Date occurred - 26 June 1975
Captain F Carter (USAF) ......
After take off from RAAF Williamtown on a night Adex the nose gear indicated unsafe. Airspeed was maintained at 180 - 200 KIAS while my wingman joined to check me over. He stated that all gear was up, so I attempted to recycle. Upon lowering the gear all indications were normal and this was confirmed by my wingman. I retracted the gear and none would come up. My wingman confirmed the gear was still down. I put the gear handle down and got positive down and locked indications on all wheels. My wingman checked me over and confirmed the indications. I contacted Williamtown Approach and asked for radar vector to dump fuel for landing. Approach vectored me out to sea at 9,000ft and told me I was cleared to commence fuel dumping.
I moved the switch to “dump” and shortly thereafter (2-3 seconds) both hydraulic lights (flight control and utility) started flickering on and off. At the same time I got a violent rudder yaw about 450 and roll. The rudder input rolled me inverted and I could not control the aircraft. I immediately disconnected the flight control. Shortly thereafter the rudder input ceased. I then jettisoned the fuel tanks which contained 2,500lbs of fuel. I declared an in-flight emergency and informed approach that I must land asap.
I was in contact with 75 Squadron Ops on VHF and the read the NATOPS procedure to me to confirm that I had attempted all steps. Meanwhile the uncontrollable random inputs continued. They would roll the aircraft to the inverted position and would yaw the nose 450. I was prepared to eject at this time because I didn’t think I would be able to control the aircraft on approach. The only reason I didn’t at this time was that as fast as the rudder would subside, I could recover the aircraft.
I was in cloud at this time and attempting to steer the aircraft towards Williamtown so that I could point it out to sea and eject over the Base. I decided to stay with the aircraft and after a time I would attempt an approach. I stopped dumping fuel at 1,500lbs and set up for a long straight in. An approach and arrestment was not possible as no facilities existed. On first approach I could not land because the aircraft was yawing so violently. I could not get it lined up with the runway. I circled wide with about 150 of bank. I lined up with the runway and flew finals at approach 170 knots. The rudder inputs continued. I had previously tried the use of stability augmentation to no avail, so the auto pilot was turned off. At 200 ft in finals the aircraft rolled 900 to bank but I was able to recover. I was yawing still and touchdown was approximately 450 off heading.
As the runway was wet I deployed the chute as I was touching down at approximately 140 knots. The aircraft started broadsiding down the runway to the right. I tried to straightened the with the use of left brake, to no avail, so I locked the left brake and blew the tyre. This straightened the aircraft with the runway. I then started to drift off to the left due to the crosswind, so I blew the right tyre which again aligned me with the runway but I was still drifting left. I called that I was going off the runway (speed estimated at 25 knots) but infact I was able to stop with the left wing handing over the edge. The aircraft was secured.
After take off from RAAF Williamtown on a night Adex the nose gear indicated unsafe. Airspeed was maintained at 180 - 200 KIAS while my wingman joined to check me over. He stated that all gear was up, so I attempted to recycle. Upon lowering the gear all indications were normal and this was confirmed by my wingman. I retracted the gear and none would come up. My wingman confirmed the gear was still down. I put the gear handle down and got positive down and locked indications on all wheels. My wingman checked me over and confirmed the indications. I contacted Williamtown Approach and asked for radar vector to dump fuel for landing. Approach vectored me out to sea at 9,000ft and told me I was cleared to commence fuel dumping.
I moved the switch to “dump” and shortly thereafter (2-3 seconds) both hydraulic lights (flight control and utility) started flickering on and off. At the same time I got a violent rudder yaw about 450 and roll. The rudder input rolled me inverted and I could not control the aircraft. I immediately disconnected the flight control. Shortly thereafter the rudder input ceased. I then jettisoned the fuel tanks which contained 2,500lbs of fuel. I declared an in-flight emergency and informed approach that I must land asap.
I was in contact with 75 Squadron Ops on VHF and the read the NATOPS procedure to me to confirm that I had attempted all steps. Meanwhile the uncontrollable random inputs continued. They would roll the aircraft to the inverted position and would yaw the nose 450. I was prepared to eject at this time because I didn’t think I would be able to control the aircraft on approach. The only reason I didn’t at this time was that as fast as the rudder would subside, I could recover the aircraft.
I was in cloud at this time and attempting to steer the aircraft towards Williamtown so that I could point it out to sea and eject over the Base. I decided to stay with the aircraft and after a time I would attempt an approach. I stopped dumping fuel at 1,500lbs and set up for a long straight in. An approach and arrestment was not possible as no facilities existed. On first approach I could not land because the aircraft was yawing so violently. I could not get it lined up with the runway. I circled wide with about 150 of bank. I lined up with the runway and flew finals at approach 170 knots. The rudder inputs continued. I had previously tried the use of stability augmentation to no avail, so the auto pilot was turned off. At 200 ft in finals the aircraft rolled 900 to bank but I was able to recover. I was yawing still and touchdown was approximately 450 off heading.
As the runway was wet I deployed the chute as I was touching down at approximately 140 knots. The aircraft started broadsiding down the runway to the right. I tried to straightened the with the use of left brake, to no avail, so I locked the left brake and blew the tyre. This straightened the aircraft with the runway. I then started to drift off to the left due to the crosswind, so I blew the right tyre which again aligned me with the runway but I was still drifting left. I called that I was going off the runway (speed estimated at 25 knots) but infact I was able to stop with the left wing handing over the edge. The aircraft was secured.