‘The deputy commander for operations (DCO) wanted to give me an Article 15 (nonjudicial punishment) for not ejecting,’ Charlie Noak, former USAF F-4 Phantom II pilot.
An ejection seat in a military aircraft is a mechanism intended to save the pilot or crew during an emergency. Typically, the canopy of the aircraft detaches, and the seat is launched out of the aircraft by a rocket motor or explosive charge, taking the pilot along. Once the seat is outside the aircraft’s confines, a parachute is deployed. In two-seat aircraft, the seats are ejected at different angles to prevent a collision.
Before the invention of ejection seats, pilots were required to manually remove the aircraft canopy in order to exit and jump out. Ejection seats have the potential to preserve lives. However, does a military pilot face any form of “punishment” if they eject from an aircraft?
‘Other than the physical punishment, none that I know of. I was once punished for not ejecting from an F-4,’ Charlie Noak, former USAF F-4 Phantom II pilot, recalls on Quora. ‘In 1987, my right engine had a massive overspeed due to its Fuel Flow Controller (this had never occurred in an F-4 before) failing to the full flow position. The engine’s exhaust gas temperature (EGT) went from normal to over 1,500 degrees F so quickly that by the time I pulled the throttle back to the closed position, the engine had already exploded due to the high heat, causing the turbine blades to expand and break off as they chewed into the engine’s protective casing. The fireball extended from 100+ feet in front to 300+ feet out the back. The broken-off turbine blades were twinkling in the afternoon sunshine. There was no continuing fire, so I headed back in a slow turn to land at the airfield I had just left. During my approach, the utility hydraulic pressure, which makes almost every control surface of the plane work, began dropping in fits and starts, going to zero pressure slightly before I landed.
‘Single engine failure with loss of utility hydraulic failure was the most dreaded of all F-4 emergency procedures—if you get low on glideslope on final, you would need to use afterburner on the good engine to climb back to the correct glideslope. If you apply afterburner, however, the plane will flip over and drive you into the ground.
‘I stayed on the correct glide slope and made a smooth landing (I was motivated). The deputy commander for operations (DCO) wanted to give me an Article 15 (nonjudicial punishment) for not ejecting. However, the Phantom (F-4) fleet was grounded worldwide for FFC inspections, and seven were found to be on the verge of failure. Those were all replaced, and a new item was added to all major inspections. The Twelfth Air Force thought I should be recognized for saving the airplane so that the problem could be identified. As is usual in such cases, the “bad boy,” and the “atta boy” canceled each other out.’
Noak concludes,
‘Faced with the same problem today, I would do the exact same thing.’
Photo by SRA PERRY HEIMER / U.S. Air Force
