A-6 Intruder

I was on the troubleshooting team when this plane took off ...From my squadron A/C 511. The reason it crashed was the starboard engine flamed out on the cat shot. The pilot thought that if he jettisoned the load, he could make it and come around and land. By the time he jettisoned the droptanks, it was too late, the Intruder stalled. They ejected at the last minute as the plane nosed over. This was aboard the USS America during exercises off the coast of Norway....

They'd salvage the aircraft though, right? Or at least destroy it to prevent it falling into enemy hands?

that was a good pilot

I read a story that an EA-6B pilot wrote about a night cat shot and how his eyes are totally focused on his airspeed indicator. He describes that if the shot is cold he would drop his tanks and try to fly away, if his airspeed didn't improve he would have to command eject everyone (3 ECMOs)with the pilot going last. I still wonder if the A-6 pilot had a jammed rudder or something. He waited WAY to long to eject.

Oh, yeah... THOSE WERE MY SEATS!!! Bravo-Zulu to all AMEs!!!

I thought it was the engine because I would have thought the external fuel tank falling off would make the aircraft lighter therefore having more lift capability if the engines were still at 100%. But I wasn't there so maybe it was the only fuel source for that engine and therefore no fuel no thrust, and we all know you need to have thrust.

I can't remember the exact cause of this particular incident, either what's called a "cold cat", or they just lost thrust, but dropping the drop lightens the aircraft so hopefully you can fly away or get more time to eject. The plane was right on the edge of stall speed, and the pilot was probably busy as hell, before he made the decision to finally punch the tank. It gave them a few more seconds to get out.

Not a Fuel pod but a DROP TANK

I still wonder why the crew ejected at 90 degrees of right bank when they obviously knew the plane was not going to fly.

So the carrier wouldn't run them down and chop them into fish meal! :-) Remember, they have 90,000 tons of aircraft carrier moving at 30 knots coming towards them!