US Military plane crash in uk *Breaking* - October 2015

Tragic unfolding event, thanks everyone for the posts and info share.

Peace to the family, friends and loved ones of the Pilot.

Hopefully the pilot will get a posthumous medal for this,putting the safety of others before his own.

Friends of Major Sareen said staying with the aircraft was absolutely something he would do. The few stories about him tell the tale of a very interesting man.

One of his friends told the story of their meeting. He saw the Ferrari that the major drove parked outside their building and wondered about it. He said the major walked out in his flight suit, introduced himself, and he first thing he said was, "Any time you want to borrow the Ferrari, just come get it".

www.bbc.com...

Now I'm starting to think he did encounter a problem with the ejection seat similar to what they found with the F-35 seat. Witnesses said he ejected low, but landed well clear of the impact site.

A farmer and his son were working in a shed near the impact site. They said there was an explosion that blew the doors off the shed, but the aircraft buried itself in the crash and there was little to no fire beyond the explosion.

The reports that there was a problem refueling the aircraft were from prior to departure, while they were on the ground. The aircraft may have suffered from a fuel starvation issue due to a blockage if that's the case.

In an update to this, after a year long investigation, no clear cause has been found. As best the investigators were able to determine, a problem with the aircraft led to spatial disorientation.

While other pilots said he wasn't showing the signature urge to get home that can lead to carelessness, he chose to fly the aircraft with a GPS that would occasionally drop out, and an Inertial Navigation System that would show a weak signal. When they arrived in England, he said the INS was iffy, but it was "no big deal". The morning of departure he told another pilot if there was weather at their destination he'd have to guide him down in case his GPS dropped.

He was asked again by ground crew about the INS issue as they were preparing to depart, but said he'd go with it. At 0920, he radioed his flight lead that he was on standby instruments. The lead asked for clarification but got no response. At 0922 the aircraft impacted the ground.

www.military.com...

(Original link provided by Blackfinger)