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I’ve Got A Fire Back Here
Author’s Note: I wrote this article for the U.S. Navy Safety Center’s Approach in 1994. I’ve edited it to minimize Navy jargon and acronyms.
We were well past the midpoint of our deployment to the Korean peninsula and the flying was starting to pick up as we began another joint exercise in the Western Pacific. My Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) “Snap” and I prepared for a night Air Intercept Control (AIC) hop, our second flight of the day. The main objective was to maintain night landing currency – a night recovery every seven (7) days.
The next morning, we were flying off to Naval Air Facility (NAF) Kadena, Japan for a good deal: an air-wing strike and Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) detachment. We were going to hurl tons of live ordnance at some unsuspecting island, Okino-daito-jima (aka guitar pick island) and fight our Air Force brethren off-target.
Preflight, startup, and launch were normal. Airborne, we headed for our Combat Air Patrol (CAP) station. I leveled off above the clouds at 22,000 feet and Snap checked in with the E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning and control aircraft.
Halfway through the first tum on CAP, waiting for our flight lead, the horizontal situation display (HSD) in my cockpit started flickering and Snap said the tactical information display (TID) in the back seat was doing the same.
The next thing I heard was, “I’ve got a fire back here!” Flames were coming from the right side of the TID behind the rear-cockpit instrument panel into the RIO’s cockpit. My right hand let go of the stick, swept aft, and shut off both generators. There were no unusual control inputs so I decided to leave the stability augmentation system (SAS) switches engaged and corresponding circuit breakers in. I immediately turned back toward USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63).
I nervously asked if the fire was out, and he responded “No!” The moment of truth was here; I had to shut off the emergency generator and fly a 30-ton fighter at night with a flashlight and a standby gyro that was good for less than 10 minutes.
With the emergency generator off, the cockpit went black instantly, but my standard Navy flashlight was getting me by. I had it strapped upside down on my survival vest in case we lost lighting. With my harness unlocked I could twist in the ejection seat and aim the light at the airspeed, altimeter, vertical speed indicator, etc. I turned around, loosened my mask, and shouted at Snap over the roaring ECS and asked if the fire was out.
He shouted back, “No!” The F-14 Tomcat is the fastest aircraft in the fleet, but we can’t outrun a fire in the cockpit. I started getting a lump in my throat from thinking about the next inevitable step when Snap shouted, “Hey, I think it is going out.”
The wire-bundle insulation continued to smolder, but soon the fire had gone out. We waited another 30 seconds and brought the emergency generator back on-line. The fire remained out, partial instrument lighting was restored, and Snap was on the radio to Kitty Hawk’s marshal (approach control) declaring an emergency. I secured the ECS, dumped the cabin pressure (always pleasant above 20,000’) and selected RAM air to clear the smoke and fumes out of the cockpit.
My priority was to get back on deck ASAP. I cross checked the standby gyro and HSD then started descending into the clouds. I turned the fuel dump switch on to get down to our maximum arrested landing weight. We launched with 20,000 pounds of fuel, remembered we were down to about 16,000 when I shut the generators off, and I had to make sure it was below 8,000 or there was a chance the tailhook would be ripped off the jet when we hit the arresting gear wires on the flight deck.
I put the marshal frequency into the front radio in case the emergency generator dropped to the low mode and rendered the control face of the radio useless. The jets recovering after our go launched were just concluding and the controllers did an outstanding job vectoring us to final bearing without having our Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) to help them. It was all done painting a raw radar target.
The initial adrenaline rush was wearing off and I was concentrating on good basic aviating and crew coordination. The Tomcat is huge and it is more than 50’ from the throttles back to the engine control modules. Under normal circumstances the throttles are boosted like power steering, but not being essential that is lost on the emergency generator. I normally massaged the throttles around 3,000 pounds per hour fuel flow all the way into the arresting gear aboard the ship. Now I had to wrestle them without a clue for fuel flow. I had the essential instrument lights and only one external light for the Landing Signal Officers (LSO) to help us get aboard.
Descending down to final approach altitude, 1,200’, I secured the fuel dump figuring we were below 8k. There was a standpipe in the tanks to make sure we couldn’t dump below 4k. Approaching 1,200’ I had to push the throttles up to maintain airspeed, this was going to be a chore.
There was no instrument landing system, aircraft carrier landing system, or distance measuring equipment on the backup generator. Airspeed, attitude, altitude, vertical speed, and heading was what I had to work with. Marshall vectored us onto final and kept up our range from the ship. Snap and I did the math on when I needed to start descending on final bearing at 5-700 feet per minute with the aircraft configured for landing.
On final I lowered the gear, flaps, and tailhook. None of the indicators worked, but the gear felt and sounded like it locked in place. Snap used his flashlight to verify the leading edge slats were down. The nose pitched down slightly like normal and there was no uncommanded roll so it was safe to assume the flaps lowered symmetrically. The tail hook was anybody’s guess, but if it wasn’t down the one external light we did have would flash and alert the ship.
I wrestled the throttles aft to slow us to approach speed around 144 knots, a guess since I didn’t know our exact fuel weight. Slowing through 150 knots I shoved the throttles forward and had to wrestle them to maintain approach speed. I was not looking forward to how I was going to make fine adjustments in close. We crosschecked our range with the ship, I opened the speed brakes, dipped the nose to maintain airspeed and wrestled the throttles some more to stay on speed in our descent
At one-mile marshal told us we were glide path and on course, we were into the home stretch. “Sundowner ¾ of mile call the ball” good start, all things considered. A split second later, less than ½ mile from the ship the ball started rising, I was going above glide path and could miss the arresting wires on the deck. I wrestled with the throttles to pull off what I thought was the appropriate amount of power. The LSO’s quickly responded, “Deck’s going down, power.” Great, the deck was pitching!
I started shoving the throttles forward as the deck came back up to meet us for an OK 2-wire landing. When we rolled out in the landing area the jet was surrounded by the crash-and salvage crew throwing chocks under the gear and giving us the shutdown signal. I did not have to see that signal twice; the throttles were off and the ejection seats safed. Snap got checked for burns on his right leg. I was just thirsty and glad to be on deck.
From the time I heard “I’ve got a fire back here!” until I brought the emergency generator back on-line seemed like 20 minutes. But that portion of the episode probably lasted about a minute. Snap told me afterwards he put the insulation fire out by dumping his water bottle on it. I was glad he told me that after we were on deck. The subsequent maintenance inspection revealed a burnt circuit card in the TID and two melted wire bundles on the right side of the TID.
The next day it was off to NAF Kadena in a different jet to drop four (4) 2,000 pound MK-84 bombs (imagine a Volkswagen stuffed with dynamite) on guitar pick island and then show the USAF F-15 Eagles how business is done off target.
No way. I sank that island in 2001.
A nice, easy day eh?
Great story Brent – I’m not sure I understand everything that happened but you sure got my heart racing. Good job on the story and making it back to the ship!
Did anything change procedurally following on from your report?
Thank you Scott.
I don’t recall anything changing procedurally. We followed the NATOPS (F-14 Owner’s Manual, How To Book) as written.
If there were any changes to the maintenance manuals I would be surprised. When this happened the airframe was 20 years old. This particular plane was at or above its 5,000 hour airframe life. Sometimes bad things happen in old airplanes. The best guess the AE’s made was that the circuit card came dislodged on the Cat Shot.
Ripping good tale! Glad you (and your RIO) are around to tell it.
Great Post!
I’ve clicked on the “heart icon” to recommend this post, FWIW.
Getting used to Rico 3.0
I love Ricochet.
Not doing that. Nope.
The power was off when he did that. For sure, the power needed to stay off after he did it.
Well done, Brent.
Reads better than rock music sounds!
I was just wondering which ACDC song needs to be playing while one acts this badass.
If ACDC pays him royalties, sure, but otherwise, the creative genius here is getting ripped. Of course, I’m not saying anyone should set a plane on fire for a good story, but people who’ve lived to tell the tale are gonna drop jaws faster than UFO sightings-
FWIW I don’t think either of us were feeling very badass. I will never forget hearing him say “I’ve got a fire back here, looking over my right shoulder, and seeing the flames and sparks reflecting in the canopy and Snap looking like he was trying to push himself up out of the ejection seat.
Thank you. There was zero chance those generator switches were coming back on. I knew (very optimistically thought) we could get back on deck without them even though it wasn’t going to be fun.
Terrific story, Brent. Thanks for writing it.
How’bout Billy Joel, though?
Thanks for the great story. That time-dilation or whatever it is is amazing, isn’t it?
Was that because that was just what he did, or did the airplane in fact not have extinguishers for electrical fires? That would be, uh, surprising.
We called it time compression, but that may just be Navy jargon. It is amazing. I personally struggle with it while shooting and have to coach students about it a lot.
We did’t have fire extinguishers in the cockpit. Each engine had a halon extinguisher. In the picture of the front cockpit on the upper right side just underneath the glare shield you can see a triangle/trapezoid handle with yellow and black striping. That is the fire extinguisher for the right engine. There is one for the left, but it isn’t clearly visible in that photo.
Wow, Brent. I keep an extinguisher in my car right by the gearshift – and my car is on the ground!
I’m very glad your flashlight worked.
Yes, but that fire extinguisher is probably about $19.99 at AutoZone. The Navy would have to source one made of titanium or something capable of withstanding explosive decompressions, cat shots, arrested landings, etc. and probably be north of $500.
Pucker-factor at 11 just reading the post. Great post, Brent.
Great story, reminds me of when…
… salt fog, jungle rot …
The famous $7000 coffee pot for the C-5B was supposed to be able to handle a 7G turn. In a C-5B. A 5G turn in a C-5B is more excitement than I think I can handle. It’s probably more excitement than the C-5B could handle.
Feeling and acting are two very separate things. I’ve spoken with many highly trained military men, including one Jim Lovell, who always fall back on “its the training”, but at a certain point cajones are required.
I think the C5 would be spread across terra firma around 4G’s.
Brent, when was the last time you actually did an arrested landing? I installed quite a few of the new ARC, LSODS, and updated IFLOLS arresting gear systems from 2003 to 2010. The pilots I talked to LOVED the way ARC felt compared to the old stuff.
It was about 20 years ago. I am so old I was in the last class to land the T-2C on the USS Lexington. Talk about a brutal cat shot and trap, the Lexington was tough duty.
You should write a post about those new systems. I’ve no experience with them. It would make an interesting read.
More posts about military brains & guts working out as nature intended? Sounds great!
Am I the only one with Kenny Loggins in my head right about now?
Fantastic yarn Brent. Please send me a signed copy of your future book.
I don’t know if there is a book in the future.
I may write the story about how I was partying with Scott Ritter, the infamous UNSCOM Nuclear Inspector and former USMC Intel Officer in Bahrain and ended up getting counseled by the Wing Commander in front of my Squadron Commander for alluding the fact we might blow up the hotel CNN was staying in. Ahhh, the days.
You and your RIO are a couple of cool customers, as they say. If you don’t stay cool, you don’t live. Great story, Brent.