Forum: General

habu2, where did you find those photos-----awesome. Is there a chance there could be more, especially of the crash scene before everything was picked up? I've tried searching for Tburned1.jpg on the web and nothing!

Thanks a bunch

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Just found something interesting about the head-on photo from the tower.

Below is a quote from http://www.rapp.org/. This is found in the comments section under "Thunderbird Crash":

I was the photgrapher on top of the control tower that took the picture you see above of the ejection. I was just wondering where did you get the image from? The image will soon be released through the Air Force, I see somehow it was leaked early.

Thanks!
SSgt Bennie J. Davis III
Still Photographer, USAF

Posted by Bennie Davis at January 28, 2004 09:50 PM

habu2, The triangle wedge of the leg guard shows up well in the shot. It caught my eye instantly. I used Paint Shop Pro to brighten and enlarge the image for viewing as well.

I am not sure what the vertical tail is made of, but if it is carbon fiber or other composite, they wrap that too to prevent contamination of the area from burned debris. The cockpit area debris is wrapped to prevent loss of small parts, which also might have been done to the tail. Hard to say.

Kevin
The Ejection Site

The vertical tail is conventional aluminum stringer construction. The actual rudder control surface may be composite, not sure, but it appears to be missing in the photo anyway.

I have noticed similar things in other post-crash photos, especially commercial. Any identifying logos ro markings are covered to minimize any "bad PR".

Burned and/or shattered composite pieces can release tiny fibers that can be very uncomfortable/unhealthy to inhale or come in contact with. I remember this from the post-crash discussions of the YF-22, V-22 and F-117.

heatseeker, the photos were on a little-read thread over on ARC. I PM'd the poster for info/permission but after 2+ days he had not responded so I took it upon myself to 'liberate' them. Embarassed

Looks like he may be a new/infrequent visitor to that site. Here is a link to the thread:

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/f ... 9b0a425b47

The photos are a little larger there and are bmps, not jpgs. I downsized them to fit our 500 pixel wide standard on this site and renamed them at that time - that's why your search on the filenames turned up empty.

Kevin, you may be able to get more detail on the seat from the original image.

habu2, thanks.

I dled the BMPs and took a look. The seat is twisted more than it looks in the dark photo. The left side is twisted sideways to the point that its leg guard looks like it is on the right side in the above photo. Looks like this is due to the seat ground impact on the bottom which shoved the bucket section forward, upward, and slightly to the right. I can't see the mast area where the ROCAT is mounted so it might have been broken off, but the photo is not clear enough to tell. The seat is resting on the right rear at about a 30 degree list to the right, and about a 45 degree tilt back.

To the left of the left leg guard wedge I mentioned before you can see a dark area where close inspection will reveal the right leg guard wedge. It is pretty far to the left, which gives you a hint as to the relative position of the seat bucket to the seat back. (The dark area itself appears to be a curved panel akin to a landing gear door or access panel.) The headrest is visible just below the wingtip in the photo for orientation.

The mishap report mentions the seat was damaged by the fire. I can't see much sign of that, except for the blackening, but the twisting and distortion of the seat chassis could be partly from the heat too. There is some debris that could be the padding or other material on the seat too. It is impossible to be more specific based only on this one small photo.

Kevin
The Ejection Site

Looking at the photo again I just realised that the 'curved panel' is actually probably the seat back cushion...

Kevin
The Ejection Site

Watch out Kevin, you got me looking and playing with photoshop.

You are correct on the seat cushion and the left leg guard does look bent on the lower support arm.

Is it me or doesn't the headrest look like it's bent forward. It might be the angle the seat is sitting, but I don't think so.

By the way, I enjoy your website. I have seen it time and time again.

By the way, do you know if Terry Rhodes still has an egress website?

Court

courtpilot, the headrest can be bent, it is hard to say from the pic. The one on my seat is after its ejection, but it is bent back not forward. Depends on how it hits. I've seen ejected seats that are torn in half, and others you have to identify by small parts. Typically I am told that the seats disintegrate if dropped from 1000-8000ft, and have a better chance of taking 'repairable for display' damage higher or lower. A friend has a B-1B seat that dropped from 16,000 and it tore in half at the bucket/back joint.

I haven't heard from Terry in years unfortunately. I've looked occasionally for where his site went to no avail. Funny, he offered to take my site and make sure it would last forever...

Kevin
The Ejection Site

Now that the accident report says it was pilot error, what happens to the pilot? Is he allowed to continue flying with the Thunderbirds, or in the air force?

Thomas B

He's been transfered to another unit. Still in the AF though.

Capt. Chris Strickland is currently working at the Pentagon.

New in our Photo Gallery > F-16 Movie Clips: <a href="PhotoGallery/album44/acb.wmv">Ground crew video of the 2003 Thunderbird crash</a> (1.33Mb)

Wow - does anyone know what part of the aircraft that was that continued out of the fireball? Was that the entire nose section?

habu2, Inertia is the most important thing!!! The only piece to have lots of inertia left at that point of the impact is the engine, which is the largest mass...

Kevin
The Ejection Site

Forum: General

T-Bird crash accident report released