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IN 1990, I WAS FLYING an AirForce Boeing 747, desisnated an E-4B,flying what was known at the time as a

"Command and Control" mission. Theairplane was a fairly standard Boerng747with additional plumbing to receive air-to-air fuel from a tanker and additional

electronics to reach out and touch justabout anyone in the world. We had a

cockpit crew of four, a communicationscrew of ten or so, a securify team,

three crew chiefs and one or two flightattendants. Our day-to-day job was, we

all understood, of the highest nationalimportance. Of course, that had nothing

to do with me; my job was flying theairplane and leading the crew. The

passengers downstairs were in charge ofall that national importance.

62 | AIRWAYS L Novenbe'2012

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The BoelnS E 48 N ghtwatch f y ng over Central U.t.

We were in the clear, dodging the green, yellow, and red shapes

on the radar. Our maximum takeoffweightwas 800,000 pounds

but, today, we were well under that, just under 700,000' Each

engine piodrr... over 50,000 pounds ofthrust, so the airplane

.nurr"g.d to peg the vertical velocity indicator now and then'

toduy"b.rtl.,g +]OOO feet per minute.The copilot was "heads up,"

as h. shouldlave been, Leeping an eye out for other traffic and

doinghisbesttovalidatethenavigator,sradarinterPretationof th"e mes, '!ve were in. The engineer was sitting between us'

his hands on the throttles and eyes on the engine gauges' Our

autothrottles were good for approach and landing, but not

available for takeoffind climb'The navigator faced baclovard in

the cockpit, eyes glued to a radarscoPe'

"Need twenty right,"said the nav over the interphone'The copilot

asked departure control and moved my heading bug u'hen our

request *r, upprorr.d. I dipped the right wing.dorvn and ried

,o u'r.rrg. or'r,itt. turbrrleni. to keep the bank under control'

In my p"eripheral vision, I noted the copijot rvas doinq a good

1oU oidi riaing his attention between the flight instruments and

ih. ,ri.* outs"ide. What some pilots call "see and ar-oid'- others

called "iookout doctrine." I *d. ^

mental note for the copilott

grade book; his lookout doctrine was excellent'

Aslresumedmyfocusontheattitudeindicato;'-Liteentirecockpit was illuminated with a bright flash' -lusi a ::'i:Llisecond

lat.r, ther. was a loud bang and then there u-as siieiie' I knerv

immediately we had been hit by lightning'

64 I AIRWAYS I November 20]4

"I'm blind, I'm blind, I'm blind!" yelled the copilot, almost

incoherently, but it was plain he was in full panic'

"I'm blind!" the flight engineer cried out too'

"Can anybody up there see?" asked the navigator, with just a

little less hysteria.

"Relax, everyone," I said, in the contrived voice of composure

many of us pilots Practice in our sleep' "I can see and we are

still flying."

I thought for a few seconds and realized I was flying solo in terrible

weathir, I may have had two injured cockpit crewmembers' and

most of my attention was spent keeping the shiny side of the

airplane up. I reached over and engaged the autopilot'

"Nav," I said over the interphone, "take over the AIC radio;

keep an eye on the weather."

The copilot and engineer both reported that the burning

sensati; in their.y.i *^t subsiding and they could again see'

In another ten thousand feet of climb, the weather was below

and behind us, so I disengaged the autopilot and resumed hand-

flying until we leveled off.

The flight engineer did an inventory of the electrical systems

*. huilort ald reported we could get them all repaired at our

PHOTO: STAFF SGT. MICHAEL HAGGERTY

www.airwaysnews.com

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