A Night on the Flight Deck!

Bottoms up! As they did ‘chug a lug’ on the ceremonial cocktail night of white tigers!!The name of the Navy's fighter squadron pumped the blood rush through Akhil's veins and left his head high in pride. It was decommissioning ceremony of rare species found in the wildlife of fighter aircraft in the world- ‘SEA HARRIER’!

Lieutenant Akhil was a technical officer specialized in the VTOL capable Sea Harrier aircraft, posted at the squadron. He was responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the legacy jump-jets that the Indian Navy was operating on its only Aircraft Carrier. In fact, that was the only frontline fighter squadron being operated by the Navy at that time.

Akhil had held the glass too and he was admiring the cut-outs kept in the photo corner especially prepared to create memories before they could bid adieu to her. It was a peculiar picture of a Sea Harrier aircraft on the flight deck of the Aircraft Carrier INS VIRAAT.

Flight Deck!!!!! Good heavens!!!! And his eyes closed!!! Flashback. Back in 2014.

The huge Aircraft carrier in a roll n' pitch kissing the water with passion and sound waves were singing lyrical music with the cool evening breeze. Akhil was taking the stock of the day's situation after all flight sorties were finished. He was constantly on his toes to think about the defects, to ensure diligent after-flight servicing, and plan for the next day. Like any other soldier under a high VUCA environment, he was used to such battles with time, manpower, deliveries, etc. Suddenly, he heard someone calling -

“ Akhil! It's approved, go for it!!! “He had the responsibility to test and prepare the aircraft for an urgent mission. But today, due to some defect rectification, he had an added variability in his planning, a need to carry out an engine ground running test after sunset! As SOP, any engine run was prohibited to be done in the dark hours. He remembered 'variability queuing theory' taught as part of his training and the fact that the higher variability increases the turnaround time. His mind was boggled by the dilemma of choosing between the following SOP and mission readiness. After much deliberations with his tech team, Commanding Officer, and flight deck staff, he could obtain the necessary one-time permission for the test.

The test was to perform a ground run on the engine to check if all parameters were working normally. He had so much on the platter! He knew that the SOPs were made because of some real safety reasons and there was at least some risk. But the importance of the next day's mission outweighed today's risks.

In the jet black backdrop of night, Akhil could barely watch his steps on the flight deck. A quick thought of going overboard the flight deck (falling off from a ship in the water) touched his mind. He carefully instructed his team to carry sufficient torches and other safety gear.

Akhil did strike the chord with the Flight Deck Officer (FDO) who was responsible for activities on the deck and any safety measures. He also consulted with his ground runner technician and exchanged procedure in case of any emergency.

At that time pascal would have written a theory on the pressure created on the brain as well! Beautiful aircraft with single-engine 'Pegasus' producing impressive 21000 pounds of thrust. Her distinctive intakes and nozzle for vectored thrust was a treat to anyone’s eyes. Pitch Dark night with uncountable stars falling in the black Arabian sea. As the sweet sound of engine rotation reached Akhil's ears, he became more conscious to observe the aircraft in that darkness.

And like Murphy's law, suddenly, there were fumes coming out of the aircraft's Gas Turbine Starter (GTS) located on the shoulders (top), and within no time the whole flight deck was illuminated with a giant ball of fire on the aircraft.

Yes!!!! She had caught fire !!Within seconds Akhil could feel panic on the flight deck, an announcement was made for the entire ship's staff - "Savdhan Savdhan Savdhan (Attention), Sea Harrier 6xx on fire". Every Naval warrior knows how scary and devastating, the reasons for such announcements could be!

Akhil's heart skipped a bit as he remembered the aircraft had six thousand gallons of fuel. The very next second, he indicated the ground runner for an emergency cut - off of the engine. The most crucial part, in that panic, was to instruct Flight Deck staff not to accidentally operate the extinguisher into the aircraft’s air intake, which would have been an operational disaster later on. Akhil observed that due to the peculiar location of the Gas Turbine Starter on top of the airframe, a normal fire extinguisher wasn't able to reach the seat of the fire, they needed a ladder. But with the engine still rotating, it wasn't safe to do so. Time was running out and by now Akhil could hear the heartbeat ran out of his body. In a desperate attempt, he asked the ground runner to get out of the cockpit and mount on the top of the airframe. He handed over the extinguisher to the ground runner giving directions to operate it in the correct manner into the fire. With the frothing sound, the fire died and it took a minute of silence for all of them to move, as they were back to the pitch dark flight deck with water gushing music through the hull.

This time the music was accompanied by his heart stokes!!!! He quickly checked for any residual fire signs, enquired for the safety of his men, and sat down for a moment to gather his thoughts. There were so many things to follow, answers to questions, his clarifications for taking enough safety measures, diagnosing the root cause of the fire, rectification, if any major material failure then finds a replacement via reverse tracking of the supply chain, and most importantly next day's mission. Certainly, the night was going to be too long and a memorable one.

The crazy night was over and so was the crazy time with many such unforgettable moments. Akhil looked at her again in the picture corner and murmured “Adieu beautiful SEA HARRIER”!