I cant wait to pay for that with my tax dollars.
Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
71–80 of 278 posts
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#72I 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.
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#73These are pretty expensive and specialized electronic warfare planes that are identical to a regular F18 in aerodynamic performance. Sucks to lose two of them for an airshow display. Isn’t that what the Blue Angels are for?
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Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#74These are pretty expensive and specialized electronic warfare planes that are identical to a regular F18 in aerodynamic performance. Sucks to lose two of them for an airshow display. Isn’t that what the Blue Angels are for?
What is the real purpose of airshows anyway? It always seems like very elevated risk for very little reward but I might just be missing what the reward is.
"Because it's there"
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#75Is there much of a way to recover from that kind of glomping? Kinda seems like the aerodynamics might hold them together (as the noses are somewhat pointed together), or with enough speed rip them apart chaotically since they're a bit skewed (which could be worse than ejecting early). It seems pretty obvious that ejecting is the right choice either way, but it makes me wonder if there's any alternative in this kind o…
Basically all modern fighters since the 1980s are aerodynamically unstable and require a computer to fly. A collision like this is almost certainly going to do major damage to the airframe (screwing up its aerodynamics) and maybe flight controls as well. I suspect the plane will be well outside the parameters that the flight controls software can deal with, making stable flight impossible.
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do we know if the pilots are OK? Yes, ejection can save your life, but even in a best-case scenario the forces on the human body are incredibly ugly. I know a former combat-rated RAF pilot that had to eject from a Harrier because of a low-altitude bird strike. After 6 months in the infirmary, he emerged 2cm shorter, combat rating gone forever.
Arms and legs can take a serious beating too. Airplane cockpits are pretty tight spaces, and to be explosively shot out of one with little notice is.. yikes.
The pilots themselves initiated their ejections.
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#77Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#78These are pretty expensive and specialized electronic warfare planes that are identical to a regular F18 in aerodynamic performance. Sucks to lose two of them for an airshow display. Isn’t that what the Blue Angels are for?
What is the real purpose of airshows anyway? It always seems like very elevated risk for very little reward but I might just be missing what the reward is.
It attracts talented people.
I remember going to an air show when I was 12 with a good friend. Walking through the C-5 and then seeing a thunderbirds display just captured my friends imagination in a way that’s hard to describe. He ended up becoming a Marine Aviator and basically started planning that path that day.
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#79These are pretty expensive and specialized electronic warfare planes that are identical to a regular F18 in aerodynamic performance. Sucks to lose two of them for an airshow display. Isn’t that what the Blue Angels are for?
What is the real purpose of airshows anyway? It always seems like very elevated risk for very little reward but I might just be missing what the reward is.
This is a question that comes up internally as well. It gets into questions like "Why do we fund the Thunderbirds etc". I will hold off on my 2c because the arguments are already covered!
Immediately after a show like this, yes, it looks foolish to lose 2 combat planes and almost 4 aircrew for a performative event. Looking at it more generally, it's a tradeoff.