My Aeroplane Engine Seized - A True Story

The year was 1988 when this True Story happened. Even today when I think about this airoplane incident, a chill goes through my spine. I do not know why God has been kind and saved me this time also. I was at the flight training school. All the aeroplane there were jet engine airplane and that too twin seater jet aircraft. One seat for the instructor and the other seat for the pupil.

I had just started flying as a trainee pilot, and it was my first night solo navigation flight that night. In this flight, I was supposed to fly at 3000 feet over the ground in a pitch dark moonless night. To make things worse, there were clouds in the sky making it fully dark. Although I was prepared, I was a bit worried that it might rain. But, I was unaware there was even greater life threatening danger which God had in store for me.

A solo flight is when you go alone into the sky with no one sitting on the instructor seat. And a solo flight is authorized only after a dual flight, where in the pupil flies with the instructor first in the same night. Normally, you go for a dual flight and immediately after that you go in the same aeroplane for your solo flight because the aeroplane and its flight characteristics are known to you.

I had gone for a dual flight for my navigation flight test. We returned back in that aeroplane and the same airplane was planned for my solo flight also. Before my solo flight, my instructor has to brief me as to what all am I supposed to do, which are the two places I should overfly and return back to the airfield.

My flight instructor said, “Tonight’s Navigation Flying Test was satisfactory. I am clearing you to go, Low-Level Navigation Solo flight. Get your flying logbook for endorsing the clearance to fly solo flight.”

I said, “Thank You Sir.” And I was about to walk off to get my flying log book when the Chief Flying Instructor came that way and told my instructor, “Is he going on a solo flight? Please postpone it for tomorrow. The weather is bad.” Thus my Solo sortie was rescheduled for the next night.

I was to fly the Low-Level Navigation sortie the next night at 9:00 pm, on this single-engine jet aircraft. I was already cleared for solo low level navigation flight by night the previous night. This was a low-level flight at 3000 feet above ground level the previous night. I was fully prepared for the sortie, memorized my route on the map, and had also taken the mandatory rest in the afternoon.

The briefing was over at 7:00 pm. I had tea and a sandwich. I went over my night flying procedures over and over again. At 8:30 pm, I walked towards the aeroplane parked in the dispersal after signing the airplane documents. In fact, there were so many flying trainees walking towards their allotted aeroplane out of the 60 aeroplane parked in a line all along the edge of the dispersal. It was a sight you don't get to see every night.

As I walked towards my allotted aeroplane, I thought, what if something goes wrong or I get lost. But, then I said, nothing will happen because I had flown the same route yesterday with my instructor. I know how to recognize the two turning points by the natural lights of those towns (electric lights). I knew how much time it takes to fly this route.

I walked confidently towards my aeroplane. The sky was totally overcast with high clouds like the previous night and I could see no stars. I did my external checks on my aeroplane and climbed into the cockpit. The airman helped me to strap up on my ejection seat.

Ejection Seat in Jet Aeroplane

All pilot seats in fighter aeroplane are always fitted with ejection seats. An ejection seat is required so that the pilot can safely eject out of a fighter airplane and escape, whenever there is a life threatening emergency like an engine fire, or an engine failure especially at low heights, or any emergency due to which the aeroplane is going to crash.

I sat in my pilot seat. I had to connect my leg-restrainers, which will pull both my legs close to the seat in case of an ejection in an emergency, connected my personal survival pack (PSP) on which I have to sit, which is a folded raft that will help me float on water in case of an ejection over water, and then there is a parachute also, which is connected to my back, which will aid me to fall through the air safely after an ejection from the aeroplane.

All this is because the pilot has to sit on a Martin-Baker H4HA ejection seat in this aeroplane. Ejecting from this airplane is very simple. Just keep your elbows close to yourself and then either pull down the loop above the head or pull up the loop in between your thighs to fire the ejection seat.

Everything happens automatically thereafter. The ejection seat cartridge fires and starts moving up on a 3-meter-long telescopic extender at very high speeds. First the pointed top of the ejection seat will break the canopy and then the seat gets detached from the aeroplane. The pilotless aeroplane will now go and crash somewhere or break up in the air.

The seat will be tumbling in the air with the pilot on it. After a second, a small 3 feet diameter parachute is fired by another cartridge automatically and deploys. This parachute instantly stabilizes the tumbling ejection seat. After a couple of seconds, the primary 27 feet diameter parachute will deploy, detach the heavy ejection seat from the pilot, and brings the pilot safely to the ground or maybe water. At night the pilot cannot see anything in the darkness.

Just before the pilot's legs hits the ground or water, the pilot has to release the hard PSP or the personal survival pack on his bottom at about 10 feet short of hitting the ground. Otherwise, the PSP will break the pilot's knee joints. Immediately after touching the ground or water, the pilot should detach the parachute. If winds are there, then the parachute will drag the pilot over land and cause injuries.

On the water, the pilot should try and swim away after detaching the parachute. Otherwise, the parachute will fall on top of the pilot and the parachute cords will get entangled making it difficult to swim out. Ejecting from the aeroplane is so easy, but surviving after touching down is difficult.

The Gooseneck Takeoff

I did my cockpit internal checks. Everything was OK. Then I started the engine. This being a single-engine jet aircraft, it is straightforward. I did my after startup checks and took permission to taxy out of dispersal. In a few minutes, I was on the runway which was beautifully lit up with goosenecks on both sides, in that pitch dark night with nothing else was visible except darkness ahead of me.

The gooseneck is an old robust way of lighting up the runway at night to help the pilot see the runway edges during take-off and also to spot the runway in flight from far away even when the city lights are glaring. Gooseneck lights are nothing but kerosene lamps used to mark the edges and the end of a runway for the pilot to make a safe takeoff and landing. Even today where power failure is a huge issue, gooseneck lamps are still used in some old remote airports.

I lined up at the beginning of the runway and carried out my vital checks on the engine. Then I called the Air Traffic Control (ATC) on the radio using my call sign 131, “Tower 131, ready for take-off”.

The ATC replied, “131, Clear for Take-Off. After takeoff, turn right at 1000 feet, set course, and report.”

I said, “Roger, Cleared for takeoff, at 1000 feet turn right, 131.”

I opened full throttle keeping both the wheel brake pedals pressed with my feet. The engine surged to full power and the aeroplane nose went down and tail went up slightly under the force exerted by the engine.

Everything looked well and I let go of the brakes. The powerful engine accelerated my aeroplane forward and at a speed of 105 knots (190 kmph), I was airborne and still accelerating. I retracted my landing gears and flaps. I turned right at 1000 feet and turned towards my first navigation point. It was all dark except some village lights on ground.

I took permission to climb to 3000 feet and n a minute’s time, I was at 3000 feet and leveled off. I told the ATC on radio, “131 at 3000 feet, set course to point A”.

The ATC replied, “Roger, call when overhead point A and setting course for point B.”

I reached my first point of navigation on time within 10 minutes at 40 nautical miles or 72 km away from the airfield and started turning toward my second point of navigation which was a little further from the airfield. I settled on my new heading.

My Aeroplane Had An Emergency

After 5 minutes of setting course towards Point A, the sound in the cockpit increased. I was wearing a bone dome. The bone dome is a helmet with a radio fitted inside it. The bone dome cuts off the outside sound completely. The jarring sound coming from outside was so much that I was a little uncomfortable.

I radioed the ATC, “Tower 131, Over Point A, setting course for Point B.”

The controller replied to me, but I was not able to understand anything because the aeroplane sound was so high. I looked at the engine instruments and found everything normal. I was still under training and flying all alone in the night sky, outside the airfield. I thought I might have missed something.

I called the controller, “Tower 131, Unable to read you, request repeat”.

My call set off an alarm in the ATC. Whenever trainee pilots are flying, there is one flying instructor pilot always sitting in the ATC. Promptly the flight instructor came on the radio.

The Flying instructor said something on the radio. But, this time too, I could not decipher what was being said because of the high level of noise inside the cockpit which was now jarring my ears that I was getting a head ache. I looked at the cabin air conditioning system light and it was OK.

I was not aware that the Rolls Royce engine fitted on my aeroplane was about to seize in flight.

I replied, “Tower this is 131, unable to read you. Heavy noise in the cockpit.”

My call was enough to set the entire Air Base into a frenzy. A trainee pilot was having an emergency on a pitch dark night and there was nothing the Air Base or the pilot instructor could do because the trainee pilot cannot hear them.

There were many calls made by me and the ATC. I could not understand a word that the ATC said. I too was getting a little worried. That is when I realized that I have lost 1000 feet and was at 2000 feet in height instead of 3000 feet out of my carelessness. If the trainee pilot is not careful, he could go up or down by a few thousand feet height in a matter of seconds, because this jet aircraft cruises at about 200 knots (360 kmph) airspeed especially in a night flight.

I quickly corrected my height. Had I not noticed that loss of 1000 feet in time, I would have hit the ground in another few seconds, even if there was no emergency. The training aeroplane was not fitted with any auto pilot. I was certainly not fully in my senses and some panic was setting in me although I was aware of it and controlled it. After all, I was a trainee pilot who was still learning how to fly.

I asked the ATC on the radio, “Nothing heard. Heavy grinding noise in the cockpit. No smoke or fire. Engine parameters within limits.”

My call certainly would have certainly put the ATC team attending to me, slightly at ease. But the flight instructor in the ATC was not at peace. He knew what was the problem with my aeroplane had and was working in his mind fast.

The flight instructor figured out from the radar picture available in the ATC, that I was as stupid as a trainee could be and was still navigating towards my second Point which was further away from the airfield and had not turned my aeroplane towards the airfield.

I heard him speaking rather he was shouting on the radio, spacing out his word in time, “131, set course toward the base. Return Back to Base immediately.”

I could make out that and turned the aeroplane towards the base, abandoning my mission. All I did was turn the airplane to the airfield by turning in the direction to which my Automatic Direction Finder (ADF) was pointing. At night, and flying very low, the airfield was not visual to me. A pilot is taught to believe the cockpit instruments more than his own feeling. And that was what I was doing.

The moment the instructor found my aeroplane approaching the airfield on the ATC radar, they went silent. I kept giving my radio calls although, I did not understand the reply from the ATC. I decided to go for the same runway I had taken off from which was runway 10 Left.

“Tower 131, will call overhead the runway 10 Left”, I radioed when I was two nautical miles from the runway. I could see the runway.

My instructor corrected me and shouted, "No 131, call direct long finals." I could hear that over the jarring sound the aeroplane was making.

“Tower 131, on long finals for runway 10 Left”, when I felt that I can land positively on the runway even if my engine fails.

I landed my aeroplane on the runway and closed my engine throttle. The moment the engine came to idle rpm, the grinding noise reduced drastically.

ATC said, “131, Stop on the runway. Shut down the engine and quick exit.”

Amazingly, that was the first radio call I heard from the ATC after the heavy grinding noise had started in aeroplane 10 minutes ago. And that was the moment of truth, when I realized that the noise was coming from the engine all this while.

I did as the flight instructor said on the radio. I switched off the engine the moment the aeroplane stopped in the middle of the runway. I opened the canopy and jumped out without waiting for the ladder. The fall was about 7 feet to the hard runway surface.

My Aeroplane Engine Seizure

I took the whole episode of heavy grinding noise as just another day in flight. But, all that changed when it happened right in front of my eyes after half an hour.

The Chief Flying Instructor (CFI), the Air Engineers, my own flying instructor and the flying instructor who was talking to me on radio were there on the runway when I had landed. They were discussing something. Mobile Flood Lights were fixed as the gooseneck light was not enough. A tractor towed in an aeroplane starting battery trolley.

Fire tenders were already there on the runway even before I had landed. The night flying was called off. All the aeroplane in the air were called back and were landing on the other parallel runway 10 Right.

They started connecting up everything to the aeroplane and I stood a few yards away watching all this. Then the Air Engineer climbed into the cockpit and closed the canopy. I knew they were going to do a ground run of the airplane, to find out what went wrong.

Everyone moved away from the aeroplane . I heard the engine starting up and come to idle. I could not make out any difference in sound standing 50 yards away from the airplane. Did they feel I made up all this? Did they feel that I was scared to fly at night? Will they throw me out of the flying academy for this? I stood there watching everything and lost in my thoughts.

Within a few seconds, the aeroplane engine sound started becoming shrill as the Air Engineer sitting in the pilot seat started accelerating the engine to full throttle. I have heard the sound of these jet aircraft engines at full throttle many times before.

But, this time, the full throttle sound was way different from the sound I had heard before and it gave me an uncomfortable feeling as I was hearing the same jarring sound I had heard whilst flying it also. Without a bone dome, it was even more jarring.

And then, it happened. The engine sound suddenly stopped. The dark overcast night fell silent in under one second, as if there was no aeroplane there. But, in the flood lights, I could see the airplane still there on the runway where I had stopped it.

For the next few seconds no one spoke. Then the aeroplane canopy opened and the Air Engineer came out in panic and shouting, “Sir, the engine has seized, the engine has seized.”

By that time, a yellow glow could be seen near the tail of the aeroplane . There was a fuel fire breaking out in the engine. The air base was in action again trying to douse the fire in the airplane.

I don't know if my aeroplane engine had failed in flight, whether I would have ever pulled the ejection seat loops and got out of the aeroplane safely, or sat in the cockpit frozen, going down and digging my own grave with my aeroplane.

As I walked towards the dispersal all the way from the runway without anyone noticing me, I thanked God in my mind, for not making all this what I just saw happen, when I was flying in the dark night sky, sitting in the pilot seat.

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