F-16s touch wingtips @ 350mph - Thuderbirds grounded! ***VIDEO***

[Analog]

Chicago's Air and Water Show ended a few minutes early Sunday and without the ground-shaking maneuvers of a perennial crowd pleaser -- the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.

The squadron's performance was cut short Saturday when two F-16 Fighting Falcons touched wingtips during a photo-op fly-by over North Avenue Beach.

Sunday morning, the Thunderbirds scrapped their grand finale flight and put the rest of their summer tour on hold until Air Force investigators can determine what went wrong.

"Taking a pause in the season is the prudent thing to do," the Thunderbirds commander, Lt. Col. Mike Chandler, said. "Every maneuver we do during our demonstration is designed and executed with safety as our first priority. An incident like this requires us to take a deeper look at what happened. . . . Once we're satisfied we've done that, we'll continue our season."

The midair collision occurred with the F-16s in diamond formation, speeding along the lakefront at 350 mph. http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-thunder22.html

pic thx to guyvero1:
Closeup of tip being sheared off!


VIDEO

 

[Mickey Eye]

Well it's kind of obvious what went wrong. One of the pilots fvcked up. Get a new one.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: Mickey Eye
Well it's kind of obvious what went wrong. One of the pilots fvcked up. Get a new one.

probably, although it was likely pilot error, a change in turbulance could have caused more drift on one plane than the other causing them to get closer to each other.

 

[dug777]

:Q now that would have been exciting for the pilots involved

 

[otispunkmeyer]

did they crash?

if they didnt then i dont understand the need to ground the planes. i know very little about things like this, so if some one wants to enlighten me....go ahead

 

[dug777]

those planes are expensive toys, i guess with any fvckup involving that sorta a money (and of course crowd wiping out potential) they want to make 100% sure it won't happen again....

 

[iliopsoas]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong

Originally posted by: Mickey Eye
Well it's kind of obvious what went wrong. One of the pilots fvcked up. Get a new one.

probably, although it was likely pilot error, a change in turbulance could have caused more drift on one plane than the other causing them to get closer to each other.

the pilots should have reacted to that turbulence.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Red Arrows >*

 

[Mickey Eye]

Don't like the Hawk though. Now if the Red Arrows flew GR-7s that would be cool, imagine the manouvers.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Mickey Eye
Don't like the Hawk though. Now if the Red Arrows flew GR-7s that would be cool, imagine the manouvers.

Indeedy

 

[Kelemvor]

No one got video of this? Or was there really nothing to see since they just bumped and there's no mention of pieces of the wing falling off or anything like that.

 

[loic2003]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Red Arrows >*

QFT

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
No one got video of this? Or was there really nothing to see since they just bumped and there's no mention of pieces of the wing falling off or anything like that.

@350 Mph I don't think 'bumped' is appropriate

 

[MisterJackson]

Where's the pic they took (said it happened during a photo op)?

 

[EyeMWing]

Oh come on. It's blatantly obvious what happened. One of the pilots fscked up. Who cares, they scraped some paint off, maybe bent a little bit of metal. They carry 3 freaking extra planes with them for just this purpose.

 

[jlee]

It's been over five years since their last accident, and they do some crazy flying. This wasn't even bad..no mention of lost parts or anything.

Originally posted by: Mickey Eye
Well it's kind of obvious what went wrong. One of the pilots fvcked up. Get a new one.

Please don't tell me that you think they can just pull a random Air Force pilot and say "Here you go, you're on the demonstration team now."....

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Oh come on. It's blatantly obvious what happened. One of the pilots fscked up. Who cares, they scraped some paint off, maybe bent a little bit of metal. They carry 3 freaking extra planes with them for just this purpose.

says it ripped the launcher rail off the wingtip...thats gonna require more than touch up paint...

 

[Mickey Eye]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Oh come on. It's blatantly obvious what happened. One of the pilots fscked up. Who cares, they scraped some paint off, maybe bent a little bit of metal. They carry 3 freaking extra planes with them for just this purpose.

says it ripped the launcher rail off the wingtip...thats gonna require more than touch up paint...

It's a display plane, what does it need a launcher for anyway.

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: MisterJackson
Where's the pic they took (said it happened during a photo op)?

I can't find the pic.. but here's the formation they were in:

Tight Diamond

 

[Analog]

now with video linkage.

 

[guyver01]

Picture of Accident


Found it.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Mickey Eye

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Oh come on. It's blatantly obvious what happened. One of the pilots fscked up. Who cares, they scraped some paint off, maybe bent a little bit of metal. They carry 3 freaking extra planes with them for just this purpose.

says it ripped the launcher rail off the wingtip...thats gonna require more than touch up paint...

It's a display plane, what does it need a launcher for anyway.

It is a live fighter with a fancy paint job.

The launcher for each missle is built/bolted onto the wingtip.

 

[brian_riendeau]

Phew, good thing its the Blue Angels doing the Maine Air Show in a few weeks.

 

[nakedfrog]

Pretty sure they were supposed to be here this weekend. Guess they won't be now.

 

[Analog]

Originally posted by: brian_riendeau
Phew, good thing its the Blue Angels doing the Maine Air Show in a few weeks.

Why would the air force do a navy show?