F-22 crashes on highway near Tyndall

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — An Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jet crashed near a Florida Panhandle highway Thursday, but the pilot was able to eject safely and there were no injuries on the ground, the military said. The single-seat stealth fighter, part of a program that has been plagued with problems, went down Thursday afternoon near Tyndall Air Force Base, just south of Panama City on The Gulf of Mexico. The pilot received medical treatment and a section of Highway 98 that runs through the base was closed as rescuers responded. The crash was on Tyndall land and no one on the ground was hurt, said Air Force Sgt. Rachelle Elsea, a spokeswoman for the base where F-22 pilots train. The Air Force said the plane went down in a wooded area near the highway. The cause of the crash isn't clear, but the Air Force has been trying to address problems with the $190 million aircraft for several years. In 2008, pilots began reporting a sharp increase in hypoxia-like problems, forcing the Air Force to finally acknowledge concerns about the F-22's oxygen supply system. Two years later, the oxygen system contributed to a fatal crash. Though pilot error ultimately was deemed to be the cause, the fleet was grounded for four months in 2011. New restrictions were imposed in May, after two F-22 pilots went on the CBS program "60 Minutes" to express their continued misgivings. The Air Force has said the F-22 is safe to fly — a dozen of the jets began a six-month deployment to Japan in July — but flight restrictions that remain in place will keep it out of the high-altitude situations where pilots' breathing is under the most stress. Internal documents and emails obtained by The Associated Press earlier this year show Air Force experts actually proposed a range of solutions by 2005, including adjustments to the flow of oxygen into pilot's masks. But that key recommendation was rejected by military officials reluctant to add costs to a program that was already well over budget.

Link To Report

Here is an F-22 Raptor fighter jet:



This jet costs almost $100 million...crashing this one does not come cheap!

Same with the $190 million that just crashed There go your tax dollars!

I wonder if this is going to be put on another pilot in training error like the F-22 mishap at Tyndall in May. A lot of money to pay out for trainee errors if this is the case.

Pilot error during training is very common, just that most other types have a two seat version, where the instructor can take over and fix the mistake before the plane hits most of the time. The F-22 never had a two seat version, which means that the student is thrown into the deep end pretty quickly. This makes something like four airframes lost, and one severely damaged so far sincve they started flying the F-22. Not a good record so far.

The Air Force says the pilot is in "good shape" and talking to investigators, and the crash was unrelated to any physiological problems.

At the same time, today the Air Force released the AIB report (through a FOIA act) for the accident that happened at Tyndall in May. The report stats that the pilot, on his second actual flight in the type, failed to advance the throttles to military power, and retracted the landing gear prematurely which allowed the aircraft to settle back onto the runway.

The Air Force is reporting that the pilot declared he had a problem five miles out, and was attempting to get back to the base at the time of the crash. He came down next to what's known as the "drone runway", along Highway 98.

Here's what's left of the Mishap Aircraft. Think this is a Class A? Heh!

www.latimes.com...

I really like the sell points of the raptor but I feel they rushed into production with it before addressing the design issues. I think they have come too far with the project to scrap it but something needs to be done because it seems like these things happen all too frequently.

reply to post by DesertWatchdog


*nevermind*

Apparently it was a student pilot and he didn't advance the throttle enough, and retracted the landing gear too early and it caused the jet to settle back down to the ground shortly after takeoff.

It was not related to the oxygen problems or any other malfunction. It was the students 2nd flight after 10 training flights in simulators.

ETA
All of that info is from the earlier crash this year. This is a new crash that happened upon approach back to Tyndall.

SO apparently this is a new crash! WoW!

Glad the pilot is OK, although I'm thinking he will be flying mail from now on.

reply to post by darkhorserider


This crash happened after the aircraft developed an In Flight Emergency (IFE) about five minutes out of the base, and was unable to make it back.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
Pilot error during training is very common, just that most other types have a two seat version, where the instructor can take over and fix the mistake before the plane hits most of the time. The F-22 never had a two seat version, which means that the student is thrown into the deep end pretty quickly. This makes something like four airframes lost, and one severely damaged so far sincve they started flying the F-22. Not a good record so far.

Completely understood. Just seems with all the possible money loss, and loss of life, there Could be a better way. Seems maybe the Sim just isn't doing it.

reply to post by DesertWatchdog


That was the first accident that was directly attributed to pilot error due to training. The other accidents had contributing factors that directly led to the accident.

The Air Force has released pics of the crash site.

www.flightglobal.com...

reply to post by Zaphod58


MAN!! I wonder if that is sabotage, now theres only 183 of them left.

Originally posted by Skywatcher2011
This jet costs almost $100 million...crashing this one does not come cheap!

Same with the $190 million that just crashed

There go your tax dollars!

What's the difference? It's not the same?

reply to post by ATSWATCHER


He had an in flight emergency returning from a training flight.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by ATSWATCHER

 

He had an in flight emergency returning from a training flight.

I don't suppose that rules out sabotage, but I don't understand why anybody would wonder if this was sabotage. It seems like an odd thing to wonder unless there is something I don't know about it.

What I do know is that these are complicated machines and a lot can go wrong with complicated machines, without any sabotage.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


It doesn't rule it out, in fact I recently had a thread about three E-8 aircraft that were sabotaged, but a normal IFE is so much more likely.

Those video game training exercises just don't take the cake. Only a hundred million bucks actually that's not all that bad for that quality of an aircraft. Unless they crash, then it sure is a lot of money wasted. Will we ever really know what happened or will the explanation be what they want us to believe?

Years ago they didn't even tell us when a thing like this happened, it only made the local news in the area one time.

Most definitely a sore sight to see such an elegant aircraft in ruins, I can only imagine the emotions the pilot must be experiencing.

Attrition rates during "peacetime" for these types of aircraft are typically not very good, hopefully someday this reduction in active airframes will be offset with the reactivation of the currently mothballed F-22 production line.

One can only hope.