Woody,

If this occurred late in the A-6's service (i.e., after 1990) and both souls survived, it was likely the following, per Morgan & Morgan:

BuNo 154148/A-6E, VA-85, 09/18/91, Mediterranean, CV-66, Lost engine on cat shot.

******

The engines had de-tuned over time making the single-engine performance charts incorrect. Pax re-vamped them in about 1994-5.

....just in time for that last flight to the boneyard, or to "NAS Barrier Reef." g

Any number of gremlins begin popping up in elderly aircraft after many years of otherwise uneventful service. Witness B/N Keith Gallagher's partial ejection, caused by aging components. In his case, the ejection seat components were ~28 years old:

http://www.gallagher.com/ejection_se...al_aspects.htm

--
Mike Kanze

"It's scary when you start making the same noises as your coffeemaker."

- Anonymous


"Doug "Woody" and Erin Beal" wrote in message ...
On 5/27/06 6:58 AM, in article , "John
Carrier" wrote:


"DDAY" wrote in message
. net...
I was watching a documentary called "Top Gun" on the Military Channel.

They had some footage of some cat launches gone wrong. In one an A-6 took
off the waist catapult of a carrier and started losing altitude almost
immediately. Then something really big fell off the plane, it started to
roll, and the pilots ejected at very low altitude.

Probably engine failure on the stroke. Possibly wrong weight setting on the
cat. The older catapults would use a given steam pressure to achieve a
particular end-speed for a particular gross weight. These would malfunction
on rare occasions. The newer cats use a rotary valve that allows full
pressure (600psi IIRC) for a particular duration and are just about fool
proof (unless its set for the wrong weight).

A fully-loaded A-6 didn't have very good single-engine fly away capability.
The "something" was probably all the underwing stores. Pilot pushed the
emergency jettison and the pylons were cleaned off.


You're right, John. It was a single engine failure on the stroke. Pilot
gets a full chute. B/N skips off the water. Both live.

Max thrust
Gear up
Stores jettison
Bleed Air Gang Bar - OFF
Establish 19 unit climb in balanced flight...

First five steps of the engine failure procedure from memory after a 10 year
hiatus.

If you didn't get those steps done IMMEDIATELY, you didn't stand much of a
chance of bringing the jet back. Later, an east coast squadron discovered
in Fallon in a tanker that even if you DID get those steps done, they jet
could be un-flyable single engine. The engines had de-tuned over time
making the single-engine performance charts incorrect. Pax re-vamped them
in about 1994-5.

--Woody