That quote makes it sound more deliberate and less a terrifying accident.
The Lightning was a high speed interceptor tasked to shoot down nuclear bombers, to say it was fast is an understatement.
He wasn't certified to fly that aircraft and was troubleshooting an electrical problem that couldn't be reproduced in the hanger. So he was taking short taxis down a closed portion of runway without a canopy. The equivalent of a car mechanic reving your engine in the parking lot.
The reheater (aka afterburner) on the Lightning was the last position on the throttle and there was a lock once engaged.
He wasn't having any luck reproducing the issue and so was going faster with each attempt. He accidentally engaged the reheater and went flying down the runway.
Before he could manage to disengage the reheater he had to avoid another aircraft and after that the runway ran out so he had to choose between crashing and taking off.
Once up it took him 4 approaches to bring it down without a canopy.
The Lightning was a high speed interceptor tasked to shoot down nuclear bombers, to say it was fast is an understatement.
He wasn't certified to fly that aircraft and was troubleshooting an electrical problem that couldn't be reproduced in the hanger. So he was taking short taxis down a closed portion of runway without a canopy. The equivalent of a car mechanic reving your engine in the parking lot.
The reheater (aka afterburner) on the Lightning was the last position on the throttle and there was a lock once engaged.
He wasn't having any luck reproducing the issue and so was going faster with each attempt. He accidentally engaged the reheater and went flying down the runway.
Before he could manage to disengage the reheater he had to avoid another aircraft and after that the runway ran out so he had to choose between crashing and taking off.
Once up it took him 4 approaches to bring it down without a canopy.