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Thunderbird crash, pilot reported ok


Day Man

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How is that even possible? No fire, flames, smoke?? Ran out of fuel (fuel leak) and bellied in? The plane looks amazingly intact (right around the cockpit area it looks like it's broken/separated) for a crashed jet. I'm glad he made it out safely.

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This is simply a preview of what's to come if the AF implements Colonel Abdeen's suggestions to aid pilot retention.  See JQP - Internal Email Shows Air Force Pilot Shortage at “CRISIS” Level

To quote:  

– Syllabi: We can NOT shoot for the “Gold-Plated” standard in this period of crisis … what can the squadrons/COCOMs accept as risk if students didn’t receive certain training?

 

 

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38 minutes ago, fox two said:

This article has some more pictures including showing the canopy in the air.  Says engine failure.

http://gazette.com/article/1577424

Looks like the misinformation's already flying, with the Gazette reporting that the Major who punched earned his commission in 2015. Only additional info, which comes with the obvious caveats surrounding witnesses and aviation accidents, is this: 

"Alexander Rodriguez told The Gazette he heard two loud bangs and looked up to see the Thunderbird slowly gliding roughly 40 to 50 feet above the ground."

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2 hours ago, mcbush said:

Looks like the misinformation's already flying, with the Gazette reporting that the Major who punched earned his commission in 2015. Only additional info, which comes with the obvious caveats surrounding witnesses and aviation accidents, is this: 

"Alexander Rodriguez told The Gazette he heard two loud bangs and looked up to see the Thunderbird slowly gliding roughly 40 to 50 feet above the ground."

Bird Strike?

 

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Now I feel like shit after seeing one of the Blue Angels went down today with a loss of life.

This is the time for SOMEONE in a leadership position to step up and un-fuck the situation the DoD has gotten us in to.  I'm not suggesting that training resulted in either of these incidents, but if we don't step up our game and fund the manpower to support our flyers, it's only going to get worse. 

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anyone find LiveLeak ATC comms from the Tbird crash? 

I read a separate article quoting the Tbird/CC saying he had an engine malfunction, and had the gear down trying to bring it in when he had to puch out at the last second after steering the jet away from houses, etc

 

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23 hours ago, bfargin said:

How is that even possible? No fire, flames, smoke?? Ran out of fuel (fuel leak) and bellied in? The plane looks amazingly intact (right around the cockpit area it looks like it's broken/separated) for a crashed jet. I'm glad he made it out safely.

In my final few months in maintenance before going to the AF Res and FE school, we (the Alabama ANG, 187FW) lost one like this (September 11, 2002). Engine failure, attempted to dead stick it in and came up just short of a runway. Aircraft remained upright and the aerial photos looked as though it may have been salvageable but it wasn't. Pilot ejected safely. The sad part is that the external tanks would not jettison. Had they come off, he would have made the runway and been a hero.  

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As someone who has designed the aerobatic box for airshows, I'd like to see how they set this up over a stadium. My friend in attendance said they did not do the Bomb Burst.  I guessing that the combo of mountains and other LimFacs makes it not feasible. Another friend said the show was delayed due to POTUS  but looked great  

I'm also curious to know if TBird1 gets a phone call from someone with 4-stars about having a performance with POTUS in the crowd. I'm guessing there is some additional external pressure in this scenario, even for a demo team. 

I cannot remember how long the team was down after the 2003 Mountain Home crash, but I hope there is a Block 52 somewhere getting red, white, and blue paint, and a smoke system installed so they can get back to what they do best. 

Edited by HuggyU2
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On 6/3/2016 at 8:57 PM, HuggyU2 said:

::Edited to get rid of baseless rumors and conjecture::

Easy there.  How about you put away the "jump to conclusions mat"?  The facts are: the airplane stopped working, Tuna got out safely, noone on the ground was hurt, said airplane crashed in a field.  All else is just hearsay right now and you should know better.

Edited by F16Deuce
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Check fire Deuce.  Nobody needs a lecture, and he brings up a valid point.  We have all pushed bingo at one point or another, and it would suck if that's what caused this.  If not, great, then there is some other lesson to be learned, and at least the dude is OK.  Bottom line, this entire forum is hearsay, unless someone from the SIB is talking.

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3 minutes ago, WheelzUp said:

Check fire Deuce.  Nobody needs a lecture, and he brings up a valid point.  We have all pushed bingo at one point or another, and it would suck if that's what caused this.  If not, great, then there is some other lesson to be learned, and at least the dude is OK.  Bottom line, this entire forum is hearsay, unless someone from the SIB is talking.

Deuce is right. It's way too early to speculate, and not fair to Tuna to throw around theories like that. 

Let the process do its thing. 

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the other jets had enough gas to remain airborne...

"After (Turner) ejected from the aircraft, we did confirm from one of our aircraft that we kept airborne that he was OK on the ground, in terms of being able to walk around on his own accord," from the Gazette article.

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Do the math, di1630:

Take the number of throttles in your cockpit,

Multiply that by the number of ejection seats.

Then take THAT number and multiply it by the number of vertical stabs.

If your final product is anything greater than one, you play the skin flute.

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Do the math, di1630:

Take the number of throttles in your cockpit,

Multiply that by the number of ejection seats.

Then take THAT number and multiply it by the number of vertical stabs.

If your final product is anything greater than one, you play the skin flute.

Lighten up there Francis, friendly joke. I have led the single seat, single jet-engine/tail lifestyle where I went running for high key when I hit a bird.

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F16Deuce,

You're right. Please accept my apology.  There are numerous things that "could have gone wrong" and the SIB will figure it out. I've deleted and replaced my original post. 

Pretty impressive that the pilot doesn't even appear to have any ejection injuries that a cold beer won't remedy  I do feel bad for your friend though:. 

1. Ejects 

2. Meets Obama 

3. ? 

Bad things always come in threes.  Tell him to be careful. 

Edited by HuggyU2
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Nice work putting the jet into an empty field (assuming it was controlled).  My worst fear of flying fighters is putting an explosive pilotless glider into someone's occupied house (a crowd at an airshow/graduation would be even worse).

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Smokin,

Agree.  However, in the Airshow scenario, the rules in the US are written to really minimize this possibility. Putting a jet into the crowd at an Airshow in the US is unlikely.  The last US Airshow spectator fatality was 1954. 

Before someone corrects me, the Reno Race accident was not an Airshow. Night and day. 

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20 hours ago, HuggyU2 said:

Smokin,

Agree.  However, in the Airshow scenario, the rules in the US are written to really minimize this possibility. Putting a jet into the crowd at an Airshow in the US is unlikely.  The last US Airshow spectator fatality was 1954. 

Before someone corrects me, the Reno Race accident was not an Airshow. Night and day. 

Someone should tell San Francisco.  

http://weartv.com/news/local/potential-dangers-spark-concerns-for-blue-angel-flyover

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