12 In Flight USA Celebrating 34 Years December 2017GHOSTS - 2018
TWO CALENDARS
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WWI WWII
“I’ ve fl ow n t hese ,” sh e said to Art
Nal ls. N al ls, im me di ate ly skep tic al, started
quizzin g h er on the Harrier ling o. S he
pas sed wi th f lying c olo rs. On e can ’t ea sil y
fak e th e l in go qui z. So, th ey in vited he r to
an air sh ow t o s ee how she fit with the
team. She eve n got a fe w fligh ts in the L3 9
to see how s he co uld fly. Sh e c onfe ssed
she had nev er flo wn a n a irp lane witho ut a
Head U p D is pl ay (HUD) but th e L39 is all
steam gag es. Sh e ad apte d jus t fine.
An d th at ’s the w ay thi ng s went fo r
seve ra l ye ar s. She received h er t yp e rat -
ing in the L39 – passing wit h hi gh mark s
and p ra ise fr om the eval uato r – an d had
bee n fly ing b acku p f or sev eral s eas ons.
But sh e hadn’t go t the ch ance to g et
behi nd th e co ntr ols of t he s in gle-s eat
SHAR.
The pl an wa s f or their two -s eat
Harr ier tr ainer ( TMk-8) to be th e train er.
Tha t’s w hat i t is used for an d it is s pecif -
ical ly de sig ned for that m iss ion.
But the tra iner i s la gging way beh in d
sche du le and st il l ha sn’t flo wn.
“Usi ng t he si ngle -seater for her was
alwa ys a backup pl an ,” said Art Nall s t he
curre nt H arr ier pi lo t. He and his wife,
Patri cia, own Nal ls A viatio n and h ave
bee n ope rat ing t he Sea Harri er for 1 0
yea rs. “Jen na i s a st el ler pilot, a nd I’m
sur e s he can d o ju st fin e, but the re are
some go ttch a’s wi th t his vers ion of
Harri er , that a ren’t i n t he A V-8B m odel
she fle w. The re are di ffer enc es and so me
are no t so forg iv ing. It wo ul d b e f ar be t-
te r to show th em to her in adv anc e, rat her
th an h ave h er stu mb le u pon the m b y h er-
self ,” N all s s aid.
Nalls als o s tat ed a sh ortag e of m is -
sion -c rit ical sp ar es, m ost im po rtantly a
Gas Tu rb ine S tar ter (GT S) fo r s tartin g th e
Rol ls Roy ce Peg asu s m ain en gine, as th e
real re ason no t to us e the SHAR for train -
ing. Wit h no spar es on hand , a b lo wn GT S
wou ld pu t the airp lane in down statu s, until
one c ou ld b e fou nd. He sim ply co uld no t
affor d to wast e an y flig hts th at did n’ t pro -
duce val uab le r even ue fo r th e b us in ess.
Bu t the prio riti es change d a bi t whe n
th ey co nc lu de d th ei r 1 0th a irs how sea -
son. W it h no fu rth er demo nst ratio ns
sche dul ed unt il n ext se ason, a nd w ith
th ree ful ly fun ct io nal sta rte rs re centl y
proc ured in th e UK, why not put Je nna in
th e c ock pi t a nd le t her t ake it f or a spin?
The oppo rt uni ty cam e afte r th e last ai r-
sho w of the seas on at t he re cen t Cul pep er,
VA ai rshow Oct. 14th. Wh en Na lls fi ni she d
his routi ne, the jet wou ld be h ers. T he
weath er f or eca st was go od , t he je t wa s pe r-
for min g pe rf ec tly, t hey ha d plent y o f air -
sho w f uel on hand, a nd plenty of ru nw ay.So Jenn a w as t old i n a dva nc e t o
study the proce dur es and get p len ty o f
coc kpit time – incl uding the com plic ated
stra p-i n pr oce dure to be r eady for he r
Fam 1 a t the en d o f the show. She la st
fle w a H ar rie r mor e th an 12 ye ars a go in
2005, and that w as a dif fer ent ve rsion.
With t he s how o ver , Nal ls an d cr ew
chi ef R ich Gi ll as sisted her wit h t he st rap
in pr ocedu re. T he harn es s is not at a ll l ike
she used in the Mar ines. T his i s a German
har ness and a Sten cil ejectio n seat fro m a n
Alp ha jet. Plus, the strap s were ad jus te d to
fit Na lls’s ro tund phy siq ue, (we’ re tr yi ng
to be ki nd) rat her t han J en na ’s t iny f ram e.
There was l ots o f ad jus tm en t r eq uired!
Wit h Na lls co mmunicat ing dir ec tly
to her via th eir p lug- in inte rc om sys tem ,
he ta lke d her th rough any las t-m inute
ques tions a nd made sure th e engine w as
saf ely sta rte d. It’s a much diffe rent star t
pane l fro m t he AV-8 B, as i s th e re st of the
civi lian coc kpit. P lus, the fu el c ont rol is
anc ient te chno logy , when com pa red to
the D igit al En gine Co ntro l (D ECS ) in the
AV-8 B. S he m ust u se a ll h er se nse s a nd
judgm ent to ma nip ulat e th e thr ottle a s
necessary to ge t a successful start.
Noth ing is automa tic.
A sma ll crowd gathe re d to w atch th e
fir st w oma n to dr ive a Se a Harr ie r – ever.
Once th roug h th e s ta rt and post sta rtche ck s, Nal ls a nd Joe Anderson , the ot her
cur re nt SHA R pi lot, gu id ed he r through
th e p ost- sta rt c heck s. A nd ers on is a
re tir ed Ma rine C orps Maj or General and
a forme r Harri er test pilot. He fle w hi s
fir st H arr ie r f li gh ts without a two -se at
tr aine r. Just ge t in it and go. But the acc i-
den t rates w ere stagg erin g. To geth er ,
Ande rson a nd N alls r epre sent m ore t hanCo ver St ory : Jen na Dolan
Continue d f rom Page 4Con tinue d o n Page 13Art Nall s give s s ome last minu tes advice
to Ca pt. Jenna Dolan.
(Co ur tesy Art Nalls Aviation)