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One adventure that caught my eye was the time that the X-1\nwas trapped in the belly of the mothership. \nNormally, the Bell X-1 was carried to altitude in the bomb bay of a B-29\nbomber. The X-1 was attached to the\nmothership through a series of cables. \nOnce at altitude, Yeager would climb down a ladder in the bomb bay and\nenter the X-1 cockpit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The X-1 was then dropped from the belly, like a baby in the\ndelivery room. Yeager would ignite the\njet rockets and be off for a supersonic flight. \nOne day, the X-1 did not drop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the cables were released, the X-1 and Yeager dropped\njust a few inches, but remained attached to the mother ship. Eyes began to scan for the cause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A safety pin had not been removed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/799px-Bell_X-1_46-062_in_flight.jpg\")
Parts of aircraft are often safety pinned in place to\nprevent accidents, much like a gun has a safety. Ejection seats are pinned upon landing. Someone on the crew had failed to remove the\npin from the cable and when the cable was released, the pin became wedged. Hence the crew could not drop the X-1, nor\ncould they hoist it back into position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After much discussion, it was decide that Yeager would climb\nback out of the aircraft and reach for the ladder and climb back into the\nbomber. The bomber would then return to\nthe airfield and land with the X-1 dangling lower than when it took off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here was the danger, if the pin gave way while Yeager was\nclimbing out, Yeager would become a falling object. He had on a parachute, but there was a good\nchance he would strike either the bomber, or the X-1, or both as he exited the\nbomb bay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fortunately, the pin held. \nOne scared pilot scrambled \u201cin record time\u201d back up the ladder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Lesson<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The entire incident reminded me of the importance of the checklist.\u00a0 Aircrews rely upon them in order to ensure that critical safety items are accomplished.\u00a0 In the early day of aviation, there were no checklists.\u00a0 Leo Janos\u2019s book did not state if the crew had a checklist in this scenario, but as a pilot, I can state with full confidence, that if they didn\u2019t they needed one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/151019-F-QT982-123.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nPilots, stay on those checklists! Checklist discipline can be a life saver!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last night I was doing some pleasure reading.\u00a0 I was digesting the excellent biography of Chuck Yeager written by Leo Janos.\u00a0 I was caught by a story, of which I was unfamiliar, of Chuck Yeager, the Bell X-1 and the power of checklists. Yeager broke the sound barrier, Mach 1, in October of 1947. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":338,"featured_media":4582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[39],"tags":[1094,61,1092,1093,59,60],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n