during quick
soned. (They impacted on range but not on the checks at EOR.
target.)

Looks ain't everything

T he F-16 Falcon was cruising away from base
at 400 knots and 5000 feet when a BDU-33
just fell off the left TER. No switches had been
thrown. No pickle button depressed. Another
dropped object. The bomb exploded when it hit the
ground but nothing was damaged.
Back on the ground, maintenance troops started
taking the armament system apart to determine
the problem. The ejector cartridge hadn't been
fired , so an electrical malfunction was ruled out.
When the TER was benchchecked in the armament
shop, the culprit came to light: some rivets used
The pilot's cockpit switches were all in order and to secure the breech retainer clip to the rack hous-
shouldn't have caused the unwanted jettison of a ing were too long. They hadn't been installed ac-
$5,000 bomb ejector rack. All of the armament con- cording to tech data and prevented the breech from
trol circuitry and hardware involved also passed seating fully. The breech, in turn, prevented the
functional checks done on them. lock/unlock linkage from seating properly. Despite
The culprit turned out to be the TER cable lock all of the pieces that didn't correctly fall into place,
ring which wasn't fully locked at the pylon. By not the safety pin could be installed which indicated a
being completely tightened, it allowed the firing locked condition. Regardless, the forward hook was
voltage to be diverted to the MAU-40 bomb rack not fully engaged and allowed the bomb to drop off
and the TER (plus bombs) came off. at the wrong time.
We usually preflight ordnance to insure that Tech data works every time-but we must use it
everything is properly connected so that the bombs properly.

26 DECEMBER 1985
And away we go!
T wo munitions folks were told to move a trailer
load of AIM-7s and AIM-9s from the loading
standardization section of the missile shop. One of
This incident could have been much more serious
with a trailer load of missiles dumped on the ramp
or possible physical injury. There's a reason we
the pair said he would drive, so they hopped in the check our people out on equipment: to insure that
tow vehicle and started out. Before they had gone they know how to operate them and what the limi-
very far , the driver missed a turn. The passenger tations are such as turn radius, max speed and lift-
';ested that they disconnect the trailer and turn ing ability for each.
ound manually, but the driver said he could
ck the turn.
While they were making the turn, a loud pop was
heard; but they thought it was just the trailer
tongue shifting. After they drove about 100 yards,
Knock it off
the passenger noticed that the missile trailer wasn't
tracking properly. At this point things started look-
ing up. The driver and passenger stopped the ve-
S orne of us just don't know our own strength.
We think that anything done right must be
done with brute force and at maximum speed. Un-
hicle to examine the problem. They found that the fortunately, this is seldom true.
hinge pin which connected the trailer tongue to the One instance where a little less force would have
steering arm was broken on one side. been appropriate occurred when some folks were
When the problem was examined further, they loading AIM-9s on an F-16. The load crew had posi-
found that the person driving the tow vehicle tioned the missile too far aft to properly upload the
wasn't even qualified to operate it while the pas- captive AIM-9. One man who was in training was
senger was fully checked out. In fact, the fellow handling the front end of the missile. He was un-
riding had driven during all of the first part of the aware of the potential for shearing off umbilical
shift. The supervisor had assigned specific duties at blocks and, as the missile was moved forward,
the beginning of the shift, but the driver chose to that's exactly what happened. The umbilical block
ignore that and his own lack of necessary skills. was allowed to hit the umbilical cable retainer and
broke off.
We need to emphasize to our folks the proper
techniques for loading and unloading each type of
munition that we plan to use. We need to be aware
of fragile areas on each munition to ensure that we
don't turn a large, expensive piece of hardware into
a worthless piece of junk. The amount of force and
speed used should be tailored to each task. Max
force and full speed ahead are not always appro-
priate.

27
Chock talk Incidents and

Got your wires crossed

T wo F-4 aircrews got a surprise when they took
a jet out for an FCF following a double engine
change. Everything went normal until they lifted
should have noticed the error while using the tech
data to check the work, and the person sitting in
the cockpit during the leak check should have
off, then the airspeed dropped to zero and the noticed erratic instrument indications. If just one
altimeter soared to 99,000 feet. The crew joined up person had completed his job correctly, the proble
with another jet and made an uneventful straight- could have been nipped in the bud, instead of
in approach and landing. blossoming into an inflight emergency.
Each person involved in the maintenance process
from the one who first writes up the discrepancy to
the last person that signs it off has a vital role.
Make sure you do your job right. You may be the
one person that stops the accident before it occurs.

Comedy of errors? Hardly

T he flight of two A-lOs was just tooling along
minding its own business when the wingman
noticed that his leader's aircraft was missing a
The prol:)lem was traced to the pitot static lines panel from the top of the number two engine.
up in the radome. The lines were installed After the aircraft landed, maintenance found that
backwards which caused the resulting erratic door assembly N -8 was sure enough gone, and bar-
indications and damaged the CADC, the mach rier maintenance folks found it lying in the grass
airspeed indicator and the altimeter. Write-ups in at the approach end of the runway.
the 781 said that the lines had been connected in A look at the aircraft forms showed that the
compliance with the proper tech data. The work missing door had been removed the previous day by
had been inspected by a supervisor and a leak the engine shop folks in order to work on the air-
check performed by a third person . Obviously, none craft's bleed air system. They had made multiple
of those tasks was done properly because each red-X entries in the same block of the 781 stating
person involved should have noticed the mistake. A that panels N -52 and N -8 had both been remove.
specific caution in the TO warns about the hazards to allow more work to be done. The forms also
of putting the lines on wrong. The supervisor stated that both panels had been reinstalled, and

28 DECEMBER 1985
 INCIDENTALS WITH A MAINTENANCE SLANT

the red X was cleared by a seven-level technician. three fasteners. After the work was completed, the
When asked about the work that he had done, door was never completely tightened down. Subse-
the crew chief who signed off the corrective action quent inspections by the supervisor and preflight
admitted that he hadn't personally replaced the by the pilot also missed the incomplete fastening
"-T -8 panel. He had relied on the word of another job.
lividual that the job had been done correctly. When the T-hird was redeployed to home station,
ne supervisor who cleared the red X misinter- the access door came off as the pilot reduced power
preted the forms and only inspected panel N -52. to begin his descent. The door struck both the
The end result of all this was that the missing fuselage and the left elevator, resulting in over
panel hadn't been properly reinstalled and wasn't
inspected by the responsible supervisor. Is this part
of the cause for dropped objects at your base-poor
forms writeups and erroneous assumptions?

Only partly secure

T here always seems to be a steady flow of
things falling off aircraft, ranging in size
from small caps and fasteners to large panels. $7000 in lost parts and aircraft damage.
When that happens in flight, those parts become Being in a hurry and not giving every part of an
dropped objects and result in aircraft damage, aircraft a good once-over is a large part of our
valuable dollars lost in parts and possible physical dropped object problem . Let's ensure that the
injury to someone on the ground. Unfortunately, entire airframe is airworthy before we sign it off.
most of the incidents could be avoided with a little
more vigilance by each of us.
One example of this occurred when a T-33 was
deployed off-statio.n because of an approaching What you don't see
'-11rricane. Because of a starting problem, the
.intenance folks had to open the plenum chamber
'---~cess door. During the maintenance, the right side
of the access door was temporarily secured with
D uring engine start, the pilot of an F-106
noticed that his EGT gauge was sticking as
the engine accelerated to idle speed. With the

TAC ATTACK 29
 Barrier with a bite
Chock talk
B arrier cables aren't known for beating up on
aircraft but occasionally they do. Usually, the
cable's a friend, just lying around not bothering
anybody. Sometimes though, a barrier cable decides
engine running normally otherwise, the pilot called to be mean, and, when it wants to, it can sneak up
maintenance redball to have a new gauge installed. and bite.
When the quick-fix truck arrived, one fellow got One F-15 crew experienced the bite of a vicious
out of the truck to put the engine inlet screens on. cable. Inspection of the victim jet following a sortie
He located the left side screen, gave it a cursory revealed marks on the centerline tank, a couple of
glance and shook it before placing it up to the fuselage panels, shingle flaps and both burner cans.
intake. A supervisor standing nearby noticed a red
streamer being sucked into the intake from the
just-installed screen. The engine was immediately
shut down, and they found a drag chute safety pin
and streamer lying in front of the first stage inlet
guide vanes. A packing clip and several inches of
steel cable were missing, but damage to the
compressor sections wasn't.
It defeats the purpose of putting intake screens
on if they've got all sorts of goodies lying or stuck
inside. Sort of like letting a fox into the henhouse.
The kind of damage that can result warrants an
extra thorough look to ensure that nothing but the On the cable, they found a broken tiedown that :
screen is put in front of the engine. failed due to normal wear which allowed the cable
The purpose of redball maintenance doesn't to strike the aircraft.
justify haste and carelessness. The whole idea is to Routine barrier inspections at this base took
get a problem remedied quickly, but safely, in place during normal shift changes for the barrier
order to meet scheduled takeoff times, maintain maintenance folks. Sometime during that shift was
flight integrity and give the aircrew a fully capable when the tiedown failure cropped up. If your base
aircraft to do the mission. FODing an engine has a high density of aircraft operations, consider
through a misplaced sense of urgency misses the more frequent barrier checks to insure that you
whole idea and usually results in a missed sortie, keep barrier tiedown failures under control and
lost training, a broken aircraft and unnecessary that other problems don 't go undetected until too
paperwork. late.

Pass it along...

nine people are waiting

30 DECEMBER 1985
 TAC
TALLY OCT
TAC
THRU OCT
1985 1984
OCT
ANG
THRU
1985
OCT
1984
CLASS A MISHAPS 0 14 20 1 12 6
AIRCREW FATALITIES 0 9 16 0 7 2-1
TOTAL EJECTIONS 0 11 15 1 8
SUCCESSFUL EJECTIONS 8 12 1 8

TAC'S TOP 5 thru OCT 85

TAC FTR/RECCE TAC AIR DEFENSE
class misho -free ont 3, ass, the

39 405 nw (F-15,F-5)
Luke AFB, AZ 153 57 FIS le-'Keflavik, Iceland
32 33 T F W E(Filli5n1AFB, FL 106 5 FIS (In t/-i15o)t AFB, ND

30 366 TFW(EF/F-111) AFB, II) 103 48 FIS (LgFa-n15ley AFB, VA

29 49 TFW(FT an AFB,NM 62 318 FIS VeTiord AFB, WA
26 67 TRW(BReFrg4s)trom AFB, TX 53 87 FIS VS0a64er AFB, MI

TAC-GAINED FTR/RECCE TAC-GAINED AIR DEFENSE TAC-GAINED Other Units

class A class A mishap:
ANG(F-106)
154 138 TFG TulGsa(A01 136 177 FIG Atlantic City, NJ 195 182 TASG ft, eNo rGi a( 0 IAL-37)

ANG(F-106)
131 114 TFG Vouxn-a7) s, SD 102 125 FIG Jacksonville, FL 179 110 TASG BA aNt tGl e" 3CAr , MI
85 119 FIG ANG(F-4)
175 USAFTAWC
(Emg Tinny figs)
120 183 T F G aNprT IL Fargo, ND
ANG(F-4) (T -33)
117 180 IFG Toledo,A-J0)11 69 107 FIG Niagara Falls, NY 167 84 FITS AFB, CA
NG(RF-4) ANG(F-4)
109 124 TRG BAoise, ID 61 147 FIG Ellington AFB, TX 109 552 AWACW (TEdeErCAVOK

CLASS (BASED
A MISHAP COMPARISON RATE
ON ACCIDENTS PER 100,000 HOURS FLYING TIME)
.
TA 1985 3.2 3.4 2.7 2.4 2.9 2.7 2.5 2.6 2.5 2.3
C 1984 3.4 4.3 3.3 2.5 2.9 3.8 3.3 3.2 3.1 3.3
AN 1985 4.8 4.8 3.0 4.5 4.2 4.9 5.4 5.2 5.1 5.0
G 1984 0.0 2.3 1.5 2.2 2.6 2.1 1.8 2.1 2.3 2.5

1985 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.6 2.3

LR 1984 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.0 2.7 2.5

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1985-86 537-009/03