LN F-15C Down - Pilot Reported Safe

[Steve Davies]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-29544064

A US military aircraft has crashed in a field near houses and a school in Lincolnshire.

Witnesses saw the F-15 come down in a field near Broadgate, Weston Hills, at about 15:30 BST.

The pilot is believed to have ejected from the aircraft and police say he has been located and is safe.

Nearby Weston Hills Church of England Primary School has been evacuated but a member of staff said everyone at the school was fine.

Shaun Gough, whose twin five-year-old daughters are pupils at the school, said part of the wing had landed in the field nearby.

"When my wife went to the school to pick up my daughter she said the black smoke was blowing across the car park and into the school," said Mr Gough.

"I was watching when it came down back end first, and when you're standing watching it come down close to your daughters' school it's pretty horrendous.

"The wing is in a field about 400 yards from the school. [i'm] just glad nobody has been hurt.

"I've seen a Sea King helicopter land and pick somebody up. I'm guessing it's the pilot."

[Milchstrasse]

Two in the last 60 days. What the hell.

Glad the pilot is safe.

[Steve Davies]

Latest is this:

• Two parachutes, so presumably F-15D. Edit: 48FW confirms D model, but states that only one occupant on board. Wonder whether solo collar came off the command selector valve lever?

• Wing and fuselage are separated by some distance

Edited October 8, 2014 by Steve Davies

[C5-Heavy]

Glad the driver is safe.

As someone else said; that's 2 Eagles in 60 days.

Stressed airframes and systems

[Breckey]

Wing and fuselage are separated by some distance

Looks like it was mostly intact when it hit.

[xcraftllc]

Glad to hear that everyone's ok so far. I hope this goes to show congress that we need new jets. The D model F-16s are a good example too, no fault on the part of the designers of either of these airframes, they're all lasting longer than expected, but they have their limits.

[HeloDude]

Glad to hear that everyone's ok so far. I hope this goes to show congress that we need new jets. The D model F-16s are a good example too, no fault on the part of the designers of either of these airframes, they're all lasting longer than expected, but they have their limits.

Pretty bold statement without knowing exactly what happened. I don't disagree that we need some new hardware, but I have no idea whether or not this was an aircraft malfunction or pilot error.

Concur that the best news is that everyone is ok!

[xcraftllc]

Pretty bold statement without knowing exactly what happened. I don't disagree that we need some new hardware, but I have no idea whether or not this was an aircraft malfunction or pilot error.

Concur that the best news is that everyone is ok!

You're right man, in fact I haven't heard any official results of the previous crash in Virginia either. I'm just basing that on how this one reportedly involves two separate parts of the aircraft located quite a distance away from each other, and that F-15s have broken apart in flight in the past.

[schokie]

Latest is this:

• Two parachutes, so presumably F-15D. Edit: 48FW confirms D model, but states that only one occupant on board. Wonder whether solo collar came off the command selector valve lever?

With the solo collar in place both seats still eject, however the collar commands the front seat to eject first. Without the collar the rear seat goes first followed by the front.

[billy pilgrim]

With the solo collar in place both seats still eject, however the collar commands the front seat to eject first. Without the collar the rear seat goes first followed by the front.

Two slightly used (only once!) ejection seats for the 493rd Bar! Glad to hear the pilot is okay.