Eurofighter nearly binned

Was on the friday practice run before sat/sun show day at RAF fairford, came out of a loop after taking off and was way too low and only just managed to pull up using full power about 10-15 feet from the ground (est)

Dont know if it was pilot error or the plane, someone mentioned at the time that one did exactly the same in spain earlier in the year only it did crash, something to do with the flight system going into "ground mode" while in flight, anybody got anymore info on this glitch? heres the pic anyway



[edit on 25-7-2005 by Ernold Same]

The Eurofighter was told to land immediately on the Sunday display after it did exactly the same thing. The recovery was too low and the flight safety coordinators told it to land. I wasnt there but my colleague was, and he had a radio scanner and listened to the whole thing.

it did the same on sunday??? didnt know that as i wasnt there either, decided to view from a distance on sunday. seems strange it happening twice in the space of 3 days, i also have a scanner and on friday he was told to go to altitude have a minute then bring it in after it happened.

Wasn't this after the Typhoon had performed and was finishing a loop?
I am quite sure that the Typhoons CareFree Handling or CFH performed superbly and as advertized.

Question though, could this be a coding issue with the deltas and their drag ratios at high alpha's (AOA)? Then again, the pilot may have simply been showing off.





seekerof

[edit on 25-7-2005 by Seekerof]

Naw.. maybe it was too close for comfort..

The pilot just exited from the loop too low, simple as that. Nothing to do with flight controls, care free handling or anything, he just pushed the aircraft beyond the limits laid down by the safety coordinators.

So in other words, the pilot was showboating, RichardPrice?




seekerof

No it was done on the practice day.
THE pilot did get into trouble and yes he was allowed to continue.

Bingo And the safety guys called him on it!

Interestingly, the pilot was performing the same manouevers and exiting at around the same height at Kemble air day on hte 19th June, with no problems. However, tehre were a LOT of air display rules broken that day, eg Harriers flying in at high speed and breaking OVER the crowd at around 200 ft, nice sight to see but definately against the rules. I got some good pics that day, must put them up.

It also happened on the sunday. And he wasnt allowed to continue.

There's a job going for a professional show pilot then.

Isn't this just in the nature of those guys when they let loose?

Normally they are as cool and calculating as you can imagine but sometimes.....

(how about the Airbus (A310?) crash where the pilot made a reference about some watching airbus-brass along the lines of "this'll make him *soil pants with joy* - *ahem, cough* - and proceeded to stall out at low speed/height and destroy the aircraft. IIRC it diodn't kill everyone on board, for a change. Which was nice.)

Here is an indepth article on this incident [must have subscription].

Typhoon pilot brushes with disaster at Tattoo


Btw, was the pilot disciplined?



seekerof

I'd be surprised if he was "formally" bollocked. My Uncle is the RAF and they are all your typical fly-boys, love to show off and all that.

He probably got a minor bollocking for nearly making a mess of the runway and then a quiet "Jolly good show, Biggles....nice maneuvure..impressed the ladies!" sort of thing

Just found a video of it, not brilliant but good enough.

www.sukhoi.fsnet.co.uk...

Yeah, he started the move too low I think. I'm sure he got yelled at, but also got some good ribbing from his mates. So how about those two B-1bs in the background?

God damn that was so close. That pilot is lucky.

looks like a pre planned and well executed manuver

Unless thats an a/c on take off .. I still feel thats only about 5-10 metres clearance and that is tooo close for any a/c!!

From AWST this week: