Page 143 - Demo

141T11/T12 spinal fracture and, so far, no golf professional worth his salt has been able to correct it. Thus I am doomed to forever play off a 19 handicap!Finally, there was the Board of Inquiry and the bollocking from the Station Commander. You see, the fire warning light was spurious, caused by serious corrosion in the Triple Fault Free Fire Detection Circuits around the jet pipe. My wingman kindly reported smoke but, in fact, what he saw proved to be hydraulic fluid being dumped as the hydraulic flying controls reverted to manual when the engine was shut down. The engineers conducted a fleet check of all aircraft, and corrosion, some quite serious, was found in the fire detection circuitry of a good number of jets.The rollicking from the Station Commander was gentlemanly and polite, and I did get a cup of coffee - but no biscuit. I was guilty of misidentifying a spurious fire warning, and had thus made an error of judgement, something my wife tells me I do all the time now that I have retired. All of this happened over 35 years ago and, despite amassing over 16000 hours on Phantoms, Jaguars, Tornados and Boeings in military and commercial aviation, I still think about how I might have played it better. Regrettably, my Flight Commander, who reported the smoke, died in a flying accident two years later; but I remain indebted to him for his advice in the circumstances.