Lesson on fixation and FOCUS
submitted by: Col. Matheson
Focus
The Sound of SILENCE
During the harshest of winters to hit the Japanese islands, I was fragged to take a priority mission of retrograde cargo from Misawa, Japan, to Seattle, Washington with a refueling stop en route to Norton Air Force Base, California. The priority cargo pushed the extreme limits of the airplane requiring marginal fuel reserves by the time we reached Seattle. To give our aircraft the best chances of completing the mission, I planned a diversion to Elmendorf, Alaska, as an emergency alternate. The airplane had a capacity of 119,000 pounds gross weight, but a taxi weight of 125,000 pounds. With full fuel on board, we exceed our maximum gross weight of roughly 130,000 pounds. I was crewed with a transition crew consisting of a retread inexperienced major with a flight instructor, copilot and engineer and one load master to reduce weight. After a complete preflight and briefing we assembled near midnight. We taxied out to the end of the runway shortly before midnight and ran the engines at mil power until our calculated gross weight approached our maximum takeoff weight at which time at full power we launched into the darkness with the aircraft struggling for every foot of runway available. Because of the high gross weight, we entered into a cruise climb to essentially climb as rapidly as the fuel could burn off to achieve a higher and more efficient cruising altitude when the gross weight permitted. We even lowered the deck angle of the airplane by cranking out 10% flaps to give some margin of lift. As we approached our initial level of altitude, our instructor pilot in the right seat reminded the major in the left seat (student) of the level off check list. The pilot commanded, “Level off check” and the crew proceeded to execute the level off checklist. Because of the arduous nature of our climb the airplane was flown with continuous ignition-(on). At the culmination of the check list the last item was continuous ignition off. The major spoke the words “continuous ignition off”, raised his glasses to better see the control panel with the intent of turning off the continuing ignition to all four engines. Inadvertently, however, he proceeded without thinking to hit the fuel shut off valves instead, and all four engines simultaneously spooled to zero.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SILENCE SOUNDS LIKE AT 30,000 FEET IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT OVER THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
Eventually, in a panic, the instructor pilot commanded the engineers for the restart checklist as the airplane continues its glide toward the Arctic Ocean. Fortunately, for the purposes of this story the engines were eventually restarted and a very shaken and thankful crew returned to a new silence in the skies for not a word was spoken until we safely landed at SEATAC.