Navy jets collide!!

[flatbutt]

Man the pilots in the lower jet are so lucky that their canopy was not blocked.

[masraum]

I saw that yesterday. That was crazy how the jets appeared to be stuck together for a bit.
The event is being investigated. Well, most of those airshows have highly trained, skilled pilots performing dangerous precision moves. It makes sense that they would be accidents from time to time. It doesn't look like it was the Blue Angels. I don't see the classic blue with yellow lettering.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Definitely not the Blue Angels, there were two crew per aircraft. One of the craziest plane crashes I’ve ever seen, thank God the crew all survived.

[GH85Carrera]

One of those pilots likely just lost his wings. They will figure out who screwed up and was at fault.

Fortunately all 4 men walked away from that crash.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Why were electronic warfare jets doing performance flying maneuvers?
You can plainly see neither jet was able to see each other.

[crustychief]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

One of those pilots likely just lost his wings. They will figure out who screwed up and was at fault.

Fortunately all 4 men walked away from that crash.

1 is supposedly in a trauma center. It looks like he may have been hit by the planes after ejecting.

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by 3rd_gear_Ted

You can plainly see neither jet was able to see each other.

There are absolute rules in formation flying.
Absolute, non-negotiable.
Lead airplane is just that.
Wingman is responsible to maintain visual separation.
If wingman ever loses visual, he immediately maneuvers away from last seen position.
If #1 was above and on the right side, #2 will immediately push the nose down and turn left.

I'm guessing, in this occurrence, because we're flying in front of a crowd, wingman thought he could "fix it" and broke one of the most basic rules of formation flying.

[A930Rocket]

I read they were F-18 Growlers.

It seems strange, that they looks like they were locked in together. Lots of little flashes, which I took to be the explosive bolts for the canopy, before they ejected.

[Zeke]

All over the net IDT anyone has ever seen anything like that. Sorry to hear that one pilot got injured badly. From what I hear the other 3 are likely injured to a certain extent. It is said that ejection is pretty damn rough.

[DonDavis]

When I first saw the video, I thought it was AI. It looks so fake. Like they are hanging by a string. And the time between ejection and chute opening seems way too fast.

I thought chute deployment was after the energy of ejection dissipates. Maybe just 2-3 seconds?

[pwd72s]

Ho-Lee-Sheet! Amazing that anybody survived...

[masraum]

I'm not a pilot so my opinion is worth what you guys are paying for it...

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Definitely not the Blue Angels, there were two crew per aircraft. One of the craziest plane crashes I’ve ever seen, thank God the crew all survived.

If it had been the Blue Angels, this wouldn't have happened. I suspect there's a pretty big difference between "a really great fighter pilot" and a "Blue Angels" pilot. I suspect the BA folks get a lot of very serious training that is specific to the type of stuff that happens at air shows.

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

One of those pilots likely just lost his wings. They will figure out who screwed up and was at fault.

Fortunately all 4 men walked away from that crash.

Maybe. But then maybe having regular pilots perform air show stunts is a bigger risk than their usual flying duties. Maybe the management that put them in that position is the problem.

Originally Posted by 3rd_gear_Ted

Why were electronic warfare jets doing performance flying maneuvers?
You can plainly see neither jet was able to see each other.

It was an air show. Happens all of the time.

[greglepore]

Whitby growlers. Not a great safety record there of late.

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by masraum

If it had been the Blue Angels, this wouldn't have happened. I suspect there's a pretty big difference between "a really great fighter pilot" and a "Blue Angels" pilot.

A few Blue Angels pilots rotate out every year.
The remaining pilots vote on which applicants (there are lots, of course) they want to replace them.
Pretty tight-knit group. Best of the best.

[Cajundaddy]

F-18 Growlers who probably don't have a lot of hours in tight formation. Looks like the aft plane lost sight of the leader momentarily and they sandwiched very quickly requiring everybody to punch out. Tragic!

This happened about 1 hour from my house and the wind was gusting 50 mph at the field. A hard day for all involved.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Looks like it was the EA-18G demo team out of Whidbey Island, so definitely not a professional show team like the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels. They normally do some high speed formation passes, high speed climbs, typical formation flight stuff. Really hard to see how this happened, but obviously someone screwed up big time.

[Flat Six]

Originally Posted by 3rd_gear_Ted

Why were electronic warfare jets doing performance flying maneuvers?
You can plainly see neither jet was able to see each other.

Originally Posted by masraum

I'm not a pilot so my opinion is worth what you guys are paying for it...


If it had been the Blue Angels, this wouldn't have happened. I suspect there's a pretty big difference between "a really great fighter pilot" and a "Blue Angels" pilot. I suspect the BA folks get a lot of very serious training that is specific to the type of stuff that happens at air shows.

Maybe. But then maybe having regular pilots perform air show stunts is a bigger risk than their usual flying duties. Maybe the management that put them in that position is the problem.



It was an air show. Happens all of the time.

Originally Posted by greglepore

Whitby growlers. Not a great safety record there of late.

Originally Posted by Dantilla

A few Blue Angels pilots rotate out every year.
The remaining pilots vote on which applicants (there are lots, of course) they want to replace them.
Pretty tight-knit group. Best of the best.

Originally Posted by Cajundaddy

F-18 Growlers who probably don't have a lot of hours in tight formation. Looks like the aft plane lost sight of the leader momentarily and they sandwiched very quickly requiring everybody to punch out. Tragic!

This happened about 1 hour from my house and the wind was gusting 50 mph at the field. A hard day for all involved.

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Looks like it was the EA-18G demo team out of Whidbey Island, so definitely not a professional show team like the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels. They normally do some high speed formation passes, high speed climbs, typical formation flight stuff. Really hard to see how this happened, but obviously someone screwed up big time.

Those of you who know of Ward "Mooch" Carroll on YT know he's a former F-14 aviator and instructor. This is about 30 minutes but IMHO well worth watching. He goes deep into which pilots are eligible for EA-18G flight show duties; specific authorized maneuvers in detail (showing actual documents); and a detailed, thoughtful video analysis. Addresses most/all of the speculation above.

[herr_oberst]

THAT is a very interesting video. This is an intriguing story to me, having grown up in Boise, just 45 minutes from MHAFB, seeing airshows there a time or two. I didn't know that there were a couple of other accidents recently at airshows at the base.

[herr_oberst]

(Juan is not happy with the way his taxes are being spent!!)

[flatbutt]

Wow the top airframe was offset enough to allow the bottom plane's crew to eject. That my friend is a lucky lucky break.