OUCH!!! US Thunderbirds F16 ejection/crash footage...

[MustangSVT]

That manuever is VERY hard to pull off. I have first hand experience on it!














In Falcon4.0 that is one of the things you have to do in training and i could never get it right

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: slick230
Actually the more I look into this, the more it's starting to look like it was an equipment problem. Some folks are saying the the turbine engine failed at some point during that manuever, and that the Air Force was told to blame the accident on the pilot instead of the jet. Others are saying that that particular airframe had several documented issues with the engine, and had actually failed a tubine test session a few weeks before the accident. So who knows what actually happened? The pilot was reassigned to a Pentagon job, a multimillion dollar jet was destroyed, but at least no one was seriously injured.

I tend to doubt it. The F-16s do crash quite often (maintainers jokingly call them "lawn darts"), because they have only one engine and are, like all fighters, highly unstable aerodynamically, so if there is an engine failure, they are going down. I know of a number of F-16s that have crashed due to main bearing misplacement or other problems, but in this instance the plane appears to be working fine prior to the crash. I'm sure this incident touched off a full Accident Investigation Board, and I doubt very seriously that the whole thing was a whitewash by the AF. The AF has historically blamed a lot (the overwhelming majority, in fact) of F-16 crashes on mechanical failures. It does seem like a very elementary mistake by the pilot, considering how difficult it is to join the Thunderbirds.

 

[NesuD]

Originally posted by: MustangSVT
That manuever is VERY hard to pull off. I have first hand experience on it!

In Falcon4.0 that is one of the things you have to do in training and i could never get it right

Actually first hand virtual experience to be exact. Don't count though. No Gs? Then it's not real first hand.

Looks like the pilot just blew the manuever. Kinda looks like one of those ones that they have to account for being at higher altitudes (Idaho is a rocky mountain state after all) and adjust to allow for the effects of the thinner air. Pilot misjudged it!.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: slick230
Actually the more I look into this, the more it's starting to look like it was an equipment problem. Some folks are saying the the turbine engine failed at some point during that manuever, and that the Air Force was told to blame the accident on the pilot instead of the jet. Others are saying that that particular airframe had several documented issues with the engine, and had actually failed a tubine test session a few weeks before the accident. So who knows what actually happened? The pilot was reassigned to a Pentagon job, a multimillion dollar jet was destroyed, but at least no one was seriously injured.

WOW!! you should put FAA Crash Investigator on your resume.

by looking at the videos, what makes you think it was a equiment failure?

 

[MattCo]

Originally posted by: NesuD

Originally posted by: MustangSVT That manuever is VERY hard to pull off. I have first hand experience on it! In Falcon4.0 that is one of the things you have to do in training and i could never get it right

Actually first hand virtual experience to be exact. Don't count though. No Gs? Then it's not real first hand. Looks like the pilot just blew the manuever. Kinda looks like one of those ones that they have to account for being at higher altitudes (Idaho is a rocky mountain state after all) and adjust to allow for the effects of the thinner air. Pilot misjudged it!.

Hey Capt. Obvious, fix that flaky sarcasm/joke detector.

-MC

 

[MattCo]

dp

 

[SethK28]

pilot error

 

[Spike]

I am just glad no one was hurt. Those jets tend to make a mess when the hit the ground, especially with crowds of people watching. That picture from the tower is pretty dramatic.

-spike