Iranian F-14 related question

[Aryajet]

It always puzzles me watching those Tomcats still carrying the Arresting Hook around.
Does any one know why?

I mean it makes sense to remove them along with all the hydraulic system and other related operating mechanism, weight and flying don't get along very well. Right?

Thanx in advance.

[Dreadnought]

It always puzzles me watching those Tomcats still carrying the Arresting Hook around.
Does any one know why?

I mean it makes sense to remove them along with all the hydraulic system and other related operating mechanism, weight and flying don't get along very well. Right?

Thanx in advance.

Aryajet, when the F-14 Tomcats were designed, they were designed with Naval service in mind, Most flew from the Carriers although you still had a few land based aircraft and a few countries got their hands on a couple including Iran. They were one of the first, if not the first aircraft designed specifically with naval carrier service as its main employment. One of the very best jets the Navy ever had bar none. Iran had been trying to aqquire spare parts for their F-14's up until a few years back so when the US took them out of service, they literally chewed up all of what was left, minus their spares ofcoarse. One hell of an aircraft.;)

[bigross86]

So, basically you're saying that there's no way to take off the tailhook assembly?

[Stitch]

Actually, that is interesting; you would think that the IRIAF would've removed those things a long time ago, especially since they probably don't work anymore anyway (quite frankly, I'm amazed that Iran even still has any F-14's that are still airworthy). My guess is it's more trouble to remove them than it's worth. Also, most land-based US aircraft (including the F-22) actually carry a one-shot arresting hook (usually a light-duty unit) for use "in an emergency landing" (like if the brakes fail, or the landing gear doesn't come down all the way), but I don't think Iran has any contingencies for "emergency arrested landings", so the tailhook seems superfluous.

[highsea]

Funny things start happening when you monkey with the weights and balances on fighters.

Taking a couple hundred pounds off the extreme aft end trims the jet nose heavy. Might be okay to trim out with a light load, but how will it handle with full stores? There are CG limits that you can't exceed. I'm reminded of the British experience when they tried to leave the gun off the Typhoon.

My sense is that if you removed that weight, you would have to ballast it back in. Then what's the point? Might as well just leave it alone, you will never get the ballast exactly the same as the hook gear anyway.

[Aryajet]

Thanks for the replies Gents.
Having 2 massive rotor blade systems on the extreme ends of the helo we barely had balance problem in the Chinook that is probably why I totally forgot about weight & balance issue.

highsea got it right, you take that much weight from the extreme end of the aircraft you'll get one nose heavy jet and it will be a handful to fly.

Nowadays I fly R.C planes and we constantly struggle with getting the CG on the right spot and keep crashing the planes because they were either nose or tail heavy.

[Stitch]

Funny things start happening when you monkey with the weights and balances on fighters.

Taking a couple hundred pounds off the extreme aft end trims the jet nose heavy. Might be okay to trim out with a light load, but how will it handle with full stores? There are CG limits that you can't exceed. I'm reminded of the British experience when they tried to leave the gun off the Typhoon.

My sense is that if you removed that weight, you would have to ballast it back in. Then what's the point? Might as well just leave it alone, you will never get the ballast exactly the same as the hook gear anyway.

I was going to guess that, but I didn't realize that a couple of hundred pounds of "ballast" would make that much difference on a 50,000 lbs. fighter; that's only 0.4% of the weight of the a/c.

[Aryajet]

Stich,

I was going to guess that, but I didn't realize that a couple of hundred pounds of "ballast" would make that much difference on a 50,000 lbs. fighter; that's only 0.4% of the weight of the a/c.

Looking at pix it seems that arresting hook and related system could be lot heavier than 200 lbs, in any case the distance from GC (lever) makes it critical. The hook is at the far end of tail almost the longest distance from the CG.