Grampaw Pettibone
Naval Aviation News
March-April 1997
Illustration by Ted Wilbur

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Grampaw Pettibone Naval Aviation News March-April 1997 Illustration by Ted Wilbur

Grampaw Pettibone Naval Aviation News March-April 1997 Illustration by Ted Wilbur

Gampaw Pettibone Says...

Oh, my achin’ back! A perfectly good flyin’ machine busted up for lack of knowledge. When the student pulled the power levers back and up to abort the takeoff, the levers were, in effect, raised at the flight idle stop. Would you believe that the mishap board conducted a poll and learned that 95 percent of the instructor pilots were UNAWARE OF RESTRICTED FORWARD POWER LEVER MOVEMENT WHEN THE LEVERS ARE RAISED AT THE IDLE STOP? You can’t add power no matter how hard you push. Turns out Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization didn’t address this restriction at the time. At flight idle, the pilot must allow gravity augmented by spring force tension to drop the power levers, thus permitting continued forward movement into the flight range.

The student shoulda been more decisive about the decision to abort. He felt he had missed a crucial step in the abort procedure and admitted later that he “did not want to get dinged by the instructor for rotating without a rotate call.”

If the instructor had scanned the cockpit rather than focusing on matters outside of it, he mighta noticed rather than felt the setting of the power levers and got them out of the stop.

Rotatin’ the bird without sufficient power has but one consequence: uncontrolled, downward and nasty flight.

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Grampaw Pettibone Says...Oh, my achin’ back! A perfectly good flyin’ machine busted up for lack of knowledge. When the student pulled the power levers back and up to abort the takeoff, the levers were, in effect, raised at the flight idle stop. Would you believe that the mishap board conducted a poll and learned that 95 percent of the instructor pilots were UNAWARE OF RESTRICTED FORWARD POWER LEVER MOVEMENT WHEN THE LEVERS ARE RAISED AT THE IDLE STOP? You can’t add power no matter how hard you push. Turns out Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization didn’t address this restriction at the time. At flight idle, the pilot must allow gravity augmented by spring force tension to drop the power levers, thus permitting continued forward movement into the flight range. The student shoulda been more decisive about the decision to abort. He felt he had missed a crucial step in the abort procedure and admitted later that he “did not want to get dinged by the instructor for rotating without a rotate call.” If the instructor had scanned the cockpit rather than focusing on matters outside of it, he mighta noticed rather than felt the setting of the power levers and got them out of the stop. Rotatin’ the bird without sufficient power has but one consequence: uncontrolled, downward and nasty flight.

Oh, my achin’ back! A perfectly good flyin’ machine busted up for lack of knowledge. When the student pulled the power levers back and up to abort the takeoff, the levers were, in effect, raised at the flight idle stop. Would you believe that the mishap board conducted a poll and learned that 95 percent of the instructor pilots were UNAWARE OF RESTRICTED FORWARD POWER LEVER MOVEMENT WHEN THE LEVERS ARE RAISED AT THE IDLE STOP? You can’t add power no matter how hard you push. Turns out Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization didn’t address this restriction at the time. At flight idle, the pilot must allow gravity augmented by spring force tension to drop the power levers, thus permitting continued forward movement into the flight range. The student shoulda been more decisive about the decision to abort. He felt he had missed a crucial step in the abort procedure and admitted later that he “did not want to get dinged by the instructor for rotating without a rotate call.” If the instructor had scanned the cockpit rather than focusing on matters outside of it, he mighta noticed rather than felt the setting of the power levers and got them out of the stop. Rotatin’ the bird without sufficient power has but one consequence: uncontrolled, downward and nasty flight.

Gramps from Yesteryear: March-April 1997
Illustration by Ted Wilbur

Rotate and Roll

On a training check flight, with a student naval aviator at the controls in the left seat and the instructor in the right seat backing him up, a T-44A King Air began the takeoff roll. The student had set the power too high on the right engine, so the instructor reduced power slightly to maximum takeoff torque. The instructor intentionally withheld the rotate call at 91 knots to evaluate the student’s response. When the student did not hear the rotate call as anticipated, he was unsure what the instructor expected.

At about 105 knots, the student announced, “Sir, I think I’m going to abort,” and proceeded to pull the power levers back and up.

“No, rotate!” shouted the instructor, trying to push the levers forward. The power levers moved slightly and stopped—with 1,000 feet of runway remaining.

The instructor took over, saying, “I have the controls,” believing the King Air was at takeoff power since the power levers were not moving. With his attention focused outside the cockpit, the instructor then sensed a loss of airspeed and moved his hand from the base to the top of the levers and now realized the power levers were not full forward. He tried to establish takeoff power but couldn’t move them.

“They’re stuck, they’re stuck. Did you get them into reverse?” asked the instructor.

“I don’t think so,” said the student. “I think I only got to the detent.” The instructor twice tried to free the power levers by lifting and pushed them forward while the student was pushing them forward from the base of the levers.

Barely airborne now, the aircraft lost altitude and commenced an uncommanded left roll. The left wing hit the ground and the T-44A rolled right. The landing gear were sheared off on impact with the ground. The plane then yawed left and came to rest 500 feet beyond the departure end. The flyers were unhurt, but the King Air sustained extensive damage.