F-14 Tomcat story.

I was told a story once by someone who worked at Grumman concerning the F-14.
It seems that one day a crew took up an F-14 and shortly after take off found
that the pitch controls (elevons?) were stuck causing the aircraft to pitch up
uncontrollably. By increasing power the crew was able to keep the aircraft in
a series of loops. After several loops they used rudder to bring the aircraft
horizontal changing the loops into a series of tight turns. In the meantime
they were radioing Grumman for advice and were told to eject. Instead the
pilot determined that by ruddering back into a loop and using throttle he could
land at the bottom of the loop. This was successful and later manufacturing
tools were found jamming the affected control.

Is this true?

John Dupre'

Something like that happened to Yeager (I think) flying the F-86 (I think)
out of Downy Field (I think) enroute to Edwards AFB (I think) in the early
'50s. Someone here will know the story... I think. I don't think you
could do that in an F-14 though.

JD

Sounds a bit far-fetched. While it's theoretically possible, getting the
aircraft to the precise position (altitude, alignment, airspeed) to allow
the second half of the loop to work to allow (what would have to be) a
perfect touchdown is beyond belief.

R / John

"JDupre5762" wrote in message
...
I was told a story once by someone who worked at Grumman concerning the
F-14.
It seems that one day a crew took up an F-14 and shortly after take off
found
that the pitch controls (elevons?) were stuck causing the aircraft to
pitch up
uncontrollably. By increasing power the crew was able to keep the
aircraft in
a series of loops. After several loops they used rudder to bring the
aircraft
horizontal changing the loops into a series of tight turns. In the
meantime
they were radioing Grumman for advice and were told to eject. Instead the
pilot determined that by ruddering back into a loop and using throttle he
could
land at the bottom of the loop. This was successful and later
manufacturing
tools were found jamming the affected control.

Is this true?

John Dupre'

Ever hear the naval term, "sea story"?

WDA

end

"JDupre5762" wrote in message
...
I was told a story once by someone who worked at Grumman concerning the
F-14.
It seems that one day a crew took up an F-14 and shortly after take off
found
that the pitch controls (elevons?) were stuck causing the aircraft to
pitch up
uncontrollably. By increasing power the crew was able to keep the
aircraft in
a series of loops. After several loops they used rudder to bring the
aircraft
horizontal changing the loops into a series of tight turns. In the
meantime
they were radioing Grumman for advice and were told to eject. Instead the
pilot determined that by ruddering back into a loop and using throttle he
could
land at the bottom of the loop. This was successful and later
manufacturing
tools were found jamming the affected control.

Is this true?

John Dupre'

JDupre5762 wrote:
I was told a story once by someone who worked at Grumman concerning the F-14.
It seems that one day a crew took up an F-14 and shortly after take off found
that the pitch controls (elevons?) were stuck causing the aircraft to pitch up
uncontrollably. By increasing power the crew was able to keep the aircraft in
a series of loops. After several loops they used rudder to bring the aircraft
horizontal changing the loops into a series of tight turns. In the meantime
they were radioing Grumman for advice and were told to eject. Instead the
pilot determined that by ruddering back into a loop and using throttle he could
land at the bottom of the loop. This was successful and later manufacturing
tools were found jamming the affected control.

Is this true?

John Dupre'

Responding as a controller and not a pilot it MAY have happened. But my
guess he might have been merely trying to get back to the field where
crash equipment was standing by. Actually landing would only have been
shear luck.

On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 13:31:14 -0800, "W. D. Allen Sr."
proclaimed:
Ever hear the naval term, "sea story"?

Do you know the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story?

A fairy tale begins with "Once upon a time...."

A sea story begins with "This is no **** .......".

"JD" wrote in message news:8lqmd.104450$R05.74500@attbi_s53...
Something like that happened to Yeager (I think) flying the F-86 (I think)
out of Downy Field (I think) enroute to Edwards AFB (I think) in the early
'50s. Someone here will know the story... I think. I don't think you
could do that in an F-14 though.

JD

An incident is described in Yeager's book in which I think his
ailerons were locked, and it happened while he was inverted on a
low-level pass of a friend's cabin. Being Yeager, he used quick
thinking to deduce and correct the problem, unlocking the controls.
After a safe landing, the plane was taken apart and both it and other
planes that had been lost without explanation were tracked to the same
factory. There was some critical part - a linkage or something of
that sort - that had been intalled the wrong way by a single factory
worker who had been working so long that when he saw something in the
plans that didn't gibe with his experience, he ignored. Nobody was
telling him how to put planes together. Yeager notes that nobody told
him how many men he killed.

"Greasy Rider" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 13:31:14 -0800, "W. D. Allen Sr."
proclaimed:
Ever hear the naval term, "sea story"?

Do you know the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story?

A fairy tale begins with "Once upon a time...."

A sea story begins with "This is no **** .......".

Or, "There I was ..."

R / john

" Or, "There I was ..."

R / john, was that with or without a parachute?

Leanne

Aileron loss is not as challenging as pitch control loss. You can roll most
airplanes with rudder to some degree, and with swept wing jets at high alpha
that is the only way it should be done.

The F-4 stabs would go full leading edge down with a dual PC failure,
causing an uncontrollable pitch up. BUT, with judicious use of rudder, you
could barrel roll the aircraft. Duke Cunningham did several such rolls to
get his damaged aircraft feet wet on 10 May, 1972. Full stab deflection in
most

I experienced a limited control jam in the F-14 in which I had insufficient
pitch authority to hold the nose up for level flight. We started a gradual
descent back to the beach (approx 100 miles) and the brief was we would roll
inverted to push the nose into a climb, get a little altitude, roll upright
to continue the descent, and so-on until we reached a reasonable ejection
point. Luck being a better asset than skill, the controls freed up after
about 50 miles and we very cautiously brought the jet back for a straight in
approach and landing.

R / John

"rottenberg" wrote in message
om...
"JD" wrote in message
news:8lqmd.104450$R05.74500@attbi_s53...
Something like that happened to Yeager (I think) flying the F-86 (I
think)
out of Downy Field (I think) enroute to Edwards AFB (I think) in the
early
'50s. Someone here will know the story... I think. I don't think
you
could do that in an F-14 though.

JD

An incident is described in Yeager's book in which I think his
ailerons were locked, and it happened while he was inverted on a
low-level pass of a friend's cabin. Being Yeager, he used quick
thinking to deduce and correct the problem, unlocking the controls.
After a safe landing, the plane was taken apart and both it and other
planes that had been lost without explanation were tracked to the same
factory. There was some critical part - a linkage or something of
that sort - that had been intalled the wrong way by a single factory
worker who had been working so long that when he saw something in the
plans that didn't gibe with his experience, he ignored. Nobody was
telling him how to put planes together. Yeager notes that nobody told
him how many men he killed.