Pilot safety: award of distinction

Maj Carter stepped as #3 of a four ship of F-15Cs to fly a LOWAT requal mission. Due to a gear retraction failure on takeoff, he elected to stay in the radar pattern to burn down fuel prior to landing while the flight lead pressed with the rest of the formation on the briefed mission. While on radar downwind, and with the gear down and locked, Maj Carter entered IMC conditions with associated airframe and engine icing. At this time both his primary and standby airspeed indicators went to zero due to a pilot probe heat failure. The weather had rapidly degraded below VFR minimums, so Maj Carter declared an emergency and started to coordinate a rejoin with another aircraft while simultaneously climbing through 23,000' of solid weather using known pitch, power, and Angle of Attack settings. During the climb he was faced with degraded aircraft handling qualities as the Roll CAS dropped off line several times and the Pitch Ratio was scheduling incorrectly due to erroneous inputs from the failed pitot probe. Once in clear airspace he was able to rejoin with another aircraft who led him back through the weather to a flawless straight-in approach and landing. Maj Carter's superb instrument flying skills, extensive systems knowledge and smart decision making allowed him to safely recover a severely crippled aircraft and preserve a valuable combat asset.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Maj Bret A. Carter, 1st Operations Support Sqdn., 1st Fighter Wing, Langley AFB, Virginia

COPYRIGHT 2004 U.S. Department of the Air Force
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group