Interesting F-100 story....

Carts starts. I was at Bitburg when the Air Defense Zulu alert F4E got
a hot scramble. The favorite scramble start routine then was to fire
both carts at once and move both throttles forward for a simultaneous
start and thus get off quicker. Alas, one cart did not fire. The crew,
full of adrenalin, did not realize this until well past normal
liftoff.(Usually about 4000 feet of roll). Being loaded with 3
external tanks, the AC decided to lighten ship and punched them off,
thus getting airborne well before the end of the 8000 foot runway. He
airstarted the dead engine and pressed on. This resulted in an absolute
veto on 'double bang' starts and renewed emphasis on checking the
engine instruments before takeoff. And an 'aw s--t" award to the crew.
Walt BJ

On 1 Jun 2006 21:22:40 -0700, "WaltBJ"
wrote:

Carts starts. I was at Bitburg when the Air Defense Zulu alert F4E got
a hot scramble. The favorite scramble start routine then was to fire
both carts at once and move both throttles forward for a simultaneous
start and thus get off quicker. Alas, one cart did not fire. The crew,
full of adrenalin, did not realize this until well past normal
liftoff.(Usually about 4000 feet of roll). Being loaded with 3
external tanks, the AC decided to lighten ship and punched them off,
thus getting airborne well before the end of the 8000 foot runway. He
airstarted the dead engine and pressed on. This resulted in an absolute
veto on 'double bang' starts and renewed emphasis on checking the
engine instruments before takeoff. And an 'aw s--t" award to the crew.
Walt BJ

Since there's no "supervisor" in the cockpit with you, there's no way
to enforce that policy. Seriously, the real problem was the
head-up-and-locked nose gunner who didn't watch the engine gauges
after hitting the switches as well as the WSO who didn't catch a
clue-bird. Failure to make 1000 foot line-speed would have been
another indicator. There's really no solution for aircrew screw-ups.

Related story: Sitting Victor (15-minute) alert on an ORI at Incirlik,
got scrambled with a "shape" (not a real bomb) for an "elephant walk"
(all the alert birds simulate a launch up to the arming area and
runway but don't fly). One cart fired, other didn't. Taxied with one
engine and any time I saw an IG type watching would jazz the throttle
to give me some momentum taxiing past so that he wouldn't notice the
slack nozzle on the dead engine. Poor taxi technique, but it looked
like an "up" airplane as far as the inspection was concerned.

If you ain't cheatin' you ain't trying.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com