Forum: General F-22A Raptor forum

More news from the "oh crap" column...

Quote:

An F/A-22 Raptor jet crashed just after takeoff at Nellis Air Force Base in the northeast part of the valley. The crash caused a heavy, black cloud of smoke to hang over Las Vegas for some time. News 3's First Response Team Coverage includes Captain Gregg Deacon in Sky 3, and News 3's Steve Crupi reporting on the ground.

Nellis Air Force Base unveiled the F/A-22 Raptor almost two years ago. The stealth plane was unveiled during a special ceremony at Nellis Air Force Base in January of 2003. At the time, it was called "America's sharpest sword."

The high-tech F/A-22 Raptor allows the Air Force to dominate airspace with its speed, power and its capability to attack enemy forces and protect friendly combat units.

Over the past year, there have been at least three crashes at the Nevada Test and Training Range. In one of those accidents, the pilot and passengers did not survive. Six weeks ago, a pilot ejected safely after his Navy F-18 went down about 15 miles northeast of the base. In June, an F-15 fighter jet went down. The pilot ejected safely and was treated for minor injuries on the base. In March, an Air Force Beechcraft went down at the training range, killing four contractors and a civilian pilot.

Source: http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S= ... v=15MUUP3O

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Video mentions the crash occurred on takeoff, the jet crashed on/near the runway at Nellis.

I'm just glad the pilot's OK physically! I can't imagine how bad he feels right about now. I'd like to see the incident report and find out what went wrong.

I'd hate to be the first guy to un-a$$ a F/A-22 and appear before the boards, but at least he is O.k. All egress systems apparently worked, and an eyewitness report I got said he unstrapped his harness and walked away after landing.

I'll be watching for the mishap report on this one. The official release is available <a href="http://www2.acc.af.mil/accnews/dec04/0161.html">here</a>

Kevin
The Ejection Site

ps I have already congratulated Goodrich and the escape systems IPT Team leader on their good work.

Active Member Joined: Jan 06, 2004 - 03:22 PM Posts: 209

Here is all the info currently available:

The F/A-22 took off at 3:44 pm (Pacific time) on a tactics development mission. It crashed about a minute later.

The aircraft was assigned to the 427th test and evaluation squadron. It was not performing an IOT&E mission. Eyewitness reports vary. Some say the aircraft pitched up and down (suggesting pilot-induced oscillation), some say it yawed to the right, nose high (also possible PIO), and others say they saw a jet of flame coming from the middle of the aircraft. All of these reports are being taken and collated.

The wreckage is in two main pieces, both of which burned fiercely. The forward fuselage is lying on its side about 70 feet further down the runway than the aft section, which is upright.

The pilot ejected and was taken to the base hospital. He was kept overnight for observation, but was up and walking around on his own at the hospital. No apparent traumatic injury.

The accident may have been filmed.

All F/A-22s are grounded and are being inspected, but they won’t say what they’re looking for. No flying at Edwards or Tyndall. No word yet on whether the airplane scheduled to go to Langley next week (from Tyndall) will go.

The last IOT&E shot was made yesterday at Nellis, but apparently (not sure yet) not by this aircraft. This was a re-shoot of a mission flown Dec. 7, in which two AMRAAMs were salvoed but one did not work.

Ace02 wrote:

The aircraft was assigned to the 427th test and evaluation squadron.

That would be the 422nd TES... Wink

Of course eyewitnesses are the least reliable source of info. I'll wait for the films and of course for the mishap report. The flames reported might have been the ejection. Hard to say but the rocket from the canopy is a much bigger one than in the F-16, and the seat rockets would also be very visible. The eyewitness report I got didn't mention the flame but did mention the ejection so it could be just a different view of the same event.

Kevin
The Ejection Site

Damn, let's hope the brass is just happy that he was able to get out "successfully", somehow though, I think that they will be playing the $300M factor in their minds more.

The F-22 is already getting a nice crash history. One of the YF-22s had to perform a crash landing (which was done very well, as far as crash landings go) and now this. Definitely not what the 22 project needs, its already facing enough scrutiny and doesn't need "safety concerns" against it as well.

All that said, the important thing is the pilot got himself out.

Active Member Joined: Apr 08, 2004 - 10:40 PM Posts: 203

Me and about half of the Tbirds witnessed the mishap, All I will say is that it did not look like pilot error. It was a sight to see though.

Great news on the driver. The report that he walked away is promising. But you can bank on congressional blowhards to get loads of media face time on this one before all the facts are in. They and the public should be reminded, and often, that it's still a new jet, and any new jet will have it's share of accidents early on. However this one will be particularly spendy. It'll take time to get the bugs out but it will happen. I'm just really, really suruprised we haven't lost a B-2 yet. Kudos to the crew dogs and drivers on that one!

Very good news, indeed. Tankrat, I appreciate your position and discretion, but can you say more? There are quite a few of us here in Marietta GA who are wondering what the hell [Link pending approval] If you can't say, I understand fully, but I just had to ask!

Active Member Joined: Jan 06, 2004 - 03:22 PM Posts: 209

thanks roscoe .. the hazards of cut and past. 422 it is.

the talk of "flames shooting out the side of the jet" (witness accounts) makes me wonder if there was an APU issue. Just a thought ... time will tell I suppose.

A friend of mine was a classmate of the pilot. I won't share his insight (mishap board hasn't even arrived yet) but I will say the reports of flame was most likely the seat rocket. The inside story says aircraft rather than pilot issue (but isn't that what they all say Smile

)

Yeah Roscoe, just like convicts in prison..."Didn't do it...Lawyer f*cked me!" Then again, I wouldn't want to be the one to auger a Raptor into the ground (or anything else for that matter) and then come back and say "Oh, of course I screwed up!" Nobody was hurt. That's the main thing. I kept looking at work today to see if any Raptors would go, but only Eagles and Phantoms were flying today. But, the 43rd's ops tempo is not really that high anyway, so it is easy to miss when one actually does take off.

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

Active Member Joined: Apr 08, 2004 - 10:40 PM Posts: 203

FalconFan wrote:

Very good news, indeed. Tankrat, I appreciate your position and discretion, but can you say more? There are quite a few of us here in Marietta GA who are wondering what the hell happened... If you can't say, I understand fully, but I just had to ask!

I would like to comment, but, I don't think it would be appropiate to discuss at this time.

I can say that I saw the pilot eject safley and walk away from the crash site, thats what is important right now, I will leave it up to the investigators to release the info.

Forum: General F-22A Raptor forum

F-22 Raptor crashes a Nellis AFB, pilot ejects safely