Country and Family

Early in 1973 I was flying a normal Variable Stability System (VSS) flight at the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland. The student in the right seat of the converted B-26 aircraft was Lieutenant Commander Sidney White. He was flying his third consecutive VSS flight. Sidney had successfully completed all his upper air work in the vicinity of 10,000 feet. He commenced making a series of approaches to the active runway, which was oriented northeast/southwest (04/22)1. Each approach was made with a different stability configuration dialed in by me. His task was to fly and for me to evaluate his reaction to increasingly unstable conditions.

As Sidney lined up the B-26 on Runway 04 one could see the beautiful blue waters of the Patuxent River beyond the end of the 10,000-foot runway. When the aircraft had descended to about 50 feet and was ready to be flared for landing I told him I had the airplane and simultaneously disconnected the variable stability system. After clicking off the VSS I raised the landing gear and applied go-around power to both engines. For a few seconds increased power was felt but then the left engine sputtered and completely lost power. The emergency response for such a failure is to immediately “feather” the propeller on the affected engine. The purpose for feathering is to align the propeller blades into the wind stream. This action provides minimum drag from the failed engine. The aircraft would then be more controllable with thrust from the “good” running engine. However, just as I was reaching for the left feathering button the right engine started losing power and it also completely failed.

There was insufficient runway remaining to attempt a so called “dead stick” landing (terminology indicating a landing without power). Plus the landing gear was in the process of retracting into the wheel wells and there was little time to reverse the process and lower the gear back down. My next alternative was to make a belly landing in the waters of the Patuxent River straight ahead.
1. 04/22 refers to the direction of the runway heading. 04 means 040 or 40 degrees from magnetic north; and, 22 means 220, or that number of degrees from magnetic north.