Hungary grounds Gripen fleet

A Hungarian Gripen suffered a landing accident in Hungary. The pilot ejected safely, but it's the second landing accident in less than a month, leading them to ground the aircraft for inspections.

In this accident a Gripen C on a training flight was attempting to land and reported the nose gear wouldn't extend. He attempted a gear up landing and ejected when he lost control of the aircraft.

On May 19th a Gripen D participating in the Lion Effort exercise crashed on landing in the Czech Republic. It appeared in that accident that the gear was not deployed at the time. Both pilots were unhurt in that accident as well.

www.flightglobal.com...

More fault finding in order I think if the fix they did for the first instance didn,t work.Arent they designed for rough runway operations as most of the Russian designs?

a reply to: Blackfinger

it is supposed to be able to operate from an 800m snow covered runway - not necessarily rough.

A systemic problem causing failure of gear to extend isn't something you'd get identified and fixed in a month.

Given the short time frame and common operator of the latest 2 events the strongest link would be the operator......

originally posted by: Aloysius the Gaul
a reply to: Blackfinger

it is supposed to be able to operate from an 800m snow covered runway - not necessarily rough.

A systemic problem causing failure of gear to extend isn't something you'd get identified and fixed in a month.

Given the short time frame and common operator of the latest 2 events the strongest link would be the operator......

Forgetting to lower the landing gear isn't a common thing.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Pretty badass look'n jet and very cool no one was hurt.

a reply to: EternalSolace

The first time may have been forgetting, I've had that happen before. The second time, was only the nose gear that wouldn't extend. Barring having the pin in place, in which case it wouldn't have retracted in the first place, that is a system problem somewhere.

originally posted by: EternalSolace


Forgetting to lower the landing gear isn't a common thing.

it happens quite regularly worldwide - on a yearly basis.

I was watching the news last night, it was an interview with the pilot in the hospital. So what happened this time, after the takeoff he could not pull the gear back all the way, it's got blocked on halfway. He was flying around for an hour trying every possibilities to release back stable, the report said he even tried to move it manually (i can't imagine how the hell would that be possible btw.) but fail every attempt. The gear was half way closed and did not move any direction. Officials says he himself decided to try to land it, which is blatant lie. I'm sure he was ordered not letting the second aircraft smashed in one month. Either way he got the highest medal for saving the aircraft from total crash, but his spine injured from catapulting so he likely won't fly a military aircraft anytime anymore.
I remember cca. 12 years ago some of our politicians and officials got euro millions from the Gripen lobbyists to make sure we buy this #ty prototype. I don't know if it's still the case, but that time this birds were unable to refuel in the air (imagine that... scandalous) and the aircraft had (or still has) incompatibilities with nato standards. The ones who were watching news in Hungary that time we all knew the politicians are making the stupidest but for them the most beneficial decision once again.... and cca.10 years later people elected the same bastards once again... I moved out from that madness long time ago, and only looking back from distance. ^^

a reply to: awatara

Spinal injuries are standard when a pilot ejects. Nine times out of ten they're back flying in a few weeks. In one ejection an A-6 pilot permanently lost three inches of height, but returned to flying.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Well, in Hungary you surely won't fly supersonic aircraft anymore. We have very few aircrafts and budget to fly them. There will be plenty others with proper health conditions to fly those few planes. He still can be a commercial pilot, tho...

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: awatara

Spinal injuries are standard when a pilot ejects. Nine times out of ten they're back flying in a few weeks. In one ejection an A-6 pilot permanently lost three inches of height, but returned to flying.

A friend of mine had to "throw away" a F-104 once. Was the last time he ever flew a fighter. Got to do some basic flight instructing for a while, but essentially was forced to retire after that. That can't be fun.....

a reply to: spaceman42

There are always some that can't fly again. Ejection is one of the most violent traumas you can do to the human body. The MC from the B-2 that crashed spent almost a month in the hospital for spinal bruising.

Saw the video on Fb last night,plane was starting to slew badly after touchdown so pilot elected to vacate..

In one ejection an A-6 pilot permanently lost three inches of height, but returned to flying.

He ejected sideways if I recall correctly.

a reply to: Blackfinger

He ejected as they passed through 90 degrees, and skipped across the water after he punched out.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Depending on how he hit and bounced off the water, the pilot is lucky to be alive. That's not an experience I'd like to have, let alone an ejection at altitude.

Video of the Gripen crash:



theaviationist.com...

a reply to: Sammamishman

They're looking at a possible software issue.

originally posted by: Sammamishman
Video of the Gripen crash:

theaviationist.com...

Ouch...that just looked painful.