Typhoon takes the wire at Coningsby

[Ghastly Whisper]

Plenty of warning this was going to happen (burnt off fuel for atleast half an hour) so there was plenty of people watching including the pilots wife! The pilot was on his first solo flight in the Typhoon and from what I have heard on exchange from the Navy....


TAKING THE WIRE by Gaz West, on Flickr

[Paultojo]

Great capture

[flyingslug_0]

You can't see me on the other side Glad all turned out well

[captain scarlet]

Great timing gaz.

[youth]

very well caught!

[Richard B]

Nice capture, this will start off the Naval Typhoon debate off again

[f106dart]

I don't get why if the tiffy is capable of a wire landing on a runway why are they not testing them for carrier landings this surely would be better than having the f-35, a fantastic pic there a really well captured shot[/quote]

Being a Yank and a USAF firefighter When an IFE was declared the F-4s always took the barrier if it was a utility hydraulic failure and BLC (boundry layer malfunction). There are other ac that take it due to no nose wheel steering blown tires etc. Due you know what the emergency was? Pilots just following procedures and what ever the dash 1 says

[mirage41]

Sorry boys, negative wife, negative ex-Navy, but other wise he did very well indeed - trainee display pilot 2015 ??

[Bolar]

Very nice catch Gaz. Thats a tick in his log

[ArabJazzie]

Great catch! Used to see Phantoms do this at Leuchars all the time but only saw Tornados once or twice. Never caught one with the camera though.

The Typhoon as it is, cannot take the wire every mission as it just aint up to the constant battering that designed for Navy aircraft live with. Designed to be land based fast jets have been built with hooks for years after someone saw the benefits of using a lighter made variation of the navy system for occasional use. I think that there is a limit to how many times a Typhoon can take the wire, but not that low that we will be loosing them because of it.
Arabest,
Geoff.

[Malcolm]

The other difference is that a carrier arrestor wire has to stop the aircraft within the length of the landing zone on the ship, or else the aircraft ends up off the side and in the drink. This distanxce is often less than 150ft/50m. The runway based RHAG's are usually located 700-1000 feet from the end of the runway, and pays out a lot of 'wire' when in use, so the stopping force is a lot less with the RHAG than the carrier arrestor wire.

[Malcolm]

The other difference is that a carrier arrestor wire has to stop the aircraft within the length of the landing zone on the ship, or else the aircraft ends up off the side and in the drink. This distanxce is often less than 150ft/50m. The runway based RHAG's are usually located 700-1000 feet from the end of the runway, and pays out a lot of 'wire' when in use, so the stopping force is a lot less with the RHAG than the carrier arrestor wire.

Carrier arrester is same or at least very close to the fast wire on a runway that has RHAG. Normally each end has a wire, landing end would be classed as the fast wire, and this is normally only used for aircraft designed to take a fast wire (Carrier based). The wire at the other end is the slow wire and is the one used in emergency for all aircraft but primary for aircraft not designed to take the fast.
FYI, carrier (USA) arrester from engagement to stop is approx. 100m

The fast wire stops same as carrier, your still working with lots of energy, but at least on the ground if they miss the wire they have a long runout to the next one, or to barrier.

As an example, after the Falklands War had finished and Port Stanley was setup for Phantoms, every Phantom that took off had to landed and take the fast RHAG due to runway length, but there was no problem as the Phantom was designed for carrier ops and had a hook system was built for the job. Tornados could not have landed on the runway or taken the RHAG, it would have ripped the backend off. Tornados has to what till Mount Pleasant (number of years later) was operational and the Phantoms needed replacing.

I asked the question at Yeovilton a few years back. They told me it was the other way around - the one at the landing end is set to soft, and stops you in around 1000-2000 feet (depending on aircraft weoight), and the one at the departure end is set to 'hard' to make sure you don't run off the end of the runway (and into the river at the VLN 27 end). The barrier is also there if all else fails. Obviously the RHAG setting can be changed, but that is (or was) the default setting.

Whenever I saw a Phantom take the cable at Wattisham (which was admittidly mid 80's) it would be almost half way down the runway before comming to a stop. On a carrier, the jets land at full power so if they have to do a bolter they can get airborne again. The carrier cable has to stop a jet running at full power, and a relatively high landing speed in the length of deck available. On a 7500' runway there isn't any requirement to stop the jet quickly with the cable, barring issues with nosewheel steering or burst tyres. Whenever that was a problem (and providning the wind strength allowed) the Phantoms would land from the 'wrong' end so they took the hard cable.

[seven]

The Royal Navy actually crashed their sole Hawker Typhoon within a week of its arrival..

7

[toom317]

As an example, after the Falklands War had finished and Port Stanley was setup for Phantoms, every Phantom that took off had to landed and take the fast RHAG due to runway length, but there was no problem as the Phantom was designed for carrier ops and had a hook system was built for the job. Tornados could not have landed on the runway or taken the RHAG, it would have ripped the backend off. Tornados has to what till Mount Pleasant (number of years later) was operational and the Phantoms needed replacing.

Never ever heard of the "Fast" or "Slow" wire, in my time in the RAF. The runway at Stanley had 5 Rhags, 2 at each end and one in the middle. I can recall at least 2 occasions, in early 83, when the Phantoms landed without engaging the Rhags. I certainly never heard of any restrictions on Jags about not using the "Fast" wire in the years I was at Lossie. On one occasion I can recall an F111 taking the approach end ("Fast") hookwire on 28, pulling it all out, and pulling the aircraft back. There were no restrictions on Tornados taking the approach wire on the Saudi ones, when I worked in Saudi. I'm sure I've seen pics on the aviation forums of Tornados taking the approach end wire at Leeming. The Rhags on airfields don't have to be so sharp in stopping the aircraft, as they have thousands of feet to stop in. They can therefore use a lighter hook arrangement.

The Rhags at Stanley were a tad more severe in their stopping power, as they had to stop the aircraft quickly, let it get clear of the runway, and let the 2nd aircraft get down. The wires weren't wound back till both aircraft were clear of the runway. I can't remember off hand which system was positioned where, but either the first or second wire at each end was an American design that was new to the RAF, and when the first Phantoms arrived, they knackered the airframe, and the next time it flew was underneath a Chinook, that put it on a ship to bring it back. When the Two Buccs came down, one of them suffered some damage, but it flew back after the detachment.

[philipljackson]

Nice photo

Everything you ever wanted to know about arresting hooks is available from

http://www.everyspec.com/MIL-SPECS/MIL- ... 17C_18182/

(select download file)

Regards

Philip L Jackson

[steve149c]

Great catch, it is unusual for them to take the wire. I caught one at Valley a couple of years ago with Hydraulic failure



For reference, airfield cable are much longer and slow the aircraft over a greater distance than Carrier decks.

Cheers

Steve