I Learned About Flying From That

Roy Stafford

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A young F-4 pilot learned a critical, "unwritten" safety check from his instructor: to inspect a specific wing panel for signs of a leaking Boundary Layer Control (BLC) duct, a fault that could lead to catastrophic failure.
Years later, the pilot identified this exact issue on his aircraft, which had gone undetected by official systems, preventing a potential in-flight fire or explosion and explaining unusual flight characteristics.
The incident highlights the life-saving value of practical, experienced-based knowledge shared between professionals, ultimately leading to a change in squadron standard operating procedures for pre-flight inspections.

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This is not your normal “learned about that” story. But an example of how a little bit of aviation knowledge, which didn’t appear in “the book,” that was passed on by a consummate professional probably saved my life and an airplane to boot.

Many years ago (more than I’d like to admit) I was a young “Studley Do Right” going through the West Coast Marine F-4 RAG at MCAS, Yuma, Arizona. Basically it was the Marine F-4 training squadron (VMFA-101); from there, once we were qualified in the F-4 we would go out to the fleet.