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aloft · August 27th, 2004, 13:17

[ QUOTE ]
I am in no way questioning a Navy pilot, but I wonder at what point you realize the brakes are not working and make the decision to 1, go around or 2, decide to eject. Like you said, good thing he is okay.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe Mikey D will pop up here, but you don't jump on the brakes in a fighter until fairly late in the landing roll. In the F-16, for instance, you touch down somewhere around 140 KIAS and hold an 11 degree nose up attitude as long as possible for aerodynamic braking. As the horizontal stabilator loses its effectiveness the nose comes down of its own accord. Only then does the pilot get on the brakes, and on a short runway (7500' is short for a fighter), this may be well past the runway's mid-point, and also past the point where the pilot may reject the landing.

(Fine point here: a "go around" implies you're still airborne and you opt to discontinue the approach; a "rejected landing" implies that you've touched down already but things ain't working out and so you opt to take off again rather than risk continuing the roll-out.)

Military runways, however have cables stretched across both ends of a runway that lie beneath a trap door of sorts but can be raised rapidly by the tower when the pilot calls out "CABLE CABLE CABLE", allowing him/her to drop the aircraft's tailhook and arrest the landing roll that way.

So, my guess is that the Hornet driver was past the point where he could safely reject the landing when he learned he had no brakes. Now, why he didn't call for the departure end cables to be raised (or why the tower failed to do so) is a mystery and will probably be a focal point of the investigation.

August 27th, 2004, 13:17	#19
aloft Old Skool Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Inside your OODA loop Posts: 6,664	Re: Navy jet rolls into S.D. Bay on landing [ QUOTE ] I am in no way questioning a Navy pilot, but I wonder at what point you realize the brakes are not working and make the decision to 1, go around or 2, decide to eject. Like you said, good thing he is okay. [/ QUOTE ] Maybe Mikey D will pop up here, but you don't jump on the brakes in a fighter until fairly late in the landing roll. In the F-16, for instance, you touch down somewhere around 140 KIAS and hold an 11 degree nose up attitude as long as possible for aerodynamic braking. As the horizontal stabilator loses its effectiveness the nose comes down of its own accord. Only then does the pilot get on the brakes, and on a short runway (7500' is short for a fighter), this may be well past the runway's mid-point, and also past the point where the pilot may reject the landing. (Fine point here: a "go around" implies you're still airborne and you opt to discontinue the approach; a "rejected landing" implies that you've touched down already but things ain't working out and so you opt to take off again rather than risk continuing the roll-out.) Military runways, however have cables stretched across both ends of a runway that lie beneath a trap door of sorts but can be raised rapidly by the tower when the pilot calls out "CABLE CABLE CABLE", allowing him/her to drop the aircraft's tailhook and arrest the landing roll that way. So, my guess is that the Hornet driver was past the point where he could safely reject the landing when he learned he had no brakes. Now, why he didn't call for the departure end cables to be raised (or why the tower failed to do so) is a mystery and will probably be a focal point of the investigation.