Path: utzoo!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osu-cis!att!cbnews!macleod@drivax.UUCP
From: macleod@drivax.UUCP (MacLeod)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: F111 ride: an E ticket? Bye bye lunch...
Message-ID: <5678@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 17 Apr 89 02:55:13 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
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Approved: military@att.att.com



From: macleod@drivax.UUCP (MacLeod)

:My brother was a crew chief on F-111s at Mt Home and Tahkli (sp?) and the
:biggest problem was pilots flying them into the ground.  He lost three in
:his enlistment.  One in Vietnam was found impacted on a mountain ledge, said
:it missed the top by about 100 feet.  Two in Mt Home were lost on the range
:but the pilots ejected, one capsules bladder never inflated and broke their
:backs.  All in all he liked it better than the F-4 for maintenance, said he
:felt bad when the aircraft recovered and his didn't come back.  

My reference books tell me that the F111 has a special kind of NOE autopilot
that chugs along near to the ground.  It has two settings: normal and 
"barf bag".  The BB setting hugs the ground even closer and subjects crews
to 2-3G and equivalent negative G maneuvers.  Given this kind of ride, it
isn't surprising that some crash into obstacles. 

Michael Sloan MacLeod  (amdahl!drivax!macleod)