“Negative,” he replied, “not enough contrast.”
Both knew he had less than fifteen minutes of fuel, probably closer to ten minutes.
“Okay. You ready to dirty up?” she asked.
“Affirm,” Trench replied. Things were going to happen fast now, and the last chance for the ship to lock a “stabilized” and linked-up 302 was coming up in five miles.
“Okay, let’s roll out left. Good. You are level and just right of course, ten miles. Now disengage the ATC and autopilot. Drop your gear and flaps.”
With some trepidation, Trench did as he was told, finding and lowering the gear and flaps controls by feel. He felt the aircraft “balloon” with the increased lift provided by the flaps. Annie and Jake lowered their flaps to match their stricken mate. To be at the same configuration as the aircraft she was guiding, Annie also lowered her landing gear, while also “flying” the aircraft next to her.
“Okay, a little nose down….Gear coming down, drifting right. Back to the left. Slowing below two hundred…. Come up a little on the power, a little nose up. Trim it. One-seventy… nine and a half miles… one-fifty. A little nose up. Trim out the stick forces…. Now engage ATC.”
Trench nodded as he did so, and felt relief as the throttles moved to keep him at the proper airspeed, which at this light fuel weight he figured would be less than 130 knots. One variable — airspeed control — was out of the way. Annie continued.
“Nine miles, and we’re high, so a little nose down…. And we’re still right, so a little left bank…. Good. Keep it in. Now roll out right. Hold it…. Good. Approach, three-zero-two has three down and locked at eight miles.”
“Roger, Mother’s steady. Final bearing one-three-one,” Petty Officer Conley answered her.
Trench flinched when he heard a MASTER CAUTION audio tone in his headset. He placed his head next to the left digital display to try and discern what the caution was, and a chill came over him.
“Think I’ve got an AMAD caution here!”
“Roger that, continue,” Annie reassured him. “We’re four minutes from touchdown.” The Airframe Mounted Accessory Drive powered the generators on each engine. Fuel cooled the AMADs, and 302’s low-fuel state at low altitude on a hot tropical day was causing one of them to overheat. If the situation continued, the associated generator could fall off line, and a hiccup in AC power delivery could affect the flight controls and the data link systems, spitting 302 out of a coupled approach. In Air Ops, Olive was on it.
“Skipper, the book says to leave the generator and engine alone if you can land within fifteen minutes. Recommend we ignore the AMAD.”