Iraqis Couldn't Bring A Good Woman Down
The Iraqi republican guard may have had luck on their side that
miserable Baghdad day, but they did not know who was flying the
A-10 Thunderbolt II they had just hit with a rocket.
It was April 7, 2003, and an elite unit of Iraqis had US forces
pinned down along the Tigris River, firing rocket-propelled
grenades into their position, not far from the North Baghdad
Bridge. The word from the forward-air controller on the ground with
the US forces indicated assistance was needed immediately.
Capt. Kim Campbell of the 75th Fighter Squadron, speaking to a
large crowd at the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space
Museum on March 24, said she knew there would be considerable risk
involved in the mission. But she said that it is the nature of the
beast for an A-10 attack pilot.
"These guys on the ground needed our help," said the captain.
"That’s our job -- to bring fire down on the enemy when our
Army and Marine brothers request our assistance."
The day’s mission had not been ideal by any means. Once
she and her flight leader were airborne, with instructions to
target Iraqi vehicles and tanks in the city, they had trouble
finding the tanker for gas, because of inclement weather conditions
in the area. Before leaving Kuwait, the weather prompted Captain
Campbell’s flight leader, who was also her squadron
commander, to ask if she had her lucky rabbit’s foot.
"I did not know how much luck I would later need," she told the
Smithsonian crowd.
As soon as the call for close-air support came through, Captain
Campbell said she knew the two planes would be over the target area
within minutes. The pilots kept their planes above the weather as
long as possible before descending in time to identify both the
friendly and enemy locations. Then they unleashed their fury,
beginning with the flight lead applying his 30 mm cannon on the
enemy, and ending with both pilots making several passes, firing
both cannon and explosive rockets.
Captain Campbell was leaving the target following her last
rocket pass when she felt and heard a large explosion at the back
of the aircraft. There was no question in her mind, she said, that
the plane had been hit by enemy fire.
"The jet rolled fairly violently to the left and pointed at the
city below, and the jet was not responding to any of my control
inputs," she said. "I had several caution lights, but the ones that
stood out in my mind the most were the hydraulic lights. I checked
the hydraulic gauges and both read zero."
With both hydraulic lines gone, the only option was to put the
jet into "manual reversion," a system of cranks and cables that
allows the pilot to fly the aircraft under mechanical control. The
captain said she saw it as her last chance to avoid a parachute
ride down into the city.
It was a huge relief, she said, when the jet started to climb
out and away from Baghdad. But that relief was short-lived. She
still had to maneuver the plane back to Kuwait, much of the way
through hostile territory.
"I knew that if I had to eject, my chances of survival and
rescue would be much better if I could get out of the city," she
said. "As we started maneuvering south to get out of Baghdad, we
noticed that anti-aircraft artillery was coming at us from several
locations."
With little control to keep the jet moving in the manual
reversion configuration, Captain Campbell said she could only hope
for the best.
"I was hoping that the theory of big sky, little bullet would
work out in my favor," she told the crowd. "Amazingly, we made it
out of Baghdad with no further battle damage."
The design of the A-10 restricts how much the pilot can see of
the rear portion of the jet, so Captain Campbell was limited to her
flight lead’s description of the damage to her aircraft. His
words were not encouraging.
"He did an initial battle-damage check and told me that I had
hundreds of small holes in the fuselage and tail section on the
right side, as well as a football-sized hole in the right
horizontal stabilizer," she said. "I wasn’t really sure what
to expect, but I knew that that didn’t sound great."
Soon thereafter, the captain began the long process of going
through several emergency checklists. She said she had a decision
to make -- stay with the jet and try to land, or get to friendly
territory and eject. Pilots do not train very often in manual
reversion -- only once during initial training to find out how the
jet will respond, she said. In fact, one of the items on the
checklist is to "attempt manual reversion landings only under ideal
conditions," she said. Still, Captain Campbell said she was
confident she was going to get the jet back safely on the
ground.
"I felt that I had a lot
of things going my way that day," she said. "The jet was flying
extremely well, the winds at our home base were down the runway,
and I had a very experienced flight lead on my wing, providing me
with mutual support."
At the same time, the captain also said that A-10
manual-reversion landings had been attempted three times during
Operation Desert Storm, and not all had been successful. One pilot
had been killed when his jet crashed, and one survived after
touching down only to find out that his jet had no brakes.
"The trip back to Kuwait was probably one of the longest hours
of my life," she said. "I didn’t know exactly what was going
to happen when I slowed the aircraft down in an attempt to
land."
After she completed the emergency-gear extension, the gear came
down with three green-light indicators, telling Captain Campbell
that the gears were down and locked. Now it was just a matter of
flying the aircraft through the continual haze of dust storms
associated with Kuwait. The pilots contacted the tower and the
supervisor of flying to say they were on the way in.
As Captain Campbell started on final approach, the aircraft was
flying extremely well, she said. But, as the A-10 crossed the
landing threshold, the aircraft started a quick roll to the left.
The captain quickly counteracted that with flight controls, and the
A-10 touched down.
"When all three wheels hit the ground, it was an amazing feeling
of relief, but I still had to get the jet stopped," she said. "So I
accomplished the procedure for emergency braking, and once again,
that jet worked as advertised."
Looking back on the ordeal, Captain Campbell said she has
nothing but kind words for those responsible for building the A-10,
and for those responsible for maintaining it.
"I am incredibly thankful to those who designed and built the
A-10 as well as the maintainers who did their part to make sure
that that jet could fly under any circumstances, even after
extensive battle damage," she said.
Captain Campbell told
the Smithsonian crowd that experts believe a surface-to-air missile
hit near the right rear stabilizer, a missile fired without the aid
of any type of navigation system -- it was a lucky shot.
But that luck pales in comparison to the good fortune of Captain
Campbell’s A-10. Thanks to her, the plane has since found a
nice resting place amongst the heroes of days gone by -- in the
"Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AZ) -- instead of
becoming a burning heap of metal in Iraq.
(ANN salutes Senior Master Sgt. Rick Burnham, USAF, Air
Force Print News)