I was an AK3 ('86-'90) with the other F-14 squadron in NAS Dallas, VF-202 Superheats. Yup, I remember Jefferson St. on one end and the lake on the other. Decent fishing on that small lake. Anyway, the pilots on the video are from the squadron across the hanger (VF-201 Hunters). Both squadrons have always competed against the other, all good fun and part of camaraderie. I surely miss those times. Dets in Fallon, Miramar, Pt Mugu, Oceana, Key West, America, Ike, MCAS Beaufort, and the exotic CFB Cold Lake. If you know, you know. FLY NAVY
Mountain Creek Lake and East Jefferson St. are the two items off the ends of the runway at NAS Dallas. Got there when VF-201& VMFA-112 were still flying out of there in 96-97. Every break an airshow back then, miss it to this day.
I think Rico had a good idea of heading for the long runway - they probably turned that old jet into a parts plane anyway. That being said, damn good job trapping at that speed.
Ive done a lot of work out at the power plant across from the lake from that station. I wish i could have been there when the tomcat was flying out of there
My 3 years with Black Aces as a PC, spent lots of time in ready room, conversing, nothing about them able to be stuck ever came up, I didn't know this was possible till just now. I've always thought it was a perfect aircraft, except it's problem with avionics. Always replacing boxes after engine shutdown.
Not much talked about but I definitely wondered about the wings getting stuck at anything other than 20°. That had to be a scary situation to be in. I dint remember this part in the actually movie.
It was a bonus feature that was included on the Blu-Ray Director's Cut when the film was released in 2020. There was more of the story that was filmed but like a lot of the stories in the documentary, bits are cut and end up on the cutting room floor just do due to total film length time.
When it quickly became evident we were flying a sick bird, we called the "knock it off." We were outnumbered and bracketed, so it wasn't going to end well for us anyway. At that point, I was more worried about how I was going to land this flying bullet with no written procedures to reference other than what I had created and practiced in simulators years ago.
The Tomcat wing sweep mechanism was all based on a high strength and resistance to corrosion titanium wingbox thus it was advertised as indestructible. That along with three different ways to control the sweep of the wings created a false "not possible" conclusion thus no emergency procedures were devised. This particular Tomcat 158616 was the 17th F-14 built and was delivered on 14 November 1972. It was one of the oldest F-14s still flying and time had finally caught up with her causing the titanium to crack and lock the swept back wings.
