Breaking- F-15 crash in the North Sea

Those dudes usually playfight at least 20k so I cant see him hitting the ocean. They have altimeters set to a a minimum level so bitchin betty can call knock it off. Not to mention his wingmen. What the flighttrack info say altitiude was?








a reply to: Zaphod58

a reply to: lakenheath24

They weren't broadcasting at the time, so I haven't gotten my hands on it. Spatial disorientation is lower on my list, but still a possibility.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

It always does when it's one of "yours". It's an aircraft and pilot you might have seen flying out of the base, or even run into in the store somewhere.

We lost a helicopter in the Indian Ocean in 84. We heard the call "four in a raft" from an S-3, thought everybody was OK and slowed down a bit. We got there just as the aircraft sank and then we found out that there were five on board. A while back one of the guys put a post on Facebook in the squadron page about the briefing for the deployment fly on. He made a remark about everybody laughing because one of the guy's six month old daughter started giggling during the brief. That brought back a memory, because it was the guy that we lost and the reason that his daughter was giggling was me tickling her toes.

a reply to: JIMC5499

It hits a lot harder. When 355 went down, there was the equivalent of a recall of all family members. We knew something bad had happened before the media picked it up, and it became a race to get everyone home before the notification team started to make the rounds. Then when they said one missing, it was more days of holding your breath

We lost two FB-111s at Pease too. I watched one go in the water, and the other went into a housing complex. Luckily both our crews got out. Plattsburgh lost one, that went in the water on a low level. The crew pulled the handle and hit the water simultaneously with the charges going off.

Yeah i suppose,. We lost a pair at Eglin for the same thing doing a scissors move.







a reply to: Zaphod58

a reply to: lakenheath24

Not quite how the “altimeter” works. You can set an altitude warning but typically left at whatever default value is. Also, there are no bitching Betty voice for altitude. Nor is there a knock it off when that altitude hits. Also, the play fight is not at 20k feet. It’s surface to the top of the airspace available.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Out of curiosity have you seen any time they are broadcasting?

a reply to: glib2

Every once in awhile one pops up, but they aren't common to see.

a reply to: Zaphod58

It happens in any service. Operating aircraft can be dangerous.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
UK spotter group showing class.

This is what I mean when I said it touches the heart strings when the aircraft/pilot are closer to home. I’ve never seen the aircraft that went down but damn did I feel kinda upset about it. As for the regular spotters there has been a great respect to the pilot. You can feel the sadness in the spotter posts and they seem to be providing much support and donating to fund raiser pages for the family of the pilot

I'm on the Yorkshire coast at the moment, soon to be moving on. One thing I will say is that for the last week the fog has been incredible. I'm sure this didn't contribute to the accident but I thought it might be worth mentioning.

RIP

The AIB report says pilot error led to the loss of CHOSEN04. They were exercising in IMC conditions, and as he maneuvered to target a "hostile" he went nose low, and basically flew it into the water.

www.airforcemag.com...

Do F15,s have a Bitchin Betty for altitude warnings?

a reply to: Blackfinger

Yes. You normally set the altitude to warn you at, and it automatically alerts you at a certain point if you're getting into a situation that might end with a crash. But if you're fixated on a target you may not even hear it.

This video shows just how fast and how bad things can go wrong when going VFR to IMC. This glider went IMC, and came within inches of being a statistic.

Gliding in cloud isnt a smart thing to do when all you have is thermals to keep you up..The needle on the bottom left hand side should have been a big indication he was losing altitude.Plus clouds sometimes have rocks and trees in them.

a reply to: Blackfinger

You'd be surprised how often even instrument rated pilots get in trouble in clouds.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Interesting. I guess he was looking left/up trying to get a visual on the aggressor during the maneuver with the HUD/instruments out of his field of view.

It makes me wonder if a helmet mounted display would have made a difference. They typically display speed, altitude and often a horizon line.

a reply to: moebius

It may have, but it may have made things worse if he wasn't used to it.