Haven’t seen the movie, but I do plan to, and soon. I saw the F-14 in a preview, can’t wait to see how that woven into the plot.
I sure do miss the airplane.
So, Q1 - yes. Lots of breakers for the RIO. It wasn’t uncommon to use the breakers to reset systems, like the CSDC (Computer Signal Data Converter) which was a computer interface that allowed weapon systems data to be fed to multiple displays, including attitude information to the pilot displays.
About two dozen critical ones were up front by the pilot‘s ankles, including things like fuel jettison control.
The design thinking was lots of breakers, isolating each small component electrically, so that an overload in one small system would not take out a larger set of systems linked to one circuit. The airplane was built for battle damage. This was one element.
Q2 - in a normal flight, we left the wings in automatic for maneuvering. They usually worked well. No need to try and monkey with them. If you swept them using the manual electric mode (see my discussion on page one of this thread -
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/f-14-questions-answered-ask-away.191767/) the wings would stay where you put them, unless the computer wanted them farther aft, then the computer would pick up control. If you swept them aft electrically, and then flew slow (where the computer would want them forward) they would stay in the pilot selected position.
Kinda’ makes sense. If the pilot chose the position, the system would leave them there. If they needed to go aft for structural reasons, the computer would pick up control again.
Q3 - I’ll let you know on the start up sequence. In general, it took about 7-8 minutes for a full start up with checks. Checks included hydraulic systems, electric system back up, flight controls, wing sweep, inlet operation and alignment of the inertial NAV system. But, for an alert launch (hostile inbound aircraft) we could start up in under two minutes. Enough time to spin the engines, run the inlet check, and align the inertial NAV which was already partially aligned, then taxi to the catapult, spread the wings and launch. High risk, so some checks were omitted.
Q4 - The airplane has been flown at over 10 G without permanent damage. That shortens the life, of course, and individual components were never meant for such a load. Often the engines had to be re-installed as they shifted in their mounts, for example, or the radar antenna hydraulics would be damaged.
If you push a structure, like an airplane, over its design limit, to where the materials are elastic, it’s like overtorquing a bolt.
Might be OK. Might stretch. Might break.
No way to feel or know that in flight. No way to know which part was going to fail first when you are up at 150% or more of design limit. Might lose control from one aileron, or horizontal stabilizer, breaking before the other one did, for example
So, if you flew it to where it was elastic/stretched, you might easily go past that and break it, or part of it, in which case, you’re likely toast. An F-15 failed structurally in flight (metal fatigue of the fuselage longerons, and it came apart at 400+ KTS) many years ago. The pilot survived but was severely injured.
No way I would try bending an airplane to make it subsequently unusable, way too high a probability that it would just break, in a way that couldn’t be predicted.
Cheers,
Astro