F-111 Almost Downed - By a Pelican...

...at 3000 ft!

This aging aircraft is scheduled to be removed from service in 2010, when the Super Hornets come on line.

This I think is a pretty good testament to its airworthiness and the skill of the crew who brought it home.

AN F-111 was left "shredded" and incapacitated and was forced to make a spectacular emergency landing after hitting a pelican.

The jet was flying at 900m on a test bombing raid at Evans Head, northern NSW, when a pelican struck the fibreglass nose and was sucked into an engine.

The two RAAF crew are being hailed as heroes by their colleagues for their skilful recovery and landing on April 11.

www.news.com.au...

[edit: fixed link]

[edit on 19-4-2008 by 12m8keall2c]

The picture of the radome is pretty impressive; kudos to the flight crew for bringing it back bent (safely).

good strong aircraft.
another legend to be grounded

I just seen this on the news wow there is some damage to the plane. Nice expensive bill to pay for.

nah it`ll be written off `now` so they wont scrap it in 18 months time

Acccording to my sources it took them a week to get the pelican out of the engine. Just goes to show how strong these planes are and a credit to the pilot to be able to land it in the state it was in.

Yeah I would love to see what it's eventual (maybe?) gold plated SINGLE ENGINED F-35 replacement would have done in that situation. Probably not much other than being a hugely expensive taxpayer funded lawn dart.

Oh thats right, we dont need to replicate the F-111's role with this shiny new phallic instrument as we no longer need to fulfill the role the F-111 has done for 30+ years. The need just magically evaporated the second some faceless Canberra pen pusher made the decision and inked the deal, figuratively speaking of course.

LEE.

^^ IF they buy 24 more super bugs ( as hinted at) then the F35 won`t be going near AUS - at least the super bug has 2 engines

If a superbug hit a pelican it would be like a _SUPER_ bug hitting a car windshield - after all, a Pelican is sooo much larger than a species of insect.

Damn Super bugs.



[edit on 19/4/2008 by C0bzz]

Originally posted by thebozeian
Yeah I would love to see what it's eventual (maybe?) gold plated SINGLE ENGINED F-35 replacement would have done in that situation. Probably not much other than being a hugely expensive taxpayer funded lawn dart.

LEE.

Its still gets me why would u want a single engine aircraft
when we had such a bad time with the mirage

Originally posted by Jezza

Its still gets me why would u want a single engine aircraft
when we had such a bad time with the mirage

$

Actually IIRC, we lost an F-111 to another pelican years ago and possibly in the same area (Evans Head bombing range). Both crew were killed and as I recall, the bird penetrated the cockpit and fatally struck the pilot. The aircraft could not be recovered by the navigator and tragically both were lost.

LEE.

Makes one wonder what would happen to an airline jet (not made to be as sturdy) hitting lightpoles (a lot stronger than a pelican) at 500 mph.

Goes to show that Aussie fliers are some of the best in the world. And this is coming from an USAF brat who's dad was a 26 year career pilot.

It proves one bird can take out another.

HA! I knew all along Aussie radars were made of hay and straw. But really, that's fiberglass folks.

reply to post by WestPoint23


erm yes - it says so in the very first post in the thread....