Harrier Pilot Does The Martin Baker Fly By

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

I'm not sure but I dont believe that belly smacking and setting your aircraft on fire would be considered professional.

that and the news article indicated that he stayed with it so that he could somewhat steer it away from populated areas and other civilian aircraft.

yeah

crashing = unprofessional

crashing so as to avoid hurting anyone but yourself = heroic AND professional

well done RAF

Always thought this was a pretty scary vid, bird strikes an F-16.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by OneToughHerring

Always thought this was a pretty scary vid, bird strikes an F-16.

that video - while scary - has been passed off as an F-16 numerous times. the link you provided, the maker actually goes so far as to splice footage of an F-16 into it.

the aircraft in question is reportedly a BAe Hawk from Cold Lake Alberta, Canada.

THIS is scary



a very close friend of mine was flying the Beech Baron which comes into view for about a nanosecond. they were on the way to Uvalde, Texas on an IFR flight plan. they canceled the IFR flight plan and continued to the airport visually, in the descent they went right through an active Military Training Route (which are not off limits).

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

that video - while scary - has been passed off as an F-16 numerous times. the link you provided, the maker actually goes so far as to splice footage of an F-16 into it.

the aircraft in question is reportedly a BAe Hawk from Cold Lake Alberta, Canada.

Oh ok, haha. Well the footage of the bird strike and the low altitude ejector seat - stuff is pretty scary.

THIS is scary



a very close friend of mine was flying the Beech Baron which comes into view for about a nanosecond. they were on the way to Uvalde, Texas on an IFR flight plan. they canceled the IFR flight plan and continued to the airport visually, in the descent they went right through an active Military Training Route (which are not off limits).

Yes. Not that I would know much about that but it seems that the skies are getting pretty crowded.

[Jimbuna]

Now that WAS scary John

[Oberon]

That was far too close! Brown alert there!

I do recall several instances during the Second World War where pilots stayed with their stricken planes to prevent them hitting civilian areas. Heroes those men, each and every one of them.

[HunterICX]

Originally Posted by Oberon

That was far too close! Brown alert there!

I do recall several instances during the Second World War where pilots stayed with their stricken planes to prevent them hitting civilian areas. Heroes those men, each and every one of them.

Aye, Gallant chaps they where

HunterICX

[TLAM Strike]

The Sea Knight catches the fence at the edge of the heli pad, I guess the pilot increases power to get loose and causes it to flip.

[Oberon]

Sadly fatal too IIRC.

[Jimbuna]

Six marines and one sailor were lost:

On Dec. 9, 1999, a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter, with 18 people on board, crashed while attempting to land on the Navy tanker PECOS (T-AO 197) during a training exercise. The chopper's landing gear apparently snagged a metal safety net and the helicopter flipped over into the water and quickly sank.
Eleven Marines were rescued by special warfare crewmen on two nearby boats. But six Marines and a sailor drowned, their bodies recovered later from the sunken wreckage by an unmanned submersible vehicle.

http://navysite.de/planes/ch46.htm

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

I'm not sure but I dont believe that belly smacking and setting your aircraft on fire would be considered professional.

On final approach you are in a nose up position and pretty close to stall speed. If your engine quits now you will not only lose speed quickly (due to the nose up attitude) but you will also be in the nasty situation of not having any altitude left that you could trade for speed which you need for a controlled flight. The pilot was all out of options here.

[Bubblehead Nuke]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

On final approach you are in a nose up position and pretty close to stall speed. If your engine quits now you will not only lose speed quickly (due to the nose up attitude) but you will also be in the nasty situation of not having any altitude left that you could trade for speed which you need for a controlled flight. The pilot was all out of options here.

Exactly....

Landing is one of the most stressful time. As you said, you are up against the wall. You are at or near minimum control airspeed and no space to trade altitude for speed. Been there, done that. Got the tee shirt and the soiled shorts to prove it. Piper 140 on final with a loss of engine. Full flaps and downwind. It was NOT fun. I got lucky, I planted the main wheels about 3 feet short of the runway and bounced over the lip to the runway. Good thing the weather was dry and the ground was not spongy.

Back to the Harrier: I can guarantee you that this guy KNEW he was going to stuff the plane into the ground. He could have bailed at ANY time after the engine failure with a reasonable chance of survival. The fact that he rode it into the ground says volumes about his professionalism.

I have WATCHED U.S. Military planes go in. I have watched them go all the way in because the pilot wanted to insure that his plane was going into that space BETWEEN the houses and not into the house. My father was a Naval Aviator. I asked him in the past what he would do in such an emergency. He told me that he would ride it in to make sure nobody was hurt if there was the SLIGHTEST chance of it coming down in population.

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

On final approach you are in a nose up position and pretty close to stall speed. If your engine quits now you will not only lose speed quickly (due to the nose up attitude) but you will also be in the nasty situation of not having any altitude left that you could trade for speed which you need for a controlled flight. The pilot was all out of options here.

Well obviously I had missed the part where his engine had failed but the impression I got from the video was that he seemed to have plenty of air speed. What the harrier glide ratio is 1 to 8?

[krashkart]

Originally Posted by Bubblehead Nuke

Back to the Harrier: I can guarantee you that this guy KNEW he was going to stuff the plane into the ground. He could have bailed at ANY time after the engine failure with a reasonable chance of survival. The fact that he rode it into the ground says volumes about his professionalism.

I have WATCHED U.S. Military planes go in. I have watched them go all the way in because the pilot wanted to insure that his plane was going into that space BETWEEN the houses and not into the house. My father was a Naval Aviator. I asked him in the past what he would do in such an emergency. He told me that he would ride it in to make sure nobody was hurt if there was the SLIGHTEST chance of it coming down in population.

There was a gent with the Idaho ANG that took his A-10 all the way in specifically to avoid the possibility of his aircraft crashing into a natural gas storage tank. That didn't leave him any time to eject, but he did save some nearby residences the trouble of being burned up in a large explosion.

I wish I could find at least one article about that because I distinctly remember watching his squadron perform the missing man maneuver over the church during his funeral. But the closest I've come since last night is an undeniably large number of unrelated stories about another pilot from the 196th (same unit), who also died in an A-10 crash near Boise, and who had previously been involved in a blue-on-blue during one of the Iraq wars.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Well obviously I had missed the part where his engine had failed but the impression I got from the video was that he seemed to have plenty of air speed. What the harrier glide ratio is 1 to 8?

I don't think it's that good. The heavy plane (especially with the bomb still attached to it) and the tiny wings usually demand very high speed and provide a very bad glide ratio.
This thing here has had a glide ratio of round about 8:1http://latvianaviation.com/SG38.html
and that is a glider (although a pretty bad one for modern standards).