Jul 242010
On July 23, a Canadian Air Force F-18 was putting on a show in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, when one maneuver went wrong. Really wrong. Some amazing photos here:
And a video of the crash here:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=765_1279936610
My suggestion: look at the photos first, then watch the video. If you do it in that order, you’ll be amazed and astonished by the photos, then amused by the sheer dumb luck of the choice of music being played in the background in the video.
And then make sure to check out the crappy “amateur video” link here, for wholly inappropriate witness response to the incident:
http://www.globaltvbc.com/fighter+crashes+Lethbridge/3315229/story.html
10 Responses to “Canada is in the market for one fighter jet”
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Technically, it is a CF-18 or, offically, a CF-188. I think we are the only country that feels the need to put the name of our country in front of an aircraft designation.
Why is it a CF-188? What does the last “8” tell us?
Here’s a British crash from 1962: http://www.rafjever.org/118sqnper002.htm
Same low altitude but an entirely different event. The photo is great, though.
Do they have any idea what went wrong? It looks like the engine thrust decayed followed by the aircraft stalling.
That low altitude ejection ranks right up there with the MiG-29 crash at the Paris Air Show.
I have no idea what the extra 8 is supposed to mean, but they did something similar when C-17s entered Canadian service: CC-177 Globemaster III
The best explanation I can find for the extra number is that it seems they wanted to ‘standardize’ on a 3-digit system of designations. See:
http://www.designation-systems.net/non-us/canada.html
That seat did a hell of a job of getting the stick actuator out of the aircraft and pointed upward.
Jim
>Do they have any idea what went wrong?
Just my guess, but look at the first picture, the nozzle of the left-hand engine is open, but the right-hand nozzle is closed down. Likewise, in the third picture, fire is issuing from the left-hand nozzle, *but not* the right one.
So…. IMHO, after completing the slow pass, the pilot has advanced the throttles to accelerate away, however, the right afterburner has failed to operate, and the resulting thrust asymmetry has rolled/yawed the aircraft into the ground.
>the MiG-29 crash at the Paris Air Show.
Apparently, the same thing happened in that incident…
>the MiG-29 crash at the Paris Air Show.
Robin – Consider that after the aircraft began to yaw there was no further movement of the flight controls; I take that as evidence that something catastrophic happened beyond an afterburner failing to light.
Jim
Could it perhaps be some onboard control system sorta had a stroke? Locked up the control, set one of the engines to “droop,” etc?
Like that, but with a fly-by-wire system…
The MiG ingested a bird; they found some of its feathers on the compressor blades.
Something is going wrong with the engines on this one; as you would never have a situation where one had the afterburner nozzle full open and the other had it closed.
There is still no update on the pilot’s condition.