Posted on 03/26/2004 12:19:41 PM PST by jern
Heads up, there has been some kind of explosion at RDU airport in Raleigh, just got a call from someone who works near the airport. Will post more in a second.
Remember those words. We won't see them again.
Not to pick a fight but the first report of the 9/11 WTC tragedy on FOX had a small commuter plane hitting the first tower.
I was merely mentioning what an eyewitness to the actual attempted takeoff of this F-18 reported seeing. A witness who also happened to be very knowledgeable about aircraft as he was a airplane mechanic and was working at a hangar alongside the runway.
Another witness who was also at a private jet terminal recounted similar details and just a short time ago, a young boy of about 8 or 9 was interviewed at the airport and, although he described the crash very much like a child would be expected to, recounted the same details.
The point being that when two F-18s show up at a commercial airport, everyone notices. And when two F-18s taxi out to the runway, every aviation buff in the airport is going to stop and watch the takeoff. As a matter of fact, I'm sure somewhere, somebody is arranging to sell their home video to one of the local affiliates as we speak.
The low altitude ejection sequence would have pulled his legs in from the seat restraints and wouild have fired the canopy first. The catapult would have than fired and propelled the seat up the guide rail. He probaly pulled both engine throttles back to the off position lifting on the finger lifts before pulling the seat ejection control handle. If the canopy failed to blow first a head nocker on the seat would have broken through the canopy on ejction. At low altitude the drogue gun fires to pull the drogue shoot out and decelerate the seat and more quickly deploy the main shoot and pull the pilot from the seat without him having to pull the seat release lever.
As the jet still had the wings and vertical stabilizers in place I doubt the plane cartwheeled and propbably stayed level. It appears that the nose gear remained up while one or both of the main gear have failed or are no longer part of the airframe. Another posibility is the main gear collapsed or retracted early once the jet was close to wait off wheels and the gear handle was in the up position or one of the main gear failed and caused a skid but this would not have caused such an early fire as reported. The one witness saying the front of the aircraft exploded was describing the ejection sequence itself most likely.
Sempre Fi
Remember those words. We won't see them again.
Because the witness is just describing the explosive bolts blowing the canopy after the pilot pulled the ejection handle. Not everything is a conspiracy.
I sometimes wonder if Dr. E isn't the new screen name for the banned Michael Rivero. Everything is a conspiracy with those guys.
Food for thought - a cheap and risk free tactic for terrorists would be to assign a member to monitor each and every accident thread on discussion sites such as this and post inflammatory speculation. Doing so would be a lot easier than risking human assets to actually cause mayhem, and would be a cheap way to sow suspicion and distrust in the wake of the kind of accidents that have been happening ever since the human race began using machinery to move faster than a walk.
So I'm either Michael Rivero or I'm a terrorist, huh?
Sorry I scared you.
My apologies.
So I'm either Michael Rivero or I'm a terrorist, huh?
That's a rather limited slate of choices, isn't it? Then again, so is slapping the terrorism label on every mishap.
Sorry I scared you.
What gave you the idea that I was scared? It looks to me as if those who bleat "TERRORISM!" and imagine a nefarious network of coverup squads hard at work behind every crash, explosion, and fire in the US since 9/11 are a better fit for that description.
That's a rather limited slate of choices, isn't it?
I agree. But it was your slate; that's why I questioned it.
What gave you the idea that I was scared?
Your eyebrows.
Hornet Pilot Unhurt Following Crash
Story Number: NNS040326-16
Release Date: 3/26/2004 10:40:00 PM
From Commander, U.S. Naval Air Force, Atlantic Fleet
NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The pilot of a Navy F/A-18 Hornet aircraft, which crashed the afternoon of March 26 at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, is uninjured. He has been identified as Lt. j.g. Wesley Baumgartner of Yorktown, Va.
Baumgartner was the pilot of the aircraft, assigned to the Valions of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 15 based at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia. He was part of a two-aircraft flight on a routine cross-country training mission when they made a stop at Raleigh-Durham to refuel. Raleigh-Durham International Airport is a joint-use facility that also serves as a base for local Air National Guard units. The other aircraft landed safely.
Baumgartner was taken to Wake Medical Center for examination.
The accident is under investigation.
For more news from around the fleet, visit the Navy NewsStand at www.news.navy.mil.
U.S. Navy File Photo.
040225-N-9907G-001 Atlantic Ocean (Feb. 25, 2004) An F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the Valions of Strike Fighter Squadron One Five (VFA-15) makes its final approach before landing aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). The nuclear powered aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman is undergoing carrier qualifications and flight deck certification off the Atlantic coast. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd class Floyd Grimm. (RELEASED)
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