NEWS: Two Navy F-18s Collide Over Oregon; Two Dead

Two fighter jets have collided in midair over a gorge in northeast Oregon near the city of Arlington. The jets are based out of Miramar in San Diego, CA. There appeared to be two men parachuting from the planes, but a representative of the local Sheriff's Office has stated that two men died. A third is reported to have sustained serious injuries.
Debris is reported as far as 8 miles from the crash site.


Details to follow . . .

I hope they are ok, and that they make contact soon if they are.

Related News Links:
KBCI
www.foxnews.com
SanLuisObispo.com

[edit on 21-7-2004 by Banshee]

Thats rather... strange.

Interesting. Is it just me or do a lot of fighters seem to be coliding in mid-air. Aren't F-18s one seaters. I guess they must have been using a two seater variant.

deeprivergal
I hope they are ok, and that they make contact soon if they are.

Two are dead, one is seriously injured the article states. That makes them not ok...

gravriderX
Thats rather... strange.

What is strange about this?

If this are two planes of the same type, howcome they speak about three people?

Hoaks
If this are two planes of the same type, howcome they speak about three people?

cyberdude78
they must have been using a two seater variant.

While I was typing it, you apparently awsered my question.

Usually when a one seater plane gets a two seater version usually the two seater is for training. That or possibly specialty roles. It sounds like this accident involved a one-seater and a two-seater judging from what I can find.

Reading this thread and remembering both Miramar and the F-18 from Top Gun, I was thinking that F-18's were two seaters. Here's the skinny:

Type: F/A 18
Function: Fighter/Attack
Year: 1980
Crew: 1(A&C), 2(B&D)
Engines: 2 x 16,000 lb. GE F404-400
Wing Span: 40ft 8in
Length: 56 ft
Height: 15 ft 3 in
Ceiling: 50,000 ft
Range: 1,586mi (fighter), 1,533mi (attack)
Max Weight: 56,000 lbs.
Max Speed: Mach 1.8+

So...there you have it...two seater or one...your choice.

I gurantee that the majority if not nearly all F-18s are one seater.

Most if not all single seat military aircraft have a 2-seat counterpart for training. The F-16 does as well as the F-18. The current dual seat F18 is the F/A-18D. The previous dual seat was the F/A-18B.

(Pic of a 2 Seater F/A-18D)
www.vaq34.com...

Most likely you had a student/trainer in an F/A-18D and a trainer in the F/A-18F Super Hornet or the F/A-18D Hornet.


Derek

I can see a pilot in training having this happen in an instance, Derek's got a good pretty good idea of what I'm thinking of, but you can't be 100% on things like this anymore.

Thoughts and prayers for their families.

Hmmm... That is interesting and sad at the same time.I myself live in Oregon and it is a very sad thing to hear that 2 of our pilots are now dead. Hopefully the third will recover without being in a wheelchair or what have you for the rest of his life.

It just fits tho..

You got 2 dead (very tragic) in the F/A-18D and 1 seriously injured (most likely the teacher in the F/A-18F). He probably is not dead because his training allowed him to at least punch out.

I've heard many instances of crazy things happening in the private world of flying. When I was going for my VFR my teacher used to tell me how he would carry a machette on board because some students would get "white knuckle" syndrom and panic. He always told them before they took off "If you do something stupid, I've got this machette here. I'll cut your arms off if you don't let go of the controls when I tell you".

I'm not saying that this is what happened.. but im just saying if you go with the scenario of pilot/teacher... maybe the pilot(student) did something really really really stupid. Then again it could have just been a freak accident. It all depends on what they were doing prior to the crash. Were they dog fighting? Were they practicing flying in formation? There are MANY factors that could have caused this.

Derek


[edit on 22-7-2004 by DerekJR321]

One of the jets was an F/A-18 C and the other was an F/A-18D. The D version has a pilot and the back seat is for the NFO. Its not meant for a teacher. The F version is the new two-seat Super Hornet

No wander they collided these were training aircraft flow by a pilot who is not fully qualified to be a pilot i mean how do two modern jets collide you have to keep flying the planes toward each other and do that you must really not know hoe to fly a plane. This is the reason pilots aregoing to get replaced by robots in the future cuz people with no brain cells.

Well I wouldn't call it stupidity. Besides thats disrespectful to the dead pilots. Plus I rather have a human controling a fighter than an AI.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
No wander they collided these were training aircraft flow by a pilot who is not fully qualified to be a pilot i mean how do two modern jets collide you have to keep flying the planes toward each other and do that you must really not know hoe to fly a plane. This is the reason pilots aregoing to get replaced by robots in the future cuz people with no brain cells.

You don't get to fly a F/A-18 until you are a fully qualified pilot in the first place. The aviators that get to fly in them go through training that many cannot handle just to get the chance to fly one of those things.

Trust me, there will be an investigation and the facts will come out.

My guess is that they were doing some a2a stuff and lost their situational awareness.