A jet from the U.S. Air Force's precision flying team crashed at an air show in Idaho this afternoon. The pilot ejected safely and was reportedly waving to spectators after gliding down in his parachute.
So the inquiry into this crash was just completed recently. And yesterday a friend of mine sent me a link to the in-cockpit footage of this incident. Pretty impressive.
But that mistake has cost Stricklin his prestigious spot on the Thunderbird team.
You aren't allowed to make mistakes in these circles. Same thing in the Navy: if a ship or boat ever hits anything or if it runs aground, the CO is put "on the beach" as it were. Of course in wartime all bets are off.
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Local Date: 10-08-2008
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I read the inquiry article. Does the Air Force use different names for aerobatic maneuvers than everyone else? The report states the pilot was trying to perform a "Split S", but I was watching the inflight cockpit tape and I gathered that the pilot was performing a "half reverse Cuban eight"......not a "Split S."
A split S should be the reverse of an immelman, so if he went inverted and did half a loop, he did a split S.
Ok, watched the video... I guess that could have been half a cuban eight too, since he was still going up when he inverted. Looks like he just stalled it. Oops!
i've been to over two dozen air shows and i've never seen a jet crash. i did see a blue angel crash while practicing for an air show back in '99 or 2000, can't remember. both pilots died unfortunately and i had to help pick up the pieces of the jet after the human remains had been extracted. that was a sad day.
to the pilot for handling that the way he did.