Posted on 07/23/2010 6:04:42 PM PDT by James C. Bennett
See that man in the top left of this photo? That's Captain Brian Bews and he's lucky to be alive. The skilled pilot barely managed to eject before his CF-18 fighter jet crashed to the ground during a practice flight.
The practice flight took place at Lethbridge County Airport and was apparently in preparation for the weekend airshow in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. There are no details as to exactly why the jet fighter went down. We do know that Captain Bews was taken to the hospital for injury treatment. [MSNBC—Thanks, Wilson!]
Those ejection seats are pretty amazing.
OMG....hey dude, buy a lottery ticket!
This pilot will be at church , front row, this sunday.
Oh...that poor, beautiful jet. Nothing deserves to end up like that.
Ejection photo.
I’m no expert but I think these ejection seats will right themselves to a certain point, it appears as if this one had to. I would like to know if any FReeper has more detailed knowledge, not google search but real training.
At least it landed on a grassy, uninhabited flightline.
We had a F/A-18 go down here in San Diego recently. The pilot safely ejected but the plane crashed into a house killing an entire family, except the father who had just left for work.
Depending on the model (I’m partial to the ACES series from MDC), many come with gyro enabled thrust nozzels that are designed to seek correct vertical. The problem for the pilot always is the timing/height on the ejection before touchdown. Looks like this one was cutting it close.
I remember that.......
Hi doogle!
“Looks like this one was cutting it close.”
Understatement of the year!!!!
...when stationed in Thailand we had a backseater (F-4) eject as soon as the plane touched down, they had severe battle damage and he was burning up where he sat, and couldn’t stand it any longer...punched out...got two swings on his chute...PLOP!...walked away.
That is probably one of the coolest pics I’ve ever seen.
I recall seeing a similar (almost identical) photo of an Su 27 that crashed in an airshow, with the ejector seats just being launched. These seats pack an amazing bundle of technology - basically a guided rocket with a seat.
Unfortunately, the pilots almost always suffer permanent damage to the backbone.
If that were me, there would be streams coming from my backside. I dont think it would be flames from the ejectors.
I've never heard much good about F18's.
Back in the late 80’s, an A-7 Corsair went down over Indianapolis. The pilot managed to eject, but the plane crashed into a commercial district near the airport.
(from wikipedia)
“It [the A-7] struck the Bank One branch in the 5600 block of Bradbury Avenue, bounced off the roof, flew across the street and hit an embankment, went 25 feet (7.6 m) airborne, and then crashed into the front of the Ramada Inn [killing nine people in the lobby].”
Su-27 airshow crash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTI5etjTniU
The reverse angle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrB-YQqeNpk
Here’s the MiG-29 crash at the Paris airshow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp3yivDTfuw
Amazing, as long as they’re pointing up when they fire.
My fiancee is a former USAF A-10 mechanic with fours experience working on the ACES II ejection seat on the A-10 and other aircraft. Anything you'd like to know I'd be glad to run by her.
That said, she didn't think this ejection sequence was particularly unusual. everything worked as advertised.
She says she figures this landing was a bit sporty, thiough.
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