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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0879.PDF
LIGHT International, 31 May 1962 877 one point we developed a slight, but rapid pitch oscillation which Dell ascribed to need for bleeding the autostabilizer. At Ml.5 Dell switched the autostabilizer off, trimmed hands-off and kicked the rudder hard. Yaw and roll developed together, but in just over two cycles we were straightened out again. Still acceler ating, Dell tried the same with the autostabilizer on at M 1.55. The oscillation was nailed in one cycle. Speed was still increasing and we had to stick rigidly to 30,000ft because of other traffic near us— less than 60 miles ahead that is. The Tacan miles counter was clicking off a mile every four seconds as we reached M1.6 and radar told us that the Scottish coast was coming up. The whole run had lasted perhaps five minutes. We had to slow down now and Dell pulled the throttles back out of afterburner power. It was as if he had extended everything drag-worthy there was. I lay forward against the harness and the Machmeter needle started down again, but apart from powerful deceleration there was very little change in the feel of flying. Almost immediately radar told us to turn right and we pulled 2g in a vertically banked turn, still well above M1.0. We began a let-down with engines throttled and airbrakes out, feeling relatively slight drag from the latter. At a reasonable i.a.s. we made a perfectly normal jet descent and levelled off just above a cloud layer at 9,000ft. Pulling round into a 5g level turn, I noticed how rapidly the speed fell off once high angles of attack were applied. More power was essential to hold speed, but the stick could be pulled hard back without any sign of incipient pitch-up. Only a roughness indicated the edge of the g capability. There is no stick- shaker or snatcher in the Lightning, as there is in the F-104. We turned and twisted for a while, gaining and losing thousands of feet without thinking, the engines at less than 100 per cent cold thrust. The i.a.s. was around the 500kt mark all the time and we simply seemed to think ourselves into turns, climbs and dives. The aircraft obviously handled extremely smoothly and easily. Once we nudged M 1.0 at about 15,000ft because we levelled out of a high-powered turn. Eyes were constantly on the fuel gauges and an ear cocked to the radar controller for his repeated position reports and warnings of other traffic. It was time to come down. Airbrakes out and throttles back; down through a few thousand feet of cloud, the altimeter drum spindles must be hot by now and 5,000ft flashes past. At 400kt we broke out below cloud at about 2,000ft and levelled off for a normal run-in to the airfield. A tight turn to kill some speed and we were downwind at 250kt, the gear and flap speed. Dell put them both down and we set 84 per cent power to stay level at about 210kt, the only residual trim change being the result of reduction in speed. Hefty thumps had denoted that the three legs were locked down. I raised the seat to make sure I could see over the nose, but any increase in angle of attack was not noticeable. From three miles out we banked at 40° and pulled onto the final approach, dropping speed off and settling at a little over 70 per cent power. We steamed in at an unmentionable (security) speed between 160kt and 190kt, riding a rough turbulence which seemed mainly to affect roll and yaw rather than pitch. The Lightning rode the turbulence extremely well, with plenty of aileron to spare and excellent response to small throttle adjustments. There was evidently no trouble in maintaining speed and approach path precisely. The approach lights raced past beneath us as we opened up to much less than full power and soared away for another circuit. Then Dell applied full power and made one of those tight turns that gladden the crowds at Farnborough. Full power is necessary because of the great increase in drag, but the actual stabilized air speed is very low by Lightning standards and only three or four g are pulled. Finally we set up the downwind leg at 250kt, lowered gear and flap, wheeled round for a straight-in approach and got set in the groove again. That certain approach speed was looking normal by now. It is in fact dictated by angle of attack, to avoid scraping the tail on touch-down, and is at least a score of knots above the lg stalling speed, though not so far off the speed at which an unacceptable sink rate would develop. At one mile, the rate of closing with the runway looked reason able. At half a mile it seemed rather quick. Over the hedge I began to have a sensation of great urgency. We made a very brief check back and were down, without perceptible float or much of a round- out. The stick can be pulled fully back without scraping the tail and the touch-down is usually firm. The tyres are inflated, but seem rock-hard. The nosewheel was lowered onto the runway immediately and Dell streamed the drag-chute. A jerk and a powerful pull back, against which the nosewheel had to be held firmly down on the runway. The drag of the parachute alone is sufficient to slow the Lightning down to 20kt in zero wind in 1,800yd without wheel braking, but I think it was not as great as the decel eration resulting from shutting down the afterburners at Ml.6. Such a rapid approach and brief pre-touch-down check may seem startling, but Dell said that the aircraft is so easy to handle in this condition that the problems are in fact very small. Even in that very rough wind, we did not wander off the runway heading much and it is easier, by virtue of the speed, to aim accurately at the touch down point. Response to power adjustments was positive and rapid. With autothrottle, of course, the approach speed is held accurately over a very wide range of descent angles so that a pilot can easily adjust his approach without fear of deviating from speed. Ultimately, autopilot ILS coupling takes care of it all. With an adequate length of runway there is no sensation that the aircraft might run off the other end. I emerged from the Lightning in good condition, neither boiled nor frozen, nor bruised or scratched, despite wearing no gloves. So many Service aircraft have cockpits like cheese graters. I have always felt that the one manoeuvre I could not carry out would be landing a supersonic aircraft, but now I feel confident that, in the Lightning, I could reach the terra threshold without exceeding my terror threshold. The production Lightning TA VVN 996 flown for this story. It is one of a batch being delivered to the RAF
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