Two Eurofighter jets crash into each other in Germany

a reply to: Blackfinger

They don't train nearly enough which is so much worse.

In 2005 a German Tornado crashed during takeoff due to pilot error. The pilot and backseater died. The pilot didn't have 20 hours of flying time in the year prior.

That caused a bit of stir and some usually classified numbers made it to the press.

Back then, German combat pilots assigned to NATO Response Forces averaged 150 flying hours a year. Thats below the minimum Nato Standard of 180 flying hours.
Combat pilots not assigned to high readiness units averaged between 100 and 120 flying hours.

More recent numbers are not available, but at one point they released the total amount of flying time for the aircraft type. In 2017 it was less than 16000 hours for the Eurofighter - both simulator time and actual flying time. Germany has about 160 Eurofighter pilots. So yeah. Didnt get any better.

Probably even worse for most aircrews if you factor in the Baltic Air Policing missions,which would cause those few pilots assgined to it to gulp up flying hours.

a reply to: waynos

Awful news. Condolences to family, friends and colleagues.

Some additional info, the surviving pilot is a very experienced combat flight instructor. He was only lightly injured in the accident.
German media has puplished pictures and even videos of him after ejecting. Won't post them, simply distasteful in my mind.

The pilot who died was a junior officer / student pilot. The cause of the acciden is still unknown of course.

For being in as bad shape as they are overall, this is the first loss of a Typhoon for the Germans. They had a midair in 2014, but that aircraft landed.

There are now claims that pieces of intact explosive material have been found, probably from the canopy ejection system.

So far the claim has been that both pilots ejected, with two parachutes observed. Now it seems to be not so clear.

a reply to: moebius

yeah nothing is clear at this point

The pilot in the third Eurofighter reported two parachutes. He may have been mistaken or maybe he saw a braking screen.
On the other hand, immideatly after the crash it was reported that rescue services found body parts. Body parts as in probably not a body still inside the completely destroyed cockpit - which i don't think they were able to access that quickly anyway.
So he may have gone out through the closed canopy and didn't make it or impacted on debries while ejecting.

Another factor, if the ejection system failed they'd ground the fleet. So far that hasn't happened.

So if anyone's still interested, the Directorate of Flight Safety of the Bundeswehr has submitted its final report on the accident to the Ministry of Defense. The report is classified but has been leaked to the press.
According to The Spiegel, the report states the accident happened due to pilot error.

The student pilot and the flight instructor were flying in formation against a third Eurofighter and apparently the student pilot lost situational awareness and crashed into his wingman. He very likely died during the collision.

The Spiegel also states that the student pilot underwent a training course in Spain where they focus on Air to Ground combat maneuvers. It's possible the pilot lacked any meaningful experience in dogfighting.
Apparently he also wasn't the very best fighter pilot to ever take to the air and displayed difficulties performing similar maneuvers the days before the crash.
The report further alleges that his instructors were pretty negligent in this regard and didn't address possible training gaps properly.

German public prosecutor's offices are already investigating this case as a negligent homicide and this report won't help the Luftwaffe in this regard.

a reply to: mightmight

I can't say that I'm surprised sadly. A lot of places are seeing pilots that barely meet minimums, or even don't meet them, in the seat lately. Thanks for the update.