Occasion: Fast taxi runs of various of various ex military a/c now long out of service.

              Pilot: ex Victor pilot Age 71

              Person? in co-pilot seat: ground engineer. [Penguin , not an Eagle]

Aircraft: Victor Bomber. Part of the UK nuclear deterrant.  Last flown about 20 years ago ish.

What happened next: Intended fast taxi run, lift nosewheel off r/w then CLOSE throttles and taxi back. At the appropriate time the Pilot called for the throttles to be closed and got no response from the person occupying the co-pilots seat (apparently he froze!) Pilot had to close throttles himself but by this time the critical speed had been reached and it was up, up & away. The pilot stated on the local news that briefly considered applying full throttle & flying a circuit before landing but recognising that it hadn't flown for 20 years decided against it. When asked how he felt at the time he replied "Bloody petrified".

Moral of the story: Don't let groundcrew fly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3HaeYVlBw8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh2YSzBdWFg&feature=related

Enjoy the clip, I doubt the likes of it will ever be seen again.

Biggles