you all probably know that on September 14 last year, a Thunderbird 6 crashed at Mountain-Home during an airshow. well i found a really interesting shot about this crash...hope you like it...i sure do!




the full size image can be found here: http://www.af.mil/media/photodb/photos/040130-F-0000C-002.jpg

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yes Omag, i've seen that too. it were two Mig-29's at Fairford.

i was there when the 2 Migs crashed very saddening until I found out both pilots unharmed and no-one hurt. Now I think it was very impressive I got pyrotechnics and a live demo of ejection seats.

Unbelivable!!!
Judgeing from the shot he was extremly close too the ground! Not too much time to think!
Were any spectators injured?

Incase you haven't heard:

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. -- Pilot error caused a U.S. Air Force
Thunderbirds
F-16 aircraft to crash shortly after takeoff at an air show Sept. 14 at
Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The pilot ejected just before the
aircraft
impacted the ground.

According to the accident investigation board report released today, the
pilot
misinterpreted the altitude required to complete the "Split S" maneuver.
He
made his calculation based on an incorrect mean-sea-level altitude of
the
airfield. The pilot incorrectly climbed to 1670 feet above ground level
instead
of 2500 feet before initiating the pull down to the Split S maneuver.

When he realized something was wrong, the pilot put maximum back stick
pressure
and rolled slightly left to ensure the aircraft would impact away from
the
crowd should he have to eject. He ejected when the aircraft was 140 feet
above
ground -- just eight--tenths of a second prior to impact.

He sustained only minor injuries from the ejection. There was no other
damage
to military or civilian property.

The aircraft, valued at about $20.4 million, was destroyed.

Also, the board determined other factors substantially contributed to
creating
the opportunity for the error including the requirement for
demonstration
pilots to convert mean sea level and above ground level altitudes and
performing a maneuver with a limited margin of error.


(i'm not sure if that's all of the report, or of it's source, it was sent in an e-mail and could have been cut off)

today i found a video from inside the cockpit during the last seconds of his flight...if you want, i'll post that too! 

here it is: http://www.avweb.com/newspics/tbirdcrash.mpg

if you keep an eye on the pilot closely, you'll see he doesn't panic or doesn't overreact. he just keeps sitting there like there's nothing wrong and suddenly he's gone. this shows how fast those people have to take that decision  8)

Ha a pic of my base,  I was at that airshow.  I got out of weekend duty to go that week end, good show up tell that point.

nope hes back up an flying again

I think the fact that Captain Stricklin steered his aircraft away from 60,000 people and then still had the presence of mind to try until the last .8 of a second to regain control of the aircraft would probably overpower any poor light the Air Force may want to shed on him.

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I don't necessarily know if I'd call the human body in shock and then violently responding to trauma "kick ass", but whatever...

thatswhy figther pilots must have a strong back and neck.

I saw the T-Birds perform in Salinas California about one month after the crash.  They flew an abreviated performance as they only had 5 aircraft perform that day.  I was rather disappointed as I figured they would just use one of the back-up, or trainer jets for the show.  But I assume that pilot did not get right back into the air after the accident so maybe thats why only 5 planes flew that day.  I mean had he been killed, that would be a different story, but I thought maybe he'd just fly the performance in another plane...assuming, like the Blue Angels they have at least one or two "extra" jets in the fleet.

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Guess he had no choice beeing shot out of that plane, beeing strapped tightly to the seat. Not a lot of room to move ... 

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Strange hows it's taken several months to get in the papers...

Anyway, it made it into the Express today. Apparently after bravely steering the aircraft away from the crowd (I seem to remeber from the video he was never really pointing at the crowd...) he "pressed the eject button" ! . Made me chuckle . Have to find myself one of those eject button thingies for all those awkward situations I get into...

Charlie

All of the f-16's the thunderbirds fly are stock AC the only thing they have on them are a smoke system.  Any f-16 in the airforce could replace one of the thunderbirds AC if need be.  The pilot of #6 didnt fly in the show after the crash because he was part of the crash investigation an there for was not aloud to leave the MtHome AFB.

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That was exactly my point.  If the pilot had been killed, yeah I'd expect a performance without his replacement IF there was to be a performance at all.  I was saying, I was rather surprised that he didn't just fly a replacement aircraft.  But then again, I can see how he may have been grounded for the rest of the season due to investigation etc...

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I know for the Blue Angels their aircraft can be converted and combat ready in 72 hours.  I'd assume the same for the Thunderbirds. 

yes, the difference between a T-Bird falcon and a normal F-16 isn't that big. like the Blues, it takes 72 hours to make them combat ready. i think it would be strange if you see a T-Bird doing a dogfight with a MiG.

here's what i found about it:
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I'd that he/she was using a long telephoto (At least 300mm) because even on a bright day like that one it still has pretty shallow depth of field. He/she must have been using a fast continuous film advance of at least 8 fps to take a picture like that because no-one has good enough reflexes to do it without that kind of speed.

The pitcher was taken accidentally, my friend knows the guy here on base that took it.  He said he was just trying to get a pitcher of the jet before it went down.  The pitcher was taken from the control tower.

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As N505AF points out, pilots are human beings & not supermen. No matter how professional they might be, all humans make mistakes. Usually they get away with it without anybody noticing. In this case it happened at a public display with the loss of an expensive piece of machinery. Fortunately it appears that nobody was hurt. It seems reasonable to expect that the pilot would be disciplined & no longer be allowed to fly with the display team.

I still think that is an amazing shot. A chance in a lifetime for the photographer.

Yah I know that but there is mental trauma that can result from this. As a psychology student I have studied trauma and flying with them again after this may have serious effects. They are trained to steer the aircraft away from the crowd and that is good.

I just find not setting an altimeter rather careless.

the Thunerbirds are supposed to be renouned throughout the USA and deserve extremely careful highly trained pilots. So please don't swear at me, thankyou