Blue Angel F-18 down

[Marcus]

Hi all

Just seen on Fox-News. A Blue Angel F-18 has gone down at the end of an airshow. The pilot apparently being killed. What I could pick up from the breaking news was that the aircraft struck high tension power lines while rejoining the formation.

Groete

Marcus

[Dave Homewood]

abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3064295

Bad news

[ARU]

found a bit of video of the accident, you cant see much, looks like the aircraft was pulling in behind the formation and lost power?




gotta love the contradicting news readers (how many injured)

[Kereru]

aru said:

found a bit of video of the accident, you cant see much, looks like the aircraft was pulling in behind the formation and lost power?




gotta love the contradicting news readers (how many injured)

Link shows this message now?
This video has been removed due to terms of use violation.

Colin

[FlyNavy]

Second half of video (1.3Mb .FLV) repeats first part with a highlight of Blue Angel No.6 being seen for the last time disappearing behind trees.

[ARU]

i dont know what violation it breaking its only the same as the one above

[FlyNavy]

Speculation about cause of accident relayed from elsewhere:

"...from some USN guys re the recent Blue Angels prang.

The GLOC theory seems to be the consensus, pending data gleaned
from the flight recorder and wreckage. Another factor that I may not
have mentioned before is that the since the Hornet has an "autotrim"
feature that works constantly to trim the a/c to 1 "G" flight (hence the
smooth, easy flying qualities), the Blues rig a mechanism with
adjustable springs to provide constant stick down force (10 to 20 lbs.).
This allows the diamond pilots to just ease the constant pull on the
stick to get a pitch down movement of the nose, allowing more precise
pitch control and to drop down out of the formation if they get in PIO
when flying the close 36" a/c to a/c clearance. In the case of the
solos, they usually use closer to 20 lbs. of down force; thereby
allowing them when doing the inverted maneuvers to roll upside down and
release the stick pressure to hold level inverted flight, vice having to
push forward on the stick (You recall how difficult and uncomfortable it
is to control negative Gs). Obviously, the downside is that if there
was a GLOC or even temporary disorientation/incapacitation, not holding
the constant back pressure on the stick causes an immediate pitch down
of the nose."

[Barnsey]

From the video, it looks like he's pulling hard to try and make the rejoin, and GLOC would be my opinion after watching the video. (I acknowledge that this is purely my own speculation and is not based on any facts).

I seem to remember that the Blue Angel pilots don't wear G-Suits, as the inflation of the cuffs would move their arm (the forearm rests on the thigh), which will move controls and upset the formation position.

[FlyNavy]

Barnesy,
I believe most aerobatic jet teams today do not have G suits in use for reasons you describe. After a fatal 2 crew Blue Angel crash (1 aircraft) in practice it was thought that lack of a G suit was a factor. However the other considerations as you describe were thought to over ride this concern. I believe the crash pilot had injured ribs that prevented a proper response to the G force (albeit without a G suit). I guess this 1999 pilot should not have been flying (not medically fit). The pressure is that there is no backup pilot in the Blue Angels team. No.7 is not involved in formation flying.
Phil.

[corsair67]

Found this story on US Today.


Blue Angel pilot 'fascinated' by flying

By David Weber, AP writer.


BOSTON — Even as a young boy, Navy Blue Angels Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis was intrigued by speed.
"He was fascinated with airplanes from the time he was little," former neighbor Betty Sweeney said. "He knew what he wanted to do, and he did it. That's the only relief, that he went doing what he wanted to do."

The 32-year-old Navy lieutenant commander was killed Saturday when the F/A-18 Hornet jet he piloted as a member of the Blue Angels team crashed during an air show in a residential area of Beaufort, S.C.

He joined the Blue Angels in September 2005. A Navy statement said the pilot had been on the team for two years — and this was his first year as a demonstration pilot.

Another former neighbor, Tom McGill, taught at Taconic High School, where Davis' father, John, was principal. McGill said John Davis and his wife, Ann, who now live in Aiken, S.C., were in the crowd at the air show Saturday.

Sweeney had not seen Davis for several years, but remembered him as a small boy in their western Massachusetts town of Pittsfield.

"My son, David, had a motorcycle, and he (Davis) was so interested in that when he was a kid. He used to call my son 'Motorcycle Dave,'" she said.

Peggy Gleason recalled that Davis appeared at her door each weekday morning to walk her daughter, Kristen, to the neighborhood elementary school they attended together.

"He was this cute little kid who used to show up at the door. He always had a smile on his face. And he was just as handsome as he was nice," Gleason said.

She said Kristen happened to be home with her parents when news of the Blue Angels crash was broadcast on television.

"She was devastated. She's taking it very hard," Gleason said.

Kevin Davis, who was single, was the youngest of three sons, McGill said. The oldest, Christian, is a Navy supply officer, and middle brother Phil is a teacher in China.

"Kevin was a highly motivated young man. He loved planes. He was a good student and a very conscientious young man," McGill said.

Although Davis spent his early years in Pittsfield, he graduated in 1992 from Reading Memorial High School after the family moved east when his father took the job of school superintendent in Somerville.

Davis graduated with honors in 1996 from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., according to the Blue Angels' website. In September that year, he entered officer candidate school at Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla.

He earned "Top Stick" status in his class at Fighter Squadron 101 at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va., while training in F-14 Tomcat jets. He flew missions supporting the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and graduated from Navy Flight Weapons School in 2004.

[atfscrash]

Crash Investigation of a Mock Dogfight & other videos.

This is an investigation of an old crash during a practice dogfight. Exclusive, as far as I know this is the first time this video has been readily available to the general public.


Crash Investigation of a Mock Dogfight Mishap


I think this crash was a result of GLOC. If you look at the primitive old fashion computer graphics of the simulation of the crash, you will see that there are three Starburst in the path of the aircraft. I think the Starbursts are bookmarks that represent stick/control inputs, I think the first Starburst is when the pilot started a tight turn and started to pull G’s. I think the second Starburst is when there was no more stick/control inputs, so it's likely when the pilot lost consciousness. The third Starburst I think represents when the pilot started to regain conscious and apply stick/control inputs. Though apparently the pilot started to regain consciousness before the crash, he evidently wasn't conscious enough to properly controlled aircraft.

After a person GLOC’s the pilot stops flying the aircraft, so the aircraft has a tendency to go into a 1G roll, sometimes a spin.

So what happens in a tight turn, is the pilot will put in inputs that make the plane turn and pull Gs, if a pilot loses consciousness the controls usually go neutral, which usually allows the aircraft ease off on the G, however since the aircraft is not controlled, fighters have a tendency to roll and dive if they are not controlled.

The computers simulation in the video was made from data gathered from data recorders, and possibly air and ground tracking.

On April 21 2007 one of the Blue Angels crashed (Kevin 'Kojak' Davis). I don't mean to interfere with the investigation, I have respect and reasonable faith in the investigation. With all due respect, I would like to speculate, that the loss was possibly due to GLOC.

By no means am I am positive that that is what happened with the Blue Angels, however I can't help but notice some glaring similarities. There are some things that could look very similar though. I'm sure that the investigators are aware and educated. They also have the advantage of having the data to study.

I suspect the Blue Angels have seen this video, I think it is (or was) in the curriculum for all fighter pilots in the US military, as part of safety awareness training.

GLOC = Gravity induced Loss of Consciousness

GLOC Gravity induced Loss Of Consciousness Part 1 of 2


GLOC Gravity induced Loss Of Consciousness Part 2 of 2


GLOC in flight. (2 examples) Warning: Explicit Language


GLOC Centrifuge Training

[FlyNavy]

Thanks for the explanation about what we are seeing in the video (I had trouble deciphering it all). The speculation straight away about the recent Blue Angel fatal crash was "GLOC" but I have not looked for anything further. A 1.8Mb PDF about GLOC from an aviation medical viewpoint is available here:

files.filefront.com/GforceGLOCexplainedpdf/;8204128;;/fileinfo.html
OR
hosted.filefront.com/SpazSinbad/
(name of file is "GforceGLOCexplained+.pdf"

I'll check out those other interesting links. Thanks.
Phil.