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Nah, the approach was RS. You fly these things on at a constant rate of decent until the wheels hit, that E2 was all over the shop. There may have been reasons to be desperate to get on board, but otherwise that approach would have resulted in at least one unpleasant interview, and a spell of practicing approaches. He did a great job to keep it out of the water though!
https://youtu.be/lUT7v90eCU0 shows an E2 landing, note the relatively stable view out the front of the aircraft on finals until the wheels hit.
Sorry I'm late to this party.., the E-2's approach was fine (not perfect, but fine) and had nothing to do with the wire parting. This was a fleet CQ (carrier qualification) event with a veteran crew and if I remember correctly, the LSO grade was "not enough power in close and flat in the wires, "FAIR-4"... it was fine. If there was anything an LSO would really critique, it was dropping the nose (flat) in the wires... this causes not only the nose to drop, but the tail (tailhook) to rise, and the tailhook missing the ideal "3-wire" and grabbing the "4-wire" instead. Still, the pass was fine, no unpleasant interview required.
The wire parted due to a combination computer and mechanical malfunction in the arresting gear engine itself.
The co-pilot of that E-2 is a former squadron-mate of mine and a great American. I had the fortune to interview him regarding the incident shortly after the event when I was the E-2 Community Rep at the Naval Safety Center... he said that the instant the wire parted, he was absolutely confident that they still had enough speed to fly it away. Not kidding... he said that he knew before they went off the edge again that he knew they were going to be fine.
You can give a lot of credit to the constant-speed prop system that instantly provides 10,200 of Pratt & Whitney's finest horsepowers on demand. That, and being light-loaded on fuel for CQ, was moving just over 40k/lbs... its a metric ****-ton of power for a propeller plane... roughly twice the power to weight of a P-51 Mustang if that helps.
Despite being in Nigeria, I can vouch for the fact that this is a legit post, not a scam.
This is from a FB group for broadcast engineers. We have a large number of members from Africa / southern & eastern Asia, who are doing really heroic work to keep radio & TV on the air in their communities. These are places where internet access is not taken for granted.
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My snark may not have come across earlier. To be clear: these are places where electricity, clean water, and a non-warlord government are not taken for granted.
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The specific box which he's offering is a fairly common SDI to analog converter. It costs $295 new, and I literally have a pile of them on the shelf in my spare-parts room, along with other piles of similar devices. In my world, they're as consumable as toilet paper. I just order them in bulk every time I notice (or one of my engineers informs me) that we're running low of a commonly-used model.
But to this guy, it's a unique thing which he no longer has a specific need for, and yet it has residual value which merits him taking the time to try and find a new home for it, with the hope that it will bring him some money in return.
But to this guy, it's a unique thing which he no longer has a specific need for, and yet it has residual value which merits him taking the time to try and find a new home for it, with the hope that it will bring him some money in return.
That sort of thing gives me pause.
You know the old adage, one man's trash an all. This guy is 100% going to make someone's day with this device, kinda like how I'm currently interested in laying hands on a BIPES ACU.
To some, these devices are archaic trash or "common as toilet paper" but to others, they can be incredibly useful. Even if just for the sake of wanting to try it out for ones own edification.
No problem glad you made it. I was hoping someone a little closer to the scene would drop in.
the E-2's approach was fine (not perfect, but fine) and had nothing to do with the wire parting. This was a fleet CQ (carrier qualification) event with a veteran crew and if I remember correctly, the LSO grade was "not enough power in close and flat in the wires, "FAIR-4"... it was fine. If there was anything an LSO would really critique, it was dropping the nose (flat) in the wires... this causes not only the nose to drop, but the tail (tailhook) to rise, and the tailhook missing the ideal "3-wire" and grabbing the "4-wire" instead. Still, the pass was fine, no unpleasant interview required.
That was my point, I may have overcooked it a bit in the light of your comments.
The wire parted due to a combination computer and mechanical malfunction in the arresting gear engine itself.
I never questioned or disputed that.
The co-pilot of that E-2 is a former squadron-mate of mine and a great American. I had the fortune to interview him regarding the incident shortly after the event when I was the E-2 Community Rep at the Naval Safety Center... he said that the instant the wire parted, he was absolutely confident that they still had enough speed to fly it away. Not kidding... he said that he knew before they went off the edge again that he knew they were going to be fine.
This surprises me - they went down a long way and stayed quite a while before reappearing, seemed to me to be a brown underpants event. Certainly would have been for me if I was riding in the jump seat.
You can give a lot of credit to the constant-speed prop system that instantly provides 10,200 of Pratt & Whitney's finest horsepowers on demand. That, and being light-loaded on fuel for CQ, was moving just over 40k/lbs... its a metric ****-ton of power for a propeller plane... roughly twice the power to weight of a P-51 Mustang if that helps.
That makes the co-pilot's comments more understandable.
That is one of those technologies which, as an engineer, I recognize was not at all obvious until someone thought of it.
"This engine is only efficient at this one very specific and narrow range of RPM."
"Well, let's design things such that it always operates at exactly that RPM."
And I respect that.
Constant speed props have been around since WW2. Dunno about the mega HP engines, there may have been difficulties associated with the sheer amount of grunt to be transmitted.
However, efficiency is not the be all and end all - 'effectiveness' may happen at a higher rev number, and while greater power will come at a lower efficiency, that can be a worthwhile trade - like when going off the end of a carrier deck while trying to get the bird up to flying speed, or taking off hot and high at MTOW.. That's why they have a prop speed lever, and a power lever (or used to, probably a digital engine control unit in the mix somewhere these days).
OMG. OMG. OMG. B-52 Radar Navigator chiming in. That made my year!
What a beast it is! I'm continually amazed that the platform is still so viable. I read that they expect to utilize them through 2050 (i.e. approx 100 years of service!!)
11-24-2021, 06:08 PM
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