Day 2 Preflight
Part 1 in which we fly to Germany for a 4 day TDY.
At the completion of a superb day of travel culminating with
a strenuous workout, we have now arrived at Hahn AB Germany. We check in to the VOQ (visiting officers’
quarters) and proceed to our rooms. I’m sharing a bath with my WSO (let’s call
him Goose) who had previously been stationed there. The plan is to get settled and then head out
the gate for some food and a beer.
Front Gate (When they flew F-100s) |
I
decide recovery from the trip over would be enhanced by a shower. Not feeling the need for a Navy Shower, I go for a full 6 minutes and am finishing getting ready when Goose comes into the bath and hands
me a cup filled with a golden beverage.
I take a sniff (one cannot be too careful when dealing with fighter
pilots and WSOs) and detect notes of a minerally apple and pear. A taste, and Nirvana! My first taste of a Mosel Spätlese, and the
beginning of a lifelong enjoyment of wine.
Shower over, wine consumed, we head downtown. Goose leads us to a restaurant right across
the street from the main gate. We walk
in. It’s Italian! Goose pleads with us to give it a chance and
it’s a good thing, Dinner was fabulous.
(It’s been 30 years. Hahn has been closed and converted to an airport
now, but there’s still an Italian restaurant at that location. I don’t know if it’s the same one, but if
ever in the vicinity, I’m giving it a try.
It was that good.) Daily workout completed, sustenance consumed, we
retire for the evening.
Awakening the next morning to low ceilings and rain, we call
for a vehicle to take us down to our jets.
It arrives in short order. Lo and behold it’s the Airman and he’s
driving the VW microbus, Olive Drab 1 each.
I glance at him. He nods and says bad clutch. We climb in figuring we’re only driving on base, he probably won’t get out of first gear. We head to base operations where we meet up with the other two crews from Hahn. Goose knows them and says they’re OK. Good enough for me, we find a place to sit down and brief, then return to the VW microbus, Olive Drab 1 each and head out to the jets.
Safely arriving at the shelters, we
dismount. The plan for the day is to
preflight the jets then takeoff and fly to a local area to check out the
systems. It will be much better to find
out that a fuel tank is not feeding properly or the autopilot has a quirk within short
range of multiple bases rather than over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. If everything is working normally, we’ll run
a couple of intercepts to burn through the gas.
Since each jet has 3 bags of gas on board, the g limit will prohibit us
from Air to Air. We’ll recover at Ramstein AB to brief with the tankers prior
to departure for home.
I begin the walk around, and start to noticing “things”. At home, our Wing/Squadron/Maintenance Unit
owns our jets and the little things are taken care of. Paint is touched up. Tires are replaced. Things in the shelters are stored neatly
where they’re supposed to be stored. But
these jets no longer belonged to the Hahn wing.
They belonged to our wing, but the Hahn wing was responsible for
maintenance. The focus of the Hahn Wing
was on the transition to the F-16s and the remaining F-4Es were proverbial “red
headed step children”. Moreover, I found
out as I was discussing things with him, the Crew Chief was PCSing as soon as
the last F-4s were gone. Most of his chatter with the assistant crew chief is
about their upcoming move and out processing.
The hairs on my neck got a little erect.
Walk around complete; there was nothing “wrong” with the jet. She just
needed quite a bit of TLC.
OK, maybe not THIS bad, but you get the idea! |
Strap in and fire up the power unit. Intercom between Goose, the Crew Chief and I
is good, we start up the engines. Both
fire up fine and Goose begins his systems checks. I’m ready for the flight control checks and
the Crew Chief clears me. Ailerons left,
right, slab up, down, Rudder left, Rudder right…..And won’t go back to neutral. We try several things, call hydraulic and
flight control specialists, no change, the rudder will not move out of the full
right position.
I don't know if this is the one, but the Tail Number is familiar and it does have a baggage pod on it. |
Well that’s about as
clear a signal to abort a mission as I had ever had, so I pass the lead to #3
and shut down. They blast off.
What I was hoping for. |
What actually happened |
Climb out of the jet and look at the rudder. Even with no
hydraulic pressure, it is still hard right.
Crew Chief says they’ll get right on it, but it won’t be today. We get a lift back to base ops and contact
2ADG. They say the next deployment
opportunity is in 3 days. No sweat,
we’ll still get back more than three weeks prior to the wedding. Goose and I check back into VOQ. We get a call from the Maintenance NCOIC that
they know what the problem is, but they don’t have that part in stock on Hahn
any longer, so they’ll have to get it.
The jet won’t be ready until day after tomorrow. I tell him the info from the 2ADG . He says “No Sweat”. I contact my Squadron Commander at home and tell
him what’s going on and ask him to contact my Fiancé and let her know. (30+ years ago, there wasn’t instant cell
phone communication available throughout the world.)
I come to the realization that I’m in a foreign
country. I've never been here before AND
Goose and I have a Day Off!
Stay tuned for Mosel Wines and Departure.
*What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a war
story? A fairy tale starts with “Once upon
a time” and a war story starts with “So there I was”.
Excellent Part 2, well worth the wait.
ReplyDeleteI see that we have similar tastes in wine.
I can hardly wait to hear what caused the rudder problem.
Thanks!
DeleteHint: problemS
"It's always sumthin'," innit? Your tale kinda-sorta reminds me of my first trip to Clark AB, where I was supposed to RON and catch a flight to Guam the next day. Three days later... But, Hey! Three days at loose ends, at Clark? I took 'em and would take 'em again today.
ReplyDeleteThis story occurred early in my career and, suffice it to say, cured me of any future tendency to violate the primary directive in military service to "never volunteer" especially for a good deal.
DeleteVW Microbus Olive Drab 1 Each Clutch.
ReplyDeleteMD F-4E Phantom II Rudder Actuator.
I'm starting to sense an overall trend...
Your sensory skills are on target my friend!
ReplyDelete"A fairy tale starts with “Once upon a time” and a war story starts with “So there I was”."
ReplyDeleteTruer words were never wrote, to coin a phrase. That story brings back a lot of similar memories from Europe/the Med. Looking forward to the next installment, too.
Thanks Rev!
ReplyDeleteAnd a Sea Story starts with "this is no sh*t!" :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I forget what the Army version is, but I'm sure they've got one.
ReplyDeleteVery nice, and this one is going in the toilet just about like I figured it would... LOL
ReplyDeleteNope, I'm pretty sure it gets worse, much, much worse!
ReplyDelete