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Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely

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Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely

#121

Post by dylan604 »

Levitating wrote: post #72
Waterluvian wrote: post #2

I don’t know anything about anything but it feels kind of amazing that all four ejected with good looking parachutes given the orientation of the conglomerated plane.

I think these ejection seats work in more or less any orientation. I am more surprised that they didn't immediately blow up or lose control after colliding. Or even that the crew took that long to eject.

The ejection seat is going to do its thing regardless of orientation, but if that orientation is pointed at the ground you better hope you have enough altitude. There was one plane where the ejection seats ejected down and away from the plane that was known for low altitude missions. These seats were affectionately known as lawn darts.

Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely

#122

Post by rationalist »

somenameforme wrote: post #117
Waterluvian wrote: post #2

I don’t know anything about anything but it feels kind of amazing that all four ejected with good looking parachutes given the orientation of the conglomerated plane.

Something that seems interesting to me is that they all ejected at nearly the identical time. I'm curious if those systems are automated in case of scenarios like an unconscious pilot. If so, there may be automated clearance/angle systems, but that's speculation on top of speculation.

I'm guessing they coordinated by voice so that they didn't hit each other (again). If one ejects, then the plane rolls, the next person to eject could launch into someone else.

Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely

#123

Post by fluidcruft »

operatingthetan wrote: post #47
rootusrootus wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too many comments are trying to overanalyze, or just show off their insightful cynicism. We do airshows because they are cool . Lots of us love airplanes. Humans do all kinds of activities for entertainment that are not strictly justifiable returns on investment. I hope we never get that boring, though every year we do seem to go that direction.

No. They are for recruitment and showing other nations what is on hand in case they want to mess with them. >insightful cynicism. So in response you select the most naive take?

I like air shows and there's no chance I'm enlisting. Maybe citizens like to see the cool toys they pay for actually do cool things other than seeing them parked in museums.

Why do people go see rocket launches?

Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely

#124

Post by jandrewrogers »

dweinus wrote: post #112
rootusrootus wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too many comments are trying to overanalyze, or just show off their insightful cynicism. We do airshows because they are cool . Lots of us love airplanes. Humans do all kinds of activities for entertainment that are not strictly justifiable returns on investment. I hope we never get that boring, though every year we do seem to go that direction.

[flagged]

Where I live, any lack of a functional social safety net is a failure of execution, not a failure of funding.

Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely

#125

Post by dghlsakjg »

jcgrillo wrote: post #108
userbinator wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pilots themselves initiated their ejections.

Admittedly I have nowhere near the flight hours, training, or expertise of these pilots, but having flown airplanes myself I can totally imagine in an off-nominal situation (which I have been in before) conscious focus is fully on flying the airplane even if your rote lizard brain is procedurally going through the motions of pulling the ejection handles or otherwise responding to the emergency. My instructor's words-…

Also, these are aircraft with two crew. Either can initiate the ejection sequence, at which point both crew will be ejected regardless of who initiated if I’m not mistaken.

I’ve never trained to eject, but I have trained in situations with parachutes, and the advice is to deploy early. If the thought crosses your mind, the answer is yes.

Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely

#126

Post by zzleeper »

m348e912 wrote: post #99
testfoobar wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tax dollars really don't pay for things in the US Federal Government. Deficit spending leading to an ever rising debt is the source of continued spending. When Debt/GDP grows, we're spending ever more money that we don't have. Total Debt: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEBTN Total Debt/GDP https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S

You're not wrong, but exorbitant deficit spending has its own dire consequences. (eventually) Not that I am telling you anything you don't already know.

What if we just inflate away the debt? Sure, ppl will hate dealing with very high inflation for a few years, and pensioners and whoever buys those trillions of debt will get screwed, but besides that we should be ok?

/s

Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely

#127

Post by arkaedan »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #110
Riany wrote: post #96

That's good that all pilots ejected safely. But what if it fails? Still, losing two specialized aircraft during an airshow feels like very expensive, I doubt if it's really worth it to risks these pilots life on it

The US has over 10,000 military aircraft in service and thousands of spares sitting in storage. The US is quite arguably the only military that can casually absorb losses like these. This specific aircraft is being phased out over the next several years. Assuming these still had some miles left on the airframe, they likely would have been put in cold storage a few years from now.

Do you have a source for the Growler being phased out? I was under the impression that they still have a long operating life ahead.

Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely

#128

Post by jcgrillo »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #125
jcgrillo wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Admittedly I have nowhere near the flight hours, training, or expertise of these pilots, but having flown airplanes myself I can totally imagine in an off-nominal situation (which I have been in before) conscious focus is fully on flying the airplane even if your rote lizard brain is procedurally going through the motions of pulling the ejection handles or otherwise responding to the emergency. My instructor's words-…

Also, these are aircraft with two crew. Either can initiate the ejection sequence, at which point both crew will be ejected regardless of who initiated if I’m not mistaken. I’ve never trained to eject, but I have trained in situations with parachutes, and the advice is to deploy early. If the thought crosses your mind, the answer is yes.

Yes, that too

Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely

#129

Post by aeternum »

dweinus wrote: post #112
rootusrootus wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too many comments are trying to overanalyze, or just show off their insightful cynicism. We do airshows because they are cool . Lots of us love airplanes. Humans do all kinds of activities for entertainment that are not strictly justifiable returns on investment. I hope we never get that boring, though every year we do seem to go that direction.

[flagged]

EA-18s are real, the things you speak of only exist in the imagination.

Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely

#130

Post by dacops »

dweinus wrote: post #112
rootusrootus wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too many comments are trying to overanalyze, or just show off their insightful cynicism. We do airshows because they are cool . Lots of us love airplanes. Humans do all kinds of activities for entertainment that are not strictly justifiable returns on investment. I hope we never get that boring, though every year we do seem to go that direction.

[flagged]

It's circuses. Bread and circuses, except we don't get the bread part.

But some people really like circuses.

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