Thunderbirds Crash Report And Video

[trof]

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 below for in-cockpit video of the crash.) The pilot incorrectly climbed to 1,670 feet AGL (Above ground Level) 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 (Mean Sea Level) 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. Stricklin suffered minor injuries. The F-16, valued at $20.4 million, was destroyed.

When Stricklin realized something was wrong, he exerted maximum back stick pressure and rolled slightly left to ensure the aircraft would impact away from the crowd should he have to eject, the Air Force said. He ejected when the aircraft was 140 feet above the ground. There was no other damage to military or civilian property. Also, the board determined other factors substantially contributed to creating the opportunity for the error to occur, including the requirement for demonstration pilots to convert AGL elevations to MSL altitudes, and performing a maneuver with a limited margin of error. Instead of just zeroing the altimeter to deck level as a result of the crash, procedures have been changed to require that Thunderbird pilots climb an extra 1,000 feet before starting the Split-S maneuver. Pilots must also call out their altitude to the ground safety operator in MSL rather than AGL numbers.

This is not something your see everyday.
http://www.avweb.com/newspics/tbirdcrash.mpg
This is the inside-the-cockpit view. He just completed a low altitude, high speed, pass down the runway, pulled up, rolled inverted, started pulling it through back to straight and level, and then discovered he was too low. Sayonara! Made quite a fireball.

[GOPisEvil]

1. I'm amazed at how cool he seemed.

I know he had to be crapping gold-plated bricks, but he looked pretty calm until ejecting.

:wow:

[trof]

2. Just a life-and-death choice.

Boy, do you feel good when you choose right.
;-)

[GOPisEvil]

3. Oh, by the way...does that $20.4 million come outta his check?

I hope he has no plans to retire any time soon. :D

Got him a job at the Pentagon, though...shouldn't he at Shemya instead? ;-)

[trof]

4. I was thinking Thule or Minot.

[GOPisEvil]

5. Yes, he can tell us all how green Greenland isn't.

[Bunny]

6. Hey!

My brother spent 24 years at Minot AFB. Pure and total hell!

[av8rdave]

7. Minot....

Thankfully I only had to take planes there occasionally!

av8rdave

[av8rdave]

8. In military flying...

delayed decision to eject is one of your greatest potential killers. They used to beat that into our heads a lot.

av8rdave

[trof]

9. yeah

A little too late almost never works.
Ever done it?
I came > < this close once.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

11. No ejection, but I did have to climb out of a sinking helicopter

once off the coast of Korea.
I was just very happy upside down and dark. And then my mind said... wait, upside down and dark?
This aint good.
Pulled my way against current out of hatch, just as vest auto-inflated... a few more minutes and I would have taken the ride down to 2k fathoms.
I wonder what the impact speed down there is?

[DemoTex]

10. The old QNH versus QFE argument.

QNH: QNH is the MSL (Mean Sea Level) pressure derived from the barometric pressure at the station location by mathematical calculations. An altimeter set to QNH reads in feet above sea level, not feet above the local terrain.

QFE: QFE is the barometric pressure at the airport (or weather station location). If QFE is set on the altimeter pressure-setting sub-scale while parked at an airfield, the instrument should read close to zero altitude. Conversely, if zero is set on the altimeter, the approximate QFE pressure can be read on the altimeter’s pressure sub-scale. An altimeter set to QFE or, better yet, to zero at the airfield, will read absolute altitude above that airfield while flying around that airfield.

When I instructed aerobatics and gliders, we used QFE. The bottom of all aerobatic maneuvers was 3000 feet AGL (above the ground). That was 3000 feet on the altimeter, no mental math required.

Until a few years ago, American Airlines' procedure was to set the captain's baro altimeter to QFE below 10,000 feet, for the approach and landing. I think Eastern did the same. That, in my opinion, was not a good procedure. The FAA finally nixed it at American.

However, I never could understand someone doing low-level aerobatics with QNH - and the mental math that requires - set in the altimeter.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

12. I thought USAF used QFE on all fighter jets? Or do they

have a display option in their heads-up for that?

[DS1]

13. *sigh* ya know, except for that last bit, it looked so peaceful up there

Too bad we still have to strap missiles to those things