bailed out in the nick of time...

[LCHIEN]

Canadian military flying team member bails out just before F18 jet crashes, this weekend.

[Pappy]

I know folks expect to see a bit of excitement at these shows, but this is carrying things a bit too far!

FWIW: I don't think the Blue Angel's shows have been as good since they got rid of the F-4's. The A-4 Skyhawk and FA-18 Hornet are designed to be flown that way. The Phantom was proof positive that a rock will fly if you throw it hard enough...

[jackellis]

I know these guys fly on the edge, but I have to wonder how he got himself into a fix to begin with.

[sscherin]

video
looks like a low speed, low altitude high alpha maneuver.. He stalled a wing, rolled off and went in.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=765_1279936610

I was taking pictures of a USAF F-18 doing the same maneuver near my house this weekend.

[gsmittle]

Question from a guy who can't even fly a paper airplane: what's a "high alpha maneuver?"

How does one decide when/where to eject?

My FIL used to work at McDonnell-Douglas and he once told me that they put young guys in high-performance planes because they don't realize the thing will kill them in a heartbeat.

Hats off to the men and women who fly, especially those who land on a carrier in the dark!

g.

[Black wallnut]

video
looks like a low speed, low altitude high alpha maneuver.. He stalled a wing, rolled off and went in.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=765_1279936610

I was taking pictures of a USAF F-18 doing the same maneuver near my house this weekend.

So how were the hydro races anyway?

I've seen the Blue Angles do stuff like that but they didn't crash. How is the pilot doing?

[Tom Slick]

Question from a guy who can't even fly a paper airplane: what's a "high alpha maneuver?"
...
g.

"Alpha" is the angle of the airfoil in relation to forward movement. In this case, "high alpha" is the airfoil (airplane) point very upward while traveling forward (horizontally). The wings don't work very well in "high alpha" so the plane wants to stall, the power of the engines keep it in the air. The plane started to roll and lost any stability the wings were providing so down it went.

[sailor55330]

No disrespect intended, because I do have great respect for those that have chosen to serve this country and fight for the freedoms we all take for granted everday, BUT---

Didn't those manuevers just cost the taxpayers about $50MM only to show that manuevers which would probably never be used in military flight conditions aren't a good idea?

I don't get it.

[frumper64]

Keep in mind that a lot the art of flying high performance aircraft comes from taking it to the edge of it's flight envelope and pushing as far as you dare. There will come a time when you need to know just how hard you can push the envelope. It's better to find out in peacetime than in a war. That's why the US has operations like Top Gun and Red Flag for it's pilots.

Keeping in mind that I used to do this for a living and am not prone to calling an accident pilot error, in looking at it, I would suspect it was a fly by wire computer failure. That was a LOT of yaw induced in a very short time. If it had just fallen off on one wing, I might buy the stall theory, but that hummer was really going sideways just before he punched out. As for deciding when to eject, it becomes fairly obvious if you are flying the aircraft - if it is not under control and is not going to come back under control before impacting the ground, it's time to pull the handle and get out of Dodge. Worst case is you have to sit through an accident investigation and maybe lose your wings - still beats the alternative.

[LCHIEN]

. How is the pilot doing?

I read they took him to the hospital but he had just minor scrapes and bruises; he'll be ok if he hasn't lost his nerve and they don't give him the bill for the plane.

I used to think running a formula one race car into the wall and totalling a $100,000 car was bad, but i guess wrecking a $25,000,000 plane is worse.

[BobSch]

I read an article that said his right engine flamed out on him (sorry, can't find the link to the story). The way the plane yawed to the right just before it augered in makes it look like that may be what happened.

[gsmittle]

"Alpha" is the angle of the airfoil in relation to forward movement. In this case, "high alpha" is the airfoil (airplane) point very upward while traveling forward (horizontally). The wings don't work very well in "high alpha" so the plane wants to stall, the power of the engines keep it in the air. The plane started to roll and lost any stability the wings were providing so down it went.

Thanks-now I understand.

g.

[sscherin]

So how were the hydro races anyway?

I've seen the Blue Angles do stuff like that but they didn't crash. How is the pilot doing?

The races were good.. I only went down on Friday with the little guy..
He'd never seen them run before.. He was loving it and didn't want to go home.

This is the shot I took from the front yard.. Rough guess he was about 2,000 feet away over the river..
I used a 300mm lens on a Pentax K10

Same maneuver the CAF pilot was doing when he crashed.