Eject! Eject! Eject!

[RiderX]

Damn, that was a seriously close call.

[Yukonrider]

Shit! That is scary looks like he got out at the last possible second. I bet he had ass diamonds.

[dipstik]

Photojournalism competitions = slayed.

[Jethro]

Is this new, or twenty year old air show footage? There was a filmed air show where a soviet pilot ejected from their newest fighter, which looked similar to an F14 (F18?). I do not know fighter aircraft too well but that footage looks familiar.

[Caucasian Asian]

http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/figh...229/story.html

Happened this afternoon. Video in link.

A CF-18 fighter jet crashed at the Lethbridge Regional Airport on Friday. The pilot was injured in the crash, and was transported to Chinook Regional Hospital.

The pilot was able to pull his parachute and eject before the plane crashed.

The crash happened at 12:20pm on Friday afternoon. Emergency personnel, fire and police attended the scene and cordoned off the area.

The Department of National Defense and Department of Transportation was notified and both are investigating the cause of the crash.

"I can confirm a CF-18 Hornet has crashed during practice for the Lethbridge Air Show," said Capt. Nicole Meszaros, a CFB Cold Lake spokeswoman. "The pilot, we are very thankful to say, is OK. We believe at this point that his injuries are not life-threatening."

The pilot has been identified as Capt. Brian Bews, and according to Meszaros said he is attached to 3 Wing, from CFB Bagotville, in Quebec.

"Capt. Bews, like any of our F-18 pilots, is highly trained, highly skilled and highly capable,"said Capt. Holly Brown, a spokeswoman for 1 Canadian Air Division. "It's a long journey to become an F-18 pilot, and our demo pilots are exceptionally proven. It's an honour to be selected as a demo pilot.

The plane's crew is apparently based in Cold Lake, Alberta.

The Lethbridge airshow starts tomorrow, and will go ahead despite the crash.

Canada has lost 16 CF-18s, incurring eight pilot deaths as of 4 April 2009.

[hop]

Is this new, or twenty year old air show footage? There was a filmed air show where a soviet pilot ejected from their newest fighter, which looked similar to an F14 (F18?). I do not know fighter aircraft too well but that footage looks familiar.

That was a MiG-29 "Fulcrum" in Paris back in 1989 and the crash was apparently caused by a bird strike or something. I guess the take-home message is in order to be a successful fighter pilot (or military pilot in general), you must have brass balls and nerves of steel.

[Jethro]

Thanks for that video link. I wonder if the pilot was trying some vertical stall manuever that went wrong? It did not look like the pilot touched down very hard, but ejection can be very violent. That shows their training. I would drive that thing into the ground before ejecting, in the hope of saving it. Not counting the value of a human life, the military would much rather have a live pilot. By the time pilots are flying these machines, there is quite an investment in them.

[nesta]

it's OK to crash & burn a CF-18, we're getting some of these

[frorider]

can't someone muster a derogatory canadian joke here?

[Ripzalot]

scary! there's an air show here in switzerland, i thought at first it was from here.

i saw two flyovers over lake geneva yesterday, a jet did a big U turn over the lake and double backed to the east. then a little later two small prop planes (looked like WW2) flew west to east over the lake. i did a search and found there is a big airshow in Emmen near Lucerne this weekend.

http://www.emmen2010.ch/

[That was Pontus]

Could have been out of a job next week but the fucker missed the warehouse with that beast....

Serious vibes to the bro, gotta be a serious kick to the ego.

[XtrPickels]

Its fortunate that "staying alive" was playing in the background at the time.

[tarkman1]

Chalk up another Class A mishap in the name of air shows. At least the pilot made it out in one piece, but probably about two inches shorter in height as a result from his little seat ride.

[kevok2]

Chalk up another Class A mishap in the name of air shows. At least the pilot made it out in one piece, but probably about two inches shorter in height as a result from his little seat ride.

Spine decompresses eventually, but until then he can pull the "The reason I'm shorter than you is I ejected from my jet fighter 4 plane lengths from the ground" line with the ladies in the bar.

I enjoy non-fatal military crashes, helps the aerospace industry a bit. Especially when they don't involve U.S. tax dollars incinerating

[Theodore]

I saw this on another forum and they mentioned some decent points. Look at the exhaust nozzles. The port one is larger and the starboard is smaller, indicating some sort of engine failure. As for his injuries, some neck issues are guessed. Look at his head, it's taking all the weight from the ejection leaning forward, not compressing his spine. Regardless, good quick thinking on the pilots behalf.

[kevok2]

As for his injuries, some neck issues are guessed. Look at his head, it's taking all the weight from the ejection leaning forward, not compressing his spine. Regardless, good quick thinking on the pilots behalf.

Ejection from an aircraft is a pretty violent event. "Eject" even sounds mechanical and abrupt. The seats are angled back to prevent injury but it's kind of inevitable--they do keep you alive though. Although his head is forward (which it shouldn't have been, but in the moment leading your head back is the last thing you're thinking about,) spinal compression is pretty much a given. He'll be taking Ibuprofen for awhile.

It appears that his starboard engine failed. It wouldn't have been an issue at higher speeds since one engine is sufficient to maintain stability, but in a near-stall maneuver like that you're SOL.

Its fortunate that "staying alive" was playing in the background at the time.

Holy shit I thought you were joking, then I watched the video

[unitofstuff]

Ejection from an aircraft is a pretty violent event.

Looking at the pictures, the chute opening may have been just as violent as the ejection.

[Gripen]

That was a MiG-29 "Fulcrum" in Paris back in 1989 and the crash was apparently caused by a bird strike or something. I guess the take-home message is in order to be a successful fighter pilot (or military pilot in general), you must have brass balls and nerves of steel.

Russian aircraft have a panache for crashing at airshows, Paris 1989, Italy 1990 RIAT 1993, Paris again 1999, Lviv 2002, Poland 2009.

[L7]

Look where his seat landed. I wonder how far he landed from the raging inferno. That's got to be a real hazard.

[Roberto]

I would expect the concussive force of the explosions shockwave at that distance to have contributed to his injuries as well. Pretty amazing shots and one lucky dude.

[powdork]

Look where his seat landed. I wonder how far he landed from the raging inferno. That's got to be a real hazard.

that was the first thing i thought.


the 2nd was: -1,000 points for losing control of vehicle within the vehicle control zone.

[splat]

My friend's dad crashed an F4 Phantom when we were kids but ejected safely.
He said there was a cannon shell under the seat for ejection propulsion.
I tried to find some verification about that. It fucked up his back.

[krp8128]

My friend's dad crashed an F4 Phantom when we were kids but ejected safely.
He said there was a cannon shell under the seat for ejection propulsion.
I tried to find some verification about that. It fucked up his back.

Dual rocket motor FTW

[legallyillegal]

well, that's one jet that won't be making the trip out here for our airshow

[montanaskier]

why does Canada have fighter jets?