Bret

Beg to differ.

Spent a year on exchange with VF-23 (Big Banshee) tail hook Squadron.

We had a bird that one wing folded as pilot rotated for take off. Bird
rolled inverted and ground him off down to the sides of cockpit (.

All the normal operation and safeties failed. I'd have flown the bird.

Big John
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On 7 Oct 2005 21:31:03 -0700, "Bret Ludwig"
wrote:


Newps wrote:
Bret Ludwig wrote:

EVERY naval carrier aircraft except the A-4 Scooter has folding wings.
They hold up well in naval service,

Of course they do. The Navy can throw unlimited resources at an
airplane for maintenence. Just look at what it takes to keep an F14 in
the air for an hour.

The wing folding systems are not maintenance hogs and are not a
prevailing cause of crashes: in fact i don't think one has ever
happened.

A Crusader was accidentally launched with folding wings once: it was
actually able to recover.