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T-bird's Crash Report

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  • #1

    T-bird's Crash Report

    Thunderbirds Crash Report And Video
    http://www.avweb.com/newswire/10_05a/briefs/186582-1.html
    Pilot error caused a U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds F-16 to crash at an air show on Sept. 14 at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, the Air Force said on Wednesday. (See AVweb's NewsWire for in-cockpit video of the crash.) The pilot incorrectly climbed to 1,670 feet AGL instead of 2,500 feet before initiating the pull-down to the Split-S maneuver, according to the Air Force news release. The pilot, Chris Stricklin, 31, apparently flew by mistake to the MSL altitude used when practicing the maneuver at his home base, Nellis AFB in Nevada, which is 1,000 feet lower than the Idaho field elevation. The pilot ejected just eight-tenths of a second before impact, after reportedly making an effort to steer the aircraft away from the crowd of about 85,000 ... and now works at the Pentagon, in Washington, D.C.

    T-bird crash blamed on pilot error
    http://www.mountainhomenews.com/story/1060818.html
    The Sept. 14 crash of a USAF Thunderbirds demonstration team F-16 at the Gunfighter Skies 2003 airshow has been blamed on pilot error. The accident investigation board, headed by Col. Robert Beletic, released the results of its inquiry into the crash last Wednesday, determining that the pilot, Capt. ...


    He ejected when the aircraft was 140 feet above the ground

    Full Size Pic
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  • #2
    Ouch!
    Brian (the devil incarnate)

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    • #3
      Quick thinking on the pilots part to get the plane away from the crowd.

      Jammrock
      “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
      –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

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      • #4
        LOL at first sight i was it was a EF2000 for some reason :?

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        • #5
          This reminds me: In 1966, Russian pilots Kapustin and Jarow had problems with their plane, and they could have climbed and ejected, resulting in the plane crashing into a west Berlin residential area, but instead they chose to save the lives of their cold war enemies and forfeited their own lives by crashing the plane into the Stößensee.

          AZ
          There's an Opera in my macbook.

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          • #6
            Get the video from the avweb link and look at how fast the ground is coming up just before he ejects - it's scary.

            Chrono - don't blame you, they do look similar from the front.

            The reports have been saying the plane cost $20m. I thought half the point of the F-16 was that it was cheap, something like $5m. What does a really expensive plane like an F-15 or F-22 cost then? I thought an F-15 was around $15m.
            Blah blah blah nick blah blah confusion, blah blah blah blah frog.

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            • #7
              Watch the pilot's left arm in the video, you can see the point where he realizes he's going in when he begins to move his hand bewteen the throttle and the ejection handle. In the still picture it's clear he opened the engine up to full burner to try to get enough airspeed to recover, but it was too late.
              Last edited by Jon P. Inghram; 1 February 2004, 14:07.

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              • #8
                I think the F16 was $8 million when it came out many years ago.. inflation, you know.

                What a waste of a great plane.. bet this guy loses his Thunderbird wings.

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                • #9
                  "The requirement for demonstration pilots to real time convert MSL to AGL numbers, a maneuver with a limited margin of error, and a preconscious level of awareness created a situation more susceptible to pilot error."
                  It would make sense to have an instrument pack that could be set to 3000ft=0ft in this case. Therefore having his altimeter read the feet above ground level automatically, rather than the feet above sea level.

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                  • #10
                    Here's another video:
                    404 Not Found
                    http://www.thecia.net/users/stewarte/tbirdeject2.wmv

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