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USAF or RAF pilot? I wonder what caused it. :\
USAF F-15 jet crashes in Lincolnshire
- Thread starter Flying_Hellfish
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It's an American Jet from Lakenheath so it will be a USAF pilot, anything could have caused it.
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Not really an option, you can't fly in England without being near some kind of school, old people's homes etc.
Very fortunate that no one was hurt, but the USAF base have not had a very good year.
I love to believe the pilot pulled the eject and made a 'WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!' sound as he went clear.
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The decision to bail on such an expensive piece or hardware must been quiver-inducing
To be honest, those of you who are saying that the pilot was worried before ejecting.... its probably quite the opposite.
The pilots are trained to know when to eject, to give themselves the greatest chance of survival. The plane is relatively inexpensive and very easily replaced, compared to the fleshy meatbag who flies it!
The pilots are trained to know when to eject, to give themselves the greatest chance of survival. The plane is relatively inexpensive and very easily replaced, compared to the fleshy meatbag who flies it!
Well the wing falling off will not have helped as that was found over 300m away, so assuming was a fatigue crack as the whole F15 fleet was grounded back a few years ago for cracks in the airframe, tail, body etc
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Self preservation is an awesome motivator.
However waiting for a lift back to base must be rather daunting.
I wonder if he gets any trouble for this. They're trained over again how to ditch an aircraft as safely as possible. Ditching it so close to a school is ridiculous. Assumedly he had no other choice, but AFAIK this isn't very good procedure in such an area!
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Haha yeah.. as Matt said, no doubt they're trained for it and it's better the pilot survives... still, you'd want to be sure you had a very good reason for the crash before you bailed!
And what exactly would be the procedure for flying an aircraft backwards in an un-controlled crash?
"I was watching when it came down back end first, and when you're standing watching it come down close to your daughters' school it's pretty horrendous"
Would imagine similar to a cars. Things now come from behind you and the controls invert...
A jet doesn't suddenly just fall out of the air, he would have known something was amiss much sooner than it ended up backwards falling out of the sky near a school. Not just my sentiments, but the numerous pilots I have frequented today on the matter.
By the same token; he survived, no one else was hurt. I would say the ditch was a massive success.
Perhaps putting it just meters away from a school was the best he could do? He stopped it plowing into the school?
only way to better if would have been to hit a pillow factory and keep the jet intact.
Who would supply the chocolate digestive though.
If the wing did fall off then, I can't see how he would have had any control to try and crash it in a safe place.
Have they officially announced what went wrong yet?
Pfft, back seat pilots. Just like a car crash....everybody is an expert driver who wouldn't have made that mistake. There's going to be a large portion of luck in any plane ditch to be honest.
Besides, how do you know he wasn't heading straight for the school and skillfully piloted it out of the way before ejecting to safety at the last second?