Harrier, what's going on here then???
Discussion
for telling fellow PHers what going on,(dates, names?) it took me a while to find a photo.
'Soapy' Watson.
Got airborne on an EMCON Silent exercise unaware that his INAS was u/s and drifting. Obviously he couldn't check this since he was unable to use his TACAN owing to the exercise rules.
When he arrived back where he thought 'Mother' was he was actually some 300 odd miles away and short on fuel, so he plonked it down on a Spanish container ship.
In fact it damaged the main spar so the jet needed to be re-winged.
I remember him telling the story, the funny part being that the Spanish crew were all drunk and in their bunks so he did Officer of the Watch duty all night!
Eric, IIRC it happened in 1983, so not Falklands War.
Got airborne on an EMCON Silent exercise unaware that his INAS was u/s and drifting. Obviously he couldn't check this since he was unable to use his TACAN owing to the exercise rules.
When he arrived back where he thought 'Mother' was he was actually some 300 odd miles away and short on fuel, so he plonked it down on a Spanish container ship.
In fact it damaged the main spar so the jet needed to be re-winged.
I remember him telling the story, the funny part being that the Spanish crew were all drunk and in their bunks so he did Officer of the Watch duty all night!
Eric, IIRC it happened in 1983, so not Falklands War.
Edited by Ginetta G15 Girl on Friday 25th January 18:14
HoHoHo said:
Ginetta G15 Girl said:
Got airborne on an EMCON Silent exercise unaware that his INAS was u/s and drifting. Obviously he couldn't check this since he was unable to use his TACAN owing to the exercise rules.
WTF.....And in English please for those of the hard of hearing
I can't think of any other reason why they might do it.
TACAN is/was a military navigations ystem (related to the old British Decca system, I think). It operated by picking up radio signals which were used to help the aircraft pinpoint its location.
INAS would be the Inertial Guidance Navigation system, I expect. Intertial Guidance is a gyroscope based system and is completely independent of any outside sources, so cannot be jammed or disrupted.
Edited by Eric Mc on Friday 25th January 22:28
HoHoHo said:
Ginetta G15 Girl said:
Got airborne on an EMCON Silent exercise unaware that his INAS was u/s and drifting. Obviously he couldn't check this since he was unable to use his TACAN owing to the exercise rules.
WTF.....And in English please for those of the hard of hearing
In other words....he was lost
Eric Mc said:
That's the incident during the Falklands War where a Royal Navy Sea Harrier had to make an unanounced emergency landing on a very surprised Portugese container ship.
Had F-all to do with the Falklands war!Sub-Lt 'Soapy' Watson (Not he of Falkland’s fame) couldn't find the deck of Illustrious so running low on fuel he made an emergency landing on the containers of the Spanish Freighter Alraigo.
Sea Harrier FRS.1 ZA176/001 of NAS 801.
The aircraft slid backwards after landing and crushed a van on the deck.
The owners made a successful claim for salvage and the MOD had to pay the owners and crew a substantial reward.
Edited by Roberty on Friday 25th January 23:30
Simpo Two said:
Or to put it another way: hairy blighter, dicky-birdied, feathered back on his Sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harper's and caught his can in the Bertie.
Much more entertaining.
Much more entertaining.
roger wilco over and out and all that
awaits to be de flighted under the influence of gravity in a conflagration on the finer aspect of rt speak
Simpo Two said:
Or to put it another way: hairy blighter, dicky-birdied, feathered back on his Sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harper's and caught his can in the Bertie.
Much more entertaining.
No, I'm just not understanding banter at all well today. Much more entertaining.
Give it us slower...
Sorry I wasn't thinking that some of you might not understand the military jargon.
Mea Culpa
EMCON Silent means that the Carrier will not be making any electronic emissions ie no RADAR, Radio, or Radio Aids.
INAS = Inertial Navigation and Attack System.
TACAN = Tactical Air Navigation. This is a radio aid system whereby an interrogator/receiver unit in the aircraft sends a coded signal to a transponder unit at a ground station / ship / another aircraft. The transponder replies to the interrogator such that the interrogator/receiver unit will display range and bearing to the transponder. The civvie equivalent is VOR/DME (which is similar but not exactly the same).
Because the exercise was EMCON silent, the Carrier's TACAN transponder was switched off. Soapy thus could not use TACAN to home on the carrier (or to back up his inertial navigation system) so was unaware that the inertial navigation system was drifting and, therefore, lying to him. Ie he wasn't where his Nav kit said he was.
Mea Culpa
EMCON Silent means that the Carrier will not be making any electronic emissions ie no RADAR, Radio, or Radio Aids.
INAS = Inertial Navigation and Attack System.
TACAN = Tactical Air Navigation. This is a radio aid system whereby an interrogator/receiver unit in the aircraft sends a coded signal to a transponder unit at a ground station / ship / another aircraft. The transponder replies to the interrogator such that the interrogator/receiver unit will display range and bearing to the transponder. The civvie equivalent is VOR/DME (which is similar but not exactly the same).
Because the exercise was EMCON silent, the Carrier's TACAN transponder was switched off. Soapy thus could not use TACAN to home on the carrier (or to back up his inertial navigation system) so was unaware that the inertial navigation system was drifting and, therefore, lying to him. Ie he wasn't where his Nav kit said he was.
Ginetta G15 Girl said:
Sorry I wasn't thinking that some of you might not understand the military jargon.
Mea Culpa
EMCON Silent means that the Carrier will not be making any electronic emissions ie no RADAR, Radio, or Radio Aids.
INAS = Inertial Navigation and Attack System.
TACAN = Tactical Air Navigation. This is a radio aid system whereby an interrogator/receiver unit in the aircraft sends a coded signal to a transponder unit at a ground station / ship / another aircraft. The transponder replies to the interrogator such that the interrogator/receiver unit will display range and bearing to the transponder. The civvie equivalent is VOR/DME (which is similar but not exactly the same).
Because the exercise was EMCON silent, the Carrier's TACAN transponder was switched off. Soapy thus could not use TACAN to home on the carrier (or to back up his inertial navigation system) so was unaware that the inertial navigation system was drifting and, therefore, lying to him. Ie he wasn't where his Nav kit said he was.
I did, I did !!! Mea Culpa
EMCON Silent means that the Carrier will not be making any electronic emissions ie no RADAR, Radio, or Radio Aids.
INAS = Inertial Navigation and Attack System.
TACAN = Tactical Air Navigation. This is a radio aid system whereby an interrogator/receiver unit in the aircraft sends a coded signal to a transponder unit at a ground station / ship / another aircraft. The transponder replies to the interrogator such that the interrogator/receiver unit will display range and bearing to the transponder. The civvie equivalent is VOR/DME (which is similar but not exactly the same).
Because the exercise was EMCON silent, the Carrier's TACAN transponder was switched off. Soapy thus could not use TACAN to home on the carrier (or to back up his inertial navigation system) so was unaware that the inertial navigation system was drifting and, therefore, lying to him. Ie he wasn't where his Nav kit said he was.
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