P-3 book: "Adak: The Rescue of Alfa Foxtrot 586"

[Ken]

Just finished this book; it was on my must-read list for some time and I don't recall where I first got the recommendation.

This book is a beautiful amalgam of fact, detail, insight, and personal commentary written by an experienced P-3 pilot. AF 586 suffered a prop overspeed while on patrol west of the Aleutians in 1978. The subsequent gearbox failure and fire forced them to ditch and only 10 of the 15 crew survived the ordeal. While this book would probably not appeal to a many readers, if you ever served in any capacity as a military aircrew member or have the desire to look beyond the glitz of the posters and recruiting commercials for some insight into what the average "crew dog" risked every time he went on patrol far from home, you will appreciate this story. As a former C-130 guy, I give it 5/5 stars.

Ken

[Speedy]

Just finished this book; it was on my must-read list for some time and I don't recall where I first got the recommendation.

This book is a beautiful amalgam of fact, detail, insight, and personal commentary written by an experienced P-3 pilot. AF 586 suffered a prop overspeed while on patrol west of the Aleutians in 1978. The subsequent gearbox failure and fire forced them to ditch and only 10 of the 15 crew survived the ordeal. While this book would probably not appeal to a many readers, if you ever served in any capacity as a military aircrew member or have the desire to look beyond the glitz of the posters and recruiting commercials for some insight into what the average "crew dog" risked every time he went on patrol far from home, you will appreciate this story. As a former C-130 guy, I give it 5/5 stars.

Ken

As a P-3 guy who had to learn the 'revised' emergency procedures based on AF586, the book was an outstanding read and I truly could 'be there' while reading it. I've also heard the HF radio transmission recordings as the plane was getting ready to ditch. I can't listen without getting a severe chill throughout my body.

I bought a copy for my dad and my brother after reading it.

[RV8er]

Man, y'all just caused me to flashback to a story I read as a 10 yr old kid.

Ken's description sparked a flash of recall... back in the '70s-'80s my parents had a subscription to Reader's Digest; this story was in the September 1979 issue as the "Drama In Real Life" piece. I lost count of how many times I read and re-read that article... now I gotta get the book and read the whole story.

[Ken]

As a P-3 guy who had to learn the 'revised' emergency procedures based on AF586

The C-130E/H uses nearly the same engines, gearbox, & prop, although I gather from the book, that the cockpit controls differ between the two airplanes and there was also mention of the oil supply valve circuit breaker and its relation to the emergency fire handle. Speaking from the AF side, the procedures and even some of the wiring has likely changed in the Herk fleet from then to now anyway.

While I understood 99% of the systems aspect of what happened to this P-3 and the criticality of the "prop fails to feather" checklist, I admit I didn't get the internal failure in the prop dome completely. The fact that the prop oversped to such a ridiculous RPM without achieving an earlier pitchlock took me by surprise. Also, the findings at the end of the book which claimed that gearbox failure was a likely eventual outcome regardless of the success of the "fails to feather" checklist was another surprise. I'll likely read up on this in the coming weeks.

Ken

[tom d. friedman]

who ever served in that region in either ww2 or after served in 1 of the worst buttholes of the world!! an endless salute to any of you!!