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Close Call…
Navy T-2C Buckeyes in Formation
Today was my student’s first formation flight. This flight’s two goals were to teach him how to rendezvous efficiently and safely, and then how to fly in close formation on the other aircraft’s wing. Each of the two jets had a student and instructor and we would alternate as the Lead aircraft, the target of the rendezvous. These flights didn’t normally entail aerobatics but today I’d find myself unexpectedly performing a barrel roll to avoid a mid-air when things went badly wrong during a rendezvous.
(Here’s a video of two Air Force T6 trainers rendezvousing in a right-hand turn. The Navy always uses left turns! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGW3WpXZNB8)
I had already demonstrated a correct rendezvous and join-up. For a rendezvous, the lead aircraft starts out a mile or so away, either next to or in front of the joining aircraft, and then starts a 25-30 degree angle-of-bank (wing angle to the horizon) turn to the left. That’s a relatively gentle turn – a 30-degree heading change every 20 seconds. The goal of the joining aircraft is to cut to the inside of the lead aircraft’s turn and maneuver so that you stay on or behind the lead’s wing line (for the T-2 we aligned the front of the wingtip tank with the pilot) and at the same altitude as you get closer and closer. Initially, the difference between the two aircrafts’ headings will be greatest and this produces the highest closure rates (how fast you’re approaching the other aircraft). That’s good because otherwise, the rendezvous would take all day.
But as the joining aircraft gets closer, it continues to turn slightly sharper and faster than the lead so that its relative heading ultimately matches the lead’s just as it slowly passes slightly under and behind the lead aircraft and stabilizes in position on the outside of its turn. It sounds easy but takes a lot of practice to do safely and reliably in all kinds of weather (especially at night).
Now my student had the controls and we started his first rendezvous attempt. It started out OK but then his scan broke down – he focused on alignment with the lead’s wing and stopped watching his altitude and airspeed. We started descending and accelerating. “I have it.”**
** ”I have it” is the phrase used to transfer control of the aircraft between pilots. The pilot no longer in control answers “You have it”. The controlling pilot briefly shakes the stick to signify that he is now flying the airplane. This is critical in aircraft with the pilots sitting behind each other (tandem configuration) in separate cockpits rather than side-by-side (like a conventional cargo jet, helicopter, or light aircraft).
I took the controls and flew us back to the start point. We reviewed the importance of watching everything that had to be controlled – not just the alignment or altitude or airspeed. He tried again and this time he did better until we were about 100 yards away when he lost altitude again dropping 200-feet and accelerating. Over the intercom, I called – “I have it.” and took the controls to fly us back to the proper position to try again. We were both getting a little frustrated. We only had fuel for a couple more tries before needing to switch lead aircraft so the student in the other jet could practice his own rendezvous.
We tried again and this time I thought he finally had it. Everything looked good until we were about three wingspans away. We were closing steadily but a little too fast so he tightened his turn, increasing his bank angle and inadvertently climbing. The climb, coupled with the higher bank angle caused us to immediately lose sight of the lead jet. There was no time for discussion. I keyed the mic – “I have it!” and took the stick, quickly pulling the nose up and rolling towards the lead, regaining sight as we rolled. We were now above the Lead so I continued the roll to pass safely over the top and slightly behind in a sort of barrel roll, settling into the correct formation position on his right wing. I saw the instructor in the lead aircraft look over his shoulder with a start. He’d been caught by surprise too.
That barrel roll wasn’t on today’s lesson plan. It wasn’t a textbook maneuver or one I’d practiced. I’d waited a fraction too long before taking control from the student. That meant the standard corrections wouldn’t have been enough to keep us from a possible mid-air.
I keyed the radio and called the other instructor “Sorry about that, Rocker (his call sign). One last try before switching? How’s your gas?” He replied “It’s good. That’ll work.”
We took our time flying back to the start point to discuss what had happened and how we could avoid a repeat. This time the student got it right and the rest of the flight was uneventful. But it taught me a powerful lesson about how quickly things could go from “OK” to “Oh-sh__!” That was the last time I had to perform an unplanned barrel roll into a formation join-up. The key was not letting the students dig themselves into such a deep hole that it required extraordinary maneuvering to recover.
The Blue Angels and the Air Force Thunderbirds make it look easy – flying in close formation with another aircraft. Every Navy student pilot must master this skill because it integrates several other skills that are the minimum requirement to safely fly off carriers. Most operational multi-aircraft aircraft carrier missions require at least one formation rendezvous with another aircraft. The “go-fasters” (the jet fighters) burn a lot of jet fuel and will always rendezvous with an airborne tanker aircraft after every launch and often prior to landing. This requires precise formation flying as the tanker aircraft extends its inflight refueling hose and drogue and the receiving aircraft extends its refueling probe and then flies up and plugs its probe into the receiver basket.
(See this excellent inflight refueling video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s85Gcd35u0Y)
Single pilot aircraft like the A-7 generally flew missions with two or more aircraft to increase the effectiveness of their attack and to give the enemy more targets to shoot at (OK, that’s a side effect, not a feature.). Over my three years flying A-7’s, I’d performed hundreds of rendezvous’ in all weather conditions. I’d also flown close formation on almost every flight. I’d been the lead aircraft when my wingman’s radio had failed and we had to find our way back through heavy clouds. I was comfortable with all aspects of that kind of flying. But I’d never been as close to a mid-air as I’d been that day over Mississippi with a young student aviator. And that’s why I still remember the story over 30 years later!
BONUS: This is a great example of formation flying and a rendezvous flown by two Canadian F/A-18 Hornets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgok8PDV9Fc
Published in Military
Let’s see. I’ve Liked every episode in this series, because I think they are one of the greatest features on my Ricochet station. Maybe I should mix it up a little and not Like this.
NOT!
Those Buckeyes just have to be the cutest military aircraft ever; but they should be called Guppies, not Buckeyes. :-)
They were deliberately designed to look like that so that trainees would be eager to graduate and start inviting their dates to watch them fly the sexy-looking airplanes.
I want one. Chick magnet.
McDonnell XF-85 Goblin. Designed to be carried in the bomb bay of a B-36. They decided that in-air refueling would be safer, but only because it was.
Looks like a football with control surfaces.
I’ve long wondered, in this or any other kind of formation flying with wingtips close together, how much of it is a matter of eyeballing the distance and speed, and how much of it is a matter of instrumentation. I’ve never flown anything, so this is probably a naive question.
I can’t even imagine how awful this thing must have been to fly!
It’s all eyeballs once in close. You align two different sets of features that create intersecting visual sightlines and you position Your eyeballs at that intersection.
Check out the Canadian F/A18 video. They talk about lining up the tip of the Sidewinder missile on the closest wingtip with the Canadian AF insignia under the cockpit as the first line. Then you fly up that line until you can look directly across the flat of the engine burner nozzles. That puts you at the intersection of those two lines and therefore in the correct position.
I’m so glad you like them! You just made my day Mark. :-)
Funny side story. I called my son who flies C-17s in the AF and asked about the T6s flying right hand turns instead of left hand ones like the Navy and during the conversation learned that he’d seen the barrel roll join-up from the Lead aircraft perspective once during his training. That’s Not supposed to happen. Tha other instructor was learning the same hard lesson I had those many years ago. A sobering thought!
Their informal nickname was “Pregnant Guppy” for obvious reasons. Despite their looks they were fun to fly! And honest.
Another great essay, thank you. As an AFROTC Cadet I spent my first 4-week summer training at Dyess AFB in Abilene Texas. AFROTC training takes place in your college sophomore summer.
I had my first fighter ride, courtesy of the 142nd Air Wing of the Oregon Air Guard, from a recently returned Vietnam Vet. He asked me if I wanted to fly towards Mt. Hood or the Oregon Coast. I said the Oregon Coast. We flew down through canyons and I could see the ridgelines above the cockpit. A full roll over the ridge line and a 180 degree turn to fly back down to the next canyon. He said they can hear us, but they can’t see us. I never got air sick. In the photo I’m holding the helmet. I asked if we could go one more time.
During training in Texas my ride was going to be in the T-37 Tweet. Sometimes called the 4,ooo pound dog whistle. The IP (Instructor Pilot) told me I would have to guide the aircraft down the taxi way, and then place it on the runway for take-off.
The 4,000 pound dog whistle was said to render deaf any jack rabbit anywhere near the runway.
I made the turn and placed the T-37 in position for takeoff. The IP said I have the throttle, when I say pull back on the stick, pull back on the stick. I’m seeing the runway flash by. Then the magic words, pull back on the stick.
I pulled it back, and heard the IP laughing, he said look behind you. We climbed straight up from the point on the runway when I pulled the stick.
The T-37 Tweet.
Everyone to their own taste, said the lady as she kissed the cow.
When you study the photo, it is pretty hard to see any aerodynamics, isn’t it?
They say it flew pretty well. The problem was getting that little hook doohickey to engage with the trapeze hanging from the bomb bay when they tried to dock. There was a lot of turbulence underneath the bomber.
That was interesting. Thx. Made me nervous.
Wow again. Thanks for the little parenthetical additions, although I think I would have understood some of them otherwise, Max. You are a good instructor! It sure is uncomfortable holding my breath through the essay, though! ;-) I can’t imagine doing these maneuvers. Have I ever said thanks for your service?! Fascinating.
A puppy might work too.
Was the nickname Pregnant Guppy also used for a cargo aircraft?
It’s amazing what you can become accustomed to. Like flying close to another aircraft. You learn that as long as you keep the relative motion minimal, you’re fine. The aerial refueling video doesn’t quite do that task justice. Navy jets use a probe on the receiver aircraft and a flexible hose with a metal “basket”on the end surrounding the coupler to aerodynamically stabilize it. But the receiver creates a bow wave in the air as it approaches. You have to approach just quickly enough that the basket doesn’t have a chance to bounce around, evading the probe. I think I’ll do a post about some of the problems and dangers associated with refueling airborne.
You’re right Dave.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pregnant_Guppy_NASA.jpg
Here’s a website dedicated to this aircraft! http://www.allaboutguppys.com/pg/377pgf.htm
As I think back, I think folks would say that “they looked like a pregnant guppy” rather than actually calling them that as an “informal nickname”. Good catch.
The trick is learning to do these things when you’re still “young and immortal”. (or think you are…) Are you nervous while doing it? Sure. There’s much perspiration too when first learning. But you’re comforted by the knowledge that you’re not in uncharted territory. Others have mastered it and so can you.
Sorry about the “breath holding” though… :-)
Typical pilot.
Normal people say, “Others have failed, and so can you.”
A cousin retired from teaching kids how to parallel park an F4 on a boat at night when he realized he was running out of friends. Till I learned that, I’d never realized how safe flying warplanes in combat is compared to flying them in peacetime.
My dad took my brothers and I to various events and I saw this a couple of times.
Yes. I suspect that’s not uncommon. With age comes greater awareness of our mortality. Certainly true in my case. One of my A7 squadron COs would not accept a bird for a night carrier landing if the jet’s Automatic Carrier Landing system was inop. That system could land the plane completely hands-off. But it was unreliable. I never used it because I figured I needed the manual practice!
Very interesting Perceval! I always learn something new from your comments and that’s the fun of writing here. It was for defense of the bomber right? Its own carry-along fighter defense? Very short range I would guess.
Magic times Doug. I’ll bet the memory still brings a smile to your face and heart.
Yes. The Goblin program only lasted from 1947 to 1948. They were carried by, launched from, and (occasionally) returned to a modified B-29 because the B-36 was still being developed. The B-36 had a combat range of almost 4,000 miles, well beyond the range of the first jets or even the P-51. I don’t know what the Goblin’s range was. Enough to get it back to Edwards – or Muroc, as it was known then – if reattaching failed.