Good Morning and Happy #TomcatTuesday to all! Since we have a heat advisory here for a 2nd day, and this old guy is staying in, this Big Fighter in Zone 5 photo seemed an appropriate sentiment 😎. Those of my X squadronmates who can say the same, "the comment ain't meant for y'all" 🙃🙃🙃 Tex Sandlin.
(I started this post as a quote tweet of @TexSandlin's post above. I think I'll make it my #TomcatTail for this #TomcatTuesday.)
Sitting at the pointy end of an F-14 Tomcat under tension in full glorious grunt for the 3-7 seconds it took for the "button dude" to push the button was an otherworldly experience.
It was similar to what's known as a "limnal space", a physical or metaphorical "in-between" zone. You weren't flying, but you weren't not flying. It seemed to simultaneously last forever and for a millisecond. Time stopped and accelerated at the same time.
The roar of the engines combined with the intense vibration of two TF-30s spinning at 15,000 RPM right behind you creating a sound/feeling you could hear, feel, taste, smell....all senses fully immersed.
And the tension between that thrust striving to push you forward and the catapult shuttle pulling the launch bar against the holdback fitting, isn't something you should be able to feel, but you could. You could feel it in your heart, soul, and mind as a palpable and colossal compression of energy in one place and time, ready to be freed.
And I think everyone around the jet, Cat Officer and crew, Troubleshooters, and Maintainers felt it too. We were all in the presence of a massively powerful chained beast. Standing near, kneeling right next to, or sitting in 35 tons of Grumman Iron Works pumping out 34,000 pounds of thrust.
Every human fortunate enough to have done this can remember it like it was 5 minutes ago:
Sound so loud that the term "hearing" has no meaning.
Vibration so profound that every cell in your body resonates in harmony with the frequency of "Tomcat."
The sensation of heat completely surrounding you, bathing you from every direction, inescapable.
And the light. A wavelength of light reserved just for this moment. Painful to the eye but you can't look away. No one can. Bewitching. Surreal.
And then. Release. The beast is unchained. The button is pushed, the Tomcat clunks down a bit as the shuttle and two screaming TF-30 motors in full afterburner join forces to accelerate the fiery monster forward.
From zero to 165 mph in 300 feet. About 1.8 seconds. From the cockpit, a jolt and then the acceleration. Forcing you back hard. Really hard. Uncontrollable. Undeniable. Immutable. Along for the ride. No control.
And then the wheels bump off the deck edge and you return to the land of the living. You're in control now. You've regained your agency where there was none. Time to get to work.
And on the deck, the fiery beast accelerates away from the people there, increasing the heat 2 fold.....exhaust buffeting bodies like a tornado. Relentless, violent, and then gone.
Retract the shuttle, lower the JBD, taxi the next jet forward. And do it again. And again. And again.
Heaven and Hell in the same place.
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