F-16 Hits Trees At Ridgeline. With after mishap photos

[4wheeldrifting]

was he flying at night?

[crispycritterz]

Bet he's still writing paper on that one.

[GTMustangRider]

That pilot probably doesn't hear the end of it about this mishap. Did you hear his comment; "there was a definite feeling of IMPACT like a bad compressor stall"; hitting the ground and a tree is not even in the same ball park as a compressor stall, it's not even the same f^ckin' sport. Hitting the ground is hitting the ground and a compressor stall is a compressor stall, it's not alike. He should have said, "There was a definite feeling of impact when I hit the ground and the tree."

[OmegaForceAirsoft]

Wow man... you must be a super shit hot pilot or something. I guess you've both hit the ground AND had a compressor stall, b/c the way you try to pretend you know the difference between your ass and a hole in the ground ALMOST sounds like you have real world experience... but from your "need to know profile" I doubt it.

[dirtyDielo]

lol love the song !!!!!!!

[oldupchuck2]

That song compresses 39 years of my commercial jet riding SO WELL...Love that song......BEAT UP OLD JET AIRLINER.....I like the ones years ago sitting outside in the rain,dripping hydrolic oil from various points on the wings and body...lovely...lovely frickin thoughts.. iv'e had a bird strike on take off,said bird was ingested by the starboard engine,which caused said engine to throw 10 quick fireballs out the exhaust..aborted fly around..then,had a bad landing in vegas,microburst,landed hard

[Kingfishersquadron75]

Could someone fill me in on the combat survivability of an F16 after incurring damage from a missile or other projectile?

[stevethepilot]

Cool stuff. Thanks for sharing. You should check out the Israeli F-15 that landed with only 1 wing.

[gjefle]

that was a good landing

[sakemaki]

How lucky he could learn from an aviation mishap, and not be ultimately punished for it.

[tjodalv44]

I got some great air to air pictures of this jet (83-132, right?) from a KC-135 when it was with the 147th before they sent it to the boneyard.

[thomasbhunter007]

Had to turn my sound off. The music and jokes lessen the impact of the message of the video.

[sstepko]

Agreed... I've heard the unedited version and the pilots comments after the mishap really drive it home...

I wish I could see a fouo mishap report too... I kinda find it hard to believe that the pilot "did not fully understand the ground warning system" I can see him setting it wrong, but unless it was a new system I don't get how he could be cleared to fly low level like that and not understand a system on the aircraft... but who knows, just my .02

[bluedog1976]

MMM. As close to CFIT as you want to achieve. Lu

cky

[SouthernOregonOrgani]

"I figure the planes smokin, why shouldn't you?"

XD!! If im on a plane that is "smoking" I would hope the pilot would turn off the no smoking signs and say those exact words.

[atr98]

Very Impressive - Thank you for posting.

BeatUp Old Jet Airliner - LMAO

Hope the pilot didnt get into to much trouble

[irishegan]

I got an incentive ride last year, if that would have happened, I think that would have freaked me out quite a bit. They should show that video to people right before taking off to scare the hell out of them.

[admiralnomad]

What do you mean about vulgarity? I always use civil language. The comment about exxageration is in response to the above comment stating that a "Jastreb" fighter/trainer was hit by a SAM and lost most of the tail without the pilot's knowlege. This video regarding the F-16 is entirely authentic.

[ATFSCrash]

Sorry the other comments was meant for other posts. Was tired. Only a few brain cells were firing. The other comments were deleted. This video is not exaggerated and is about an F-16.

I;m still not 100%.

[blackbtty123]

I love the line after the song, "I figure the plane is smoking, why shouldn't you?"  lol

[drgrit]

clearly the excuses about ground warning systems in such hilly topography are completely irrelevant when you look at the evidence of cowboy flying in front of your eyes! why would the pilot even bother to embarrass himself with this statement?

[ATFSCrash]

Though it's a pretty lame excuse it serves as a warning to others that might make the same alleged assumptions and lack of understanding about the warning systems.

It is necessary to take risks and fly somewhat like a cowboy on some occasions. This was a remote area so there was little danger to the public. There almost always is some risks in realistic training. Like they say; train like you fight and fight like you train. However he was flying lower than is generally permitted/acceptable.

[Agent0range67]

What is the name of the song?

[ATFSCrash]

It's in the credits lol

beat up old jet liner - bob rivers

[gosciu555]

must have been washing toiles bowls with his toothbrush for the next month hehe

[technoswitch]

that what happens to Cocky pilots,.. pushing limits of low-level flying,.. oppsy daisy

[stockczar]

Bob Rivers must have spent some time on a C-5 before his music career.

[ATFSCrash]

I love the B-52, but I've heard some horrific stories. Many aircraft in service have far exceeded their expected lifespan in hours, cycles or and years. From what I understand some of the B-52s have so many hours that some of the floorboards have worn through from crews resting their feet. Many of the pilots are younger than their aircraft. Particularly in the military, there can be a lack of funding and lack of replacement parts.

[ATFSCrash]

HaHa. Unfortunately the reality is there is some truth to the song, that's part of the reason I think it's funny. Unfortunately it doesn't only apply to one type of aircraft. I'm afraid it applies to many types of aircraft. For security reasons, some of the tooling has been destroyed and manufacturing lines discontinued, so getting new parts can be an issue, particularly when aircraft have long exceeded their expected lifespan.

[admiralnomad]

I'd be a little angry with myself, too.

[jjjazzycraig]

so the question..."how low can you go" was answered.

[RexNunc]

whew!

[TECHKLEC]

I was on an F100 ground crew in Vietnam and the planes used to return to base quite often with shubbery jammed in the ailerons and flaps

[OregonDARRYL]

Well, I hope we all learned something here. I've ridden a motorcycle in such a fashion and have the scars, healed rib, and kidney to show for it. Sometimes when you "push the envelope"..... it tears.

[TheCessnaKid]

A tribute to modern american design! and like the other guy said don't push the envelope, it just might tear

[pentraksil]

I remember when there was war in Bosnia one airplane "Jastreb" was hit bi an anti aircraft missile... The entire tail section of a plane was almost gone and and the engine was still holding....the pilot never knew he was hit until he landed...omg when the mechanics asked him what happened he looked at them like:What??..

[admiralnomad]

The Jastreb is pretty stout, but you don't take that much damage without knowing it. That was likely exaggerated.

[ATFSCrash]

Huh? It's not exaggerated, that's the cockpit tape and the post mishap photos. It's not a reenactment. It's not Hollyweird.

[InLineRecordSource]

I made a tribute video for LT Kevin Davis of the Blue Angels. please look at my photo montage for him in my video section and leave a comment if you choose. thank you

[bravocompany860]

funny andhis simuation right? this song rip

[slikind]

Goof for him the plane still worked.

Did look like much fun, flying like that.

[iremun]

BRAVO

[TomBrooklyn]

4 Stars.

[chestertouristcom]

luck

[gerodinis]

LOL

[ww2footage]

Czech build L-39 Albatross did hit tree too (in 80s) and flew to its base .

[ATFSCrash]

Cool

Know of any public Documentation?

Links?

[ww2footage]

Well I am sorry but I dint find nothing on net about that stuff ,but I remember that L39 did hit some tall tree which was alone on top of some hill and did cutt of that tree by its wing (it was some interwiew with that pilot in TV who said that story - it was as I remember test pilot from Aero Vodochody)

[ATFSCrash]

To bad, I would've loved to know more about the incident and seen the documentation.

There has been similar occurrences, however I don't know any that were quite as dramatic. Since they are embarrassing instances they are often not talked about much publicly, regrettably because much can be learned from them, to prevent others from doing the same.

[JetZaus]

As tough as the F-15, it looked like he took is chances a couple of times, he was getting pretty close to some of those mountains and it looked like is luck finally ran out.... Almost

[MOSKII58]

GREAT SONG LYRICS

[floatta]

Great video, I love the F-16... and the 18, and the 15, and the 35, and the 111, and the 15. lol

[tubewerk]

Why is everyone praising the aircraft? Its primitive camera is utterly useless with its pathetic image quality. It's like some bad movie from the 60's. Those planes are not worth the price.

Despite spiralling defense budgets, the DoD and its suppliers consistently fail to deliver value to consumers. The taxpayer is General Dynamics' real customer, but they just don't seem to care about providing a good customer experience. Even the North Koreans would be ashamed of that third-rate video quality.

[ATFSCrash]

It's clear you don't have a clue what you are talking about, you hung yourself with your own post. How many other cockpit videos of single-engine jet fighters have you seen document the damage, let alone the actual pilot commentary and cockpit video of an aircraft flying through trees? The video is clearly over two decades old. This is real a adult stuff, it's not a video game and it's not some professionally dramatized studio quality Hollywood production.

[ATFSCrash]

The video clearly demonstrates how tough the F-16 & engine can be. I suppose you have a better video of a single-engine fighter hitting a tree and the engine ingesting parts of the tree and documentation that the aircraft returned safely and the damage.

The video is over 20 years old and has been exposed to lots of EM. Do you have any clue about aircraft or science? Clearly not. You have made a fool of yourself and act like a pre-Madonna (spoiled mean ignorant little girl)

[mgh777]

"The taxpayer is General Dynamics' real customer"

GD sold the plant that makes the F-16 to LM years ago.

[TheNewWave27]

The camera is quite good actually, but this vid is degraded with copy and age. The aircraft videos are used for mission debriefs, not for watching MTV rap videos, you thumb-sucking liberal.

[daytraderaz1]

Wolfen..I was a T-37 Instructor Pilot and I also flew CH53s in Europe for a couple of years.

[wolfen281]

It's been while since I crewed F-16's...but pilots usually got medals when they F'd up. They tend to focus on the saving the plane aspect, and not the action that caused the plane to get trashed. Don't get me wrong...I loved the stick actuators :)

[daytraderaz1]

wolfen..you're right. 10 years as a USAF pilot and I noticed exactly that. One time a T-38 instructor pilot and his student ejected from a good plane. They were fighting each other on the controls and bailed out. He got a choice assignment when his tour was up.

[wolfen281]

Good story daytraderaz...kind of beats out most of my stories...pilot runs into Bitburg barrier at hot pits...pilot scrapes speed brakes on runway while landing...pilot gets shot down while flying below his ceiling (<---of course, this is ameliorated by the fact he was a total Rambo stud on the ground : )

What did you fly? Just curious...

wolfen

[IBADomDaddy]

I remember the Crew Chief who was awarded the Accomodation medal for taking his jet to the hush-house, hooking the tailhook to the tie-down's safety pin, and after snapping the pin after run-up, he punched a hole in the hush-house door with the pitot tube. I guess he was awarded for complying with chock jumping proceedures and preventing further equiptment loss and injury.

[leepkrunk]

"Commendation" medal.

[yukbil]

As you can see the nozzles belong to a Pratt & Whitney engine. As far as I know Nellis Vipers didn't/doesn't have GE engines.

[ATFSCrash]

Thanks.

I was told very shortly after I posted it that it was a P&W, they have a smaller intake (since they produce less power, j/k).

Also by the tail number, was able to prove it was a P&W.

Thanks to the people at F-16dotnet

[akjetmech]

That was a pratt, you can tell by the outer flaps on the aft part of the engine.

[albionsseed]

That had to be a Pratt engine, the engines made by the light bulb company tend to come apart on their own, no trees required!!!

[mgh777]

Pratt motors on the other hanb stall and leak oil everywhere.

[wolfen281]

Blow out queens too. Worked both engines in the F-16. Pilots like the Pratt...Crew Chiefs liked the GE.

[jlebesis]

LOL good call. hehe :)

[ATFSCrash]

General Electric's engines also have a reputation for being tough. In one case someone left some tools in a test cell unbeknownst to everyone else. Somehow it was overlooked. They started up and ran the engine; it ate a small stepladder and some small hand tools. The engine was badly damaged, yet it still ran. They even restarted it and ran it more.

[ATFSCrash]

They even turned their mishap into a benefit by using the incident in part of their sales pitches to document how tough some of their engines can be. (Obviously the engine I am talking about is larger than the one put in the F-16, however it demonstrates how rugged General Electric engines can be)

[IBADomDaddy]

I have a GE toaster oven that is "slow to light". haha!

[anhacus]

Yeah, but he accomplished a maneuver that very few test pilots would even try. And showed the engine could keep on running after eating trees and brush and maybe a couple of cute little prairie dogs...

[OpeiGrafikka]

He's a lucky boy, also lucky that it was most likely a P&W Turbine, they had some of the most exhaustive tests of any of the manufacturers. Impressive that he didn't even need to (or remember) retrim. The engineers would've loved hearing about that one.

[jakobole]

Yep - he's in dogfight-mode with AIM-9 selected. He even changes it from "SPOT" to "SCAN" mode a couple of times I think.

Anyway- I can't understand why he opted for dogfight mode flying low, since there's no FPM. He could've used missile-override were you have both pitch-ladder and FPM on HUD. The radar will go back to "CRM" but that can be changed back to "ACM" if need be.

[MrBentor]

I too have hit a tree with an aircraft but wasn't so lucky, I totaled it.

[pete2778]

I hope they took it out of his wages!

[ATFSCrash]

That is a possibility.  One of my friends said he had to pay for a canopy for an F-16, though I am not sure he was not joking, though he sounded as if he was serious. He exceeded the recommended airspeed and a mock dogfight, and they excessive airspeed was enough to melt/craze the canopy.

[Crashman2]

Cool stuff!

[av8rpei]

Yea, looks like Aim9 mode.

[velanstiz]

Was he flying with in dogfight mode? Cos his HUD symbology sure doesn't look like he's in nav mode.

[aflack]

WOW I did not know that about 132! Thats one of the birds I work on! It is a damn good plane!

[sjishah]

Man that was acceidently happend and by the chance engine works fine then they make that Video i know few F16 in my country fall by Birds...Thats Good joke for professionals.