Jay Lacklen
Jay Lacklen concluded his service in the Air Force Reserve in 2004, achieving the rank of Lt. Col. and accumulating 12,500 hours of flight time. From 2005 to 2014, he instructed pilot training simulators for the Air Force T-1 at Columbus AFB, Mississippi. He was raised in Arlington, VA, and earned his degree from the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill in 1969. Alongside pilot training aircraft, he logged 330 hours flying the C-7 Caribou, 2,000 hours in the B-52 bomber, and 9,500 hours with the C-5 Galaxy transport.
He participated in every significant military operation, spanning from Vietnam to the Iraq War. Lacklen resides in northern Virginia, is married, and has four grown daughters along with two granddaughters.
Lacklen is also the author of three books: Flying the Line: An Air Force Pilot’s Journey, Flying the Line: An Air Force Pilot’s Journey Volume Two: Military Airlift Command, and Flying the Line: An Air Force Pilot’s Journey Volume Three: Air Mobility Command. The following story comes from the last one of the trilogy.
A rock in empty C-5 airlifters
In the 1980s, the empty C-5 carrying no cargo could not gracefully complete local training missions for center of gravity (CG) considerations. Without cargo and with low fuel loads, the plane’s CG shifted perilously close to its aft limit. This could create control problems, including possible loss of control, if not corrected.
The method used to correct the imbalance placed two 15,000-lb. concrete blocks in the forwardmost part of the cargo compartment to shift the center of gravity forward. On several occasions, locals were delayed because the “pet rocks,” as we called them, had to be loaded.
The name came from an inane Christmas novelty item of a fist-sized painted rock sent as a Christmas “pet” present. No, I could not make that up—the crazy 1980s!
The pet rock requirement arose from a cost-saving measure regarding aircraft wings. To stay within contract funding limits, the Air Force cut the weight and structure support for the aircraft wings. This resulted in a profoundly uneconomic result.
The weakened wings “flapped” at cruise, the wing tips moving up and down in flight. The two primary effects of this blunder to save money required re-winging all the aircraft with the original, stronger wings and demanded pet rocks for local flights. Pet rocks remedied this problem until the new wings were installed.
Photo by U.S. Air Force