Posted on 12/21/2004 12:44:35 PM PST by pabianice
Nellis pilot ejects safely before impact
The charred wreckage of an F/A-22 Raptor aircraft lies at the end of a runway at Nellis Air Force Base, where it crashed Monday during takeoff.
In the first reported crash of the military's next generation fighter jet, an F/A-22 Raptor slammed into the ground and exploded during takeoff at Nellis Air Force Base Monday afternoon.
The pilot, whose name was not released, ejected safely moments before the crash.
He was taken to Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital for evaluation. A Nellis spokeswoman said he was "up and walking around."
A fire engine based at Nellis flipped over as it sped to the scene of the crash, but nobody was injured in the wreck, an Air Force official said.
The crash marked the first mishap involving a Raptor since the Air Force began taking delivery of the aircraft two years ago.
The unarmed F/A-22 destroyed Monday was assigned to the 53rd Wing's 422 Test and Evaluation Squadron. It was one of about 25 Raptors the Air Force has received so far, and one of eight assigned to the testing program that began at Nellis in January 2003.
Equipped with stealth technology to help it evade enemy aircraft, the twin-engine Raptor flies fast enough to cross the 12,000-square-mile Nellis range in seven minutes. It can drop bombs, fire air-to-air missiles and shoot a six-barrel cannon.
But as the cost of the F/A-22 has swelled, estimates range from $130 million to $250 million each, the number of aircraft the Pentagon plans to buy has shrunk from 750 to about 300, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Nellis Air Force Base expects to receive nine more Raptors in the next five or six years. The aircraft is scheduled to become combat ready in 2005.
"It is by far the most advanced aircraft, not only in the U.S. fleet but in the world," said Maj. Gen. Stephen Goldfein, commander of Nellis' Air Warfare Center.
Goldfein said all aircraft at the base will be grounded this morning until the crash site is inspected in daylight. The seven remaining Raptors at Nellis will undergo a thorough inspection before they are flown again, he said.
The inspections could take hours and be done today or they could take several days, Goldfein said.
"The purpose, of course, is to prevent anything like this from happening again," he said. "Obviously, we are looking for the specific reason why the accident occurred."
Goldfein said the plane wasn't high off the ground when the pilot ejected from the cockpit.
"As soon as the pilot grabs the handle, within a second the whole system works," he said of the ejection process.
Nellis closed its runways immediately following the accident, which sent a large plume of black smoke billowing into the sky over North Las Vegas.
Four F-16C Fighting Falcons assigned to the Air Force's precision Thunderbirds flying team landed at McCarran International Airport while the runways at Nellis were closed. McCarran spokeswoman Debbie Millett said the arrival of the Thunderbirds did not cause any delays for commercial flights.
The crash was at least the fourth involving a military aircraft in Southern Nevada this year.
On Nov. 9, a $40 million Navy F-18 Hornet went down north of Las Vegas shortly after take-off. Both the pilot, who ejected safely, and his single-seat aircraft were assigned to the Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia.
In June, an Air Force pilot safely ejected from a military jet that crashed during a training mission about 70 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
Five people were killed in a March crash involving an Air Force plane ferrying contractors to a remote part of the Nellis Test Range about 125 miles northwest of the base.
The last known crash within Nellis Air Force Base itself occurred in March 1996, when an F-15C Eagle fighter jet slammed into the ground and exploded on takeoff. The Langley, Va., pilot ejected safely.
The only other reported accident involving the F-22 was a non-fatal crash landing that occurred during testing and development of the aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base in 1992.
Them computer bugs can be deadly!
I have a friend who is an F-15 instructor at Nellis. He know the pilot. It's not good news for the Raptor program because the crash is likely mechanical since it barely occurred after takeoff. In fact, my source was taxying on the runway when it happened.
Not the only Raptor to crash hard. :)
Why mechanical? Could it be a computer control problem?
Why? The people who write them don't.
In the first reported crash of the military's next generation fighter jet, an F/A-22 Raptor slammed into the ground and exploded during takeoff at Nellis Air Force Base Monday afternoon.
...
The only other reported accident involving the F-22 was a non-fatal crash landing that occurred during testing and development of the aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base in 1992.
Now there's a government office we need more of.
> I remember during testing an F22 having a strange
> instability on takeoff where it went up and down
> in sort of a sine wave before crashing.
That was the YF-22 prototype, April 25, 1992.
PIO (Pilot-Induced Oscillation) due to an unfortunate
coincidence of the computer flight control laws and
the reactions of the pilot. Not at all uncommon in
early flights of fly-by-wire a/c.
PIO was my first thought when I saw today's news, but
chances are it's some other problem. This is why test
flights are test flights.
ABC Radio news said the F22, er, make that all F22's were grounded, pending...
Military fighters aircraft all crash at some point. This will not be the last F-22 to bite it. A fighter aircraft attrition rate is expected. Today, fighters are less at being lawn darts than the early days. By looking at the crash rates of today versus the fighter A/Cs during the 50s, 60, and 70s, today's fighters are much more safer.
In the past, the AF would lose many planes. At the end of the year, you could read the AF Times which showed the yearly tally which could reach over 100 lost A/C per year.
. . . while we send Africa $15,000,000,000 to maintain their unsafe sexual practices.
Stupid reporter. If you have half the aircraft to spread the cost of R&D and start-up over, it is no wonder the contract cost per unit has gone up almost double. I have never heard of one government contract that reduced its' buy amount down (after contract award) where the cost per unit delivered hadn't gone up.
I saw that video too. But was it a manned flight? And was it a total loss, or did it slide in on it's belly? I can't remember.
Red6
Halving the buy, doubles the unit price. Simple math.
"Stupid reporter"
Agreed. Reporters need to take at least basic economics before writing on subjects like this. Maybe then they could understand the difference between fixed and marginal costs.
What crash is ever good news for a program?
These are complex machines. During WW2, out Navy lost more A/C to accidents than to the Japanese. Still, we know the outcome. Just happy the guy is OK!
...while a quarter billion taxpayer dollars goes up in flames.
Our military definitely needs less expensive warplanes.
The $250 million dollar price tag for this airplane includes a lot of project development costs which have already been sunk. The cost to replace the aircraft is far less. Still a lot of $$$, but less.
I think that pilotless aircraft are the wave of the future. But the pilots on this site will tell you that the air combat mission is probably the last task that drones will able to achieve.
HK from Terminator movies.
Good points, I take back my comment.
"during testing an F22 having a strange instability on takeoff where it went up and down in sort of a sine wave"
You are correct there was a crash, which was cause by the software that controlled the fly-by-wire: The space shuttle had the same problem. It cause the pilot to over steer.
Tom Morgenfeld was the pilot. The aircraft in question was too badly damaged. It was used as a ground instructional airframe before it ended up in the USAF Museum, Dayton, Ohio
This is why I am inclined to think this may have been caused by a maintenance issue/mistake i.e something was not squared away right to fail at takeoff, maintained crew no up to speed on the new design service issue...
Inherent design issue failed this late in the game usual happen in an unusually or unforeseen event not on a simple takeoff.... that stated... I could very well be full of it :>
A proto B-29 crashed, and the type went on to distunguish itself as the bomber that ended the Pacific War by dropping 2 atomic bombs on Japan.
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