Breaking-JAS-39 down in Thailand

Just breaking, a JAS-39 Gripen has crashed in Thailand. It appears that it was flying some sort of display, rolled over and went straight into the ground. There are no details beyond the video that was just posted yet. I'll update as I find more information.



The crash took place at the National Children's Day Airshow. The pilot didn't make it out.

Sqn Ldr Dilokrit Pattavee was flying the aircraft at the time of the accident.

www.bangkokpost.com...

Terrible kids had to see that, RIP for the pilot

Weird...They must have upped the allotted flying time for the Royal Thai Airforce for I have been seeing F-16s and others doing training missions at almost double the rate of just a few years ago. Speaking with some of the maintenance support staff (from other countries) there seems to be a lack of fear from doing something maintenance wise, not quite right or up to speck.. By the way the bird went in IMO with the pilot was unconscious or there was a severe mechanical failure. Sorry to see the lost of the bird and life.

Really hard to say on that one. Hopefully they can figure out what went wrong.

A few years ago a Hawker Hurricane went down in the Uk at a display the same way.Just rolled over and dived in. Sad..

Man that sucks. I'll never forget the thin line these extreme aircraft and their courageous pilots walk with every flight.

Hmm, 1993 a Gripen crashed after loss of control during a slow speed left turn. The issue was that rapid stick movements would cause divergent pilot induced oscillations. Don't think it was the case here, but still weird.

originally posted by: moebius
Hmm, 1993 a Gripen crashed after loss of control during a slow speed left turn. The issue was that rapid stick movements would cause divergent pilot induced oscillations. Don't think it was the case here, but still weird.

"Speed wobble" in layspeak

Sucks for the pilot, and those who witnessed this tragedy.

originally posted by: jappee

originally posted by: moebius
Hmm, 1993 a Gripen crashed after loss of control during a slow speed left turn. The issue was that rapid stick movements would cause divergent pilot induced oscillations. Don't think it was the case here, but still weird.

"Speed wobble" in layspeak

Sucks for the pilot, and those who witnessed this tragedy.

Yeah, back then the pilot managed to eject safely. Here he did not for whatever reason.

Here is a higher resolution version of the video above:



Looked like the pilot started his maneuver too low.

a reply to: Sammamishman

Yeah, it does look like he started a slow roll, and just didn't have the altitude to come through the bottom of it.

My guess is the computer failed. JAS 39 begins a roll and the plane took an attitude to its' crash. The pilot was just along for the ride and too low for a successful ejection.

Early in the JAS 39s development, the computer failed two times that I'm aware of causing crashes.