Sussex Airshow Crash

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ehbuddy
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Sussex Airshow Crash

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J31
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by J31 »

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Rockie
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by Rockie »

What a horrible tragedy. There was a banner at the bottom of the video saying the pilot was in critical condition but it's impossible to believe he could have survived that.
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cncpc
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by cncpc »

Rockie wrote:What a horrible tragedy. There was a banner at the bottom of the video saying the pilot was in critical condition but it's impossible to believe he could have survived that.
I got this photo from an English paper. I expect it's a frame grab from a video and that the aircraft may still be moving. But you can see a pretty intact cockpit area, with the canopy up and not bent in any way. And the area is out of the fire, which did not last as a fireball anyway for very long. He did survive as of last night, in critical condition. I guess its possible he ejected on the ground. There is a photo of him low down in the cockpit just above the trees. Not sure if its just before the accident or on a previous pass. Former BA captain and very experienced demo guy.
hunter crash.jpg
hunter crash.jpg (74.11 KiB) Viewed 7384 times
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cdnpilot77
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by cdnpilot77 »

That is an incredible pic!
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Rockie
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by Rockie »

cncpc wrote:Former BA captain and very experienced demo guy.
And a very lucky man if he pulls through which I sincerely hope he does. In the video it appears as if he started to perform a barrel roll but pulled straight through from inverted without the required altitude instead of completing the roll. Watching it reminded me of the 1988 Frecce Tricolori crash in Ramstein which was an even more horrific accident.
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cgzro
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by cgzro »

Damn.. thats pretty horrific. Thoughts go out to everybody touched by this.

Looks like a loop with a roll incorporated to give a 90 degree heading change, surprising at an airshow. Guess thats called a 1/4 "cloverleaf". Heading change appeared deliberate and thought through. On the exit he looks like he got a slight high G stall but recovered , that saved his life. Anyway he was at clearly max cl at the bottom pulling to the buffet which what you need to do. Presumably he was at full power.

Manoeuver started at only a few hundred feet which is very surprising because the top gate (airspeed altitude) would have to be spot on to make the recovery altitude. The recovery altitude error (in this case say 200ft on a say 3000+ ft radius loop) would be a square of any error in the gate. Even an insect or bug in the static or pitot would have dramatic consequences not to mention human error or any hicup in power.

I wish airshow pilots would stop vertical recoveries with such tiny margines for error. Do a nice 4 pt roll down the runway instead.. safe and easy.


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cncpc
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by cncpc »

Any thoughts on whether he ejected in that crash sequence? The canopy is up, but wouldn't it completely blow off? There is something on fire flying up in the air there, but no canopy.
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ehbuddy
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

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boeingboy
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by boeingboy »

Any thoughts on whether he ejected in that crash sequence?
No - I heard it had cold seats. This is actually not unusual. Most civilian jets have cold seats as you either cant get charges anymore - or its incredibly expensive and needs to be serviced by the manufacture or the military ( both of who rarely service civilian seats)

Personally - I never fly in a ship with cold seats.
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Rockie
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by Rockie »

I was approached several years ago to fly civilian T-33's and my first question was the seat. The answer was "cold" so as much as I would have loved to get back into them I declined.
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Changes in Latitudes
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by Changes in Latitudes »

When I think about the physical anguish this individual is going through and the coming mental anguish, my heart breaks.

Image

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GRK2
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by GRK2 »

Asked a friend and colleague who is Airshow qualified on the Hunter about the manoeuvre...and he says that unless it's rolled in at the top, or the top of the loop is at 5000 agl and a minimum of 250 knots, the whole thing should be abandoned and, as someone above noted, a speed pass with a 4 point roll used instead. In this case it's also possible he lost the airshow line at the top as well, he ended up almost 90 degrees to the flight line. The airshow guys I know all say that when you lose your line and can't re-aquire, then get out of the box and enter with a different plan. My friend says that it's a bad move in the Hunter to try to pull out of a dive with not enough room, the G max will always win...this guy may have been an experienced airline pilot, but in this case he under estimated his recovery ability and we all see what happened. Sad to be sure, I hope he can add to the solving of what happened. That high speed, high G stall at that level is a killer in the Hunter. I'm no fighter/airshow guy, most of my time is airline, but the basics still remain...always have a plan B...seems maybe this guy left that out of his routine.
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Stubby Phillips
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by Stubby Phillips »

In some videos and photos the flaps are partially deployed. Would that be normal?
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cgzro
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by cgzro »

flaps apparently normal in that a/c for aerobatics.

uk govt reaction appears to be a quick restriction on vintage jets to only fly bys.

i think the roll in the loop was deliberate, ie 1/4 clover. I'd not be surprised by a prop plane loosing heading due to all the adverse yaw but a jet? It looked pretty deliberate to me but .. .
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Rockie
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by Rockie »

cgzro wrote:i think the roll in the loop was deliberate, ie 1/4 clover. I'd not be surprised by a prop plane loosing heading due to all the adverse yaw but a jet? It looked pretty deliberate to me but .. .
Older jets with a centrifugal flow engine were prone to gyroscopic effects when pitching the airplane especially at slow speed over the top of a loop. The face of the engine is after all a big gyro, and it did need to be compensated for doing aerobatics and even normal turns, but the effect is nothing like what this fellow did and the Hunter is axial flow anyway. The roll was definitely deliberate since it started at a constant rate at around 45 degrees pitch and a high airspeed, ending 90 degrees off heading. Whether it was an aborted barrel roll or 1/4 clover remains to be seen. If he did go over the top too low for a planned clover there was still time to roll off it up until he was going straight back down but he didn't do that obviously.
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karmutzen
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by karmutzen »

Interesting reaction from some of the UK military aviation community: it is ok for a pilot to die in an airshow routine (heard that here too), it is ok for paying spectators to die in an airshow accident because they should have known the risks (never heard that here), and finally, some collateral damage of fatalities to non-spectators, but the show must go on (with limited skill pilots and old hardware). Three fatal accidents in airshows over there just this year, and total fatalities, now including this one, of 14 and likely to increase. And many more crashes that did not result in fatalities. Forget ICAS, the UK CAA must be braindead in their standards and supervision of airshows. All these accidents are going to kill the airshow industry, and aviation right behind it.
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cgzro
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by cgzro »

looking more closely at the airport diagram and likely showline ( 02-20? ) it looks like he planned a 1/4 clover flown 90 degrees towards the extended centerline (so at his 2:00 as he approached) with a very slow and methodical left roll to cause a right 90 degree heading change at loop exit. I cant see what else he could have been planning to get on the showline while staying in the likely waivered airapace given his approach direction. That would have set him up for either a bananna pass or level fly by.
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Rockie
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by Rockie »

Looking at your geometry it seems to me (if the geometry is correct) that he may have intended a pitch up and rolling maneuver to align himself with the show line. Pretty to be sure, but not something that could be done by the numbers with something between 0 and 90 degrees entry. It would require constant visual with the show line and exit vector, or landmarks that led you there. Difficult to do on an oblique, looping and rolling entry at the best of times and easy to screw up.

It doesn't take a lot to imagine over concentrating on lineup to the detriment of vertical awareness. Once past the point of no return all that's left is full thrust, pointing the lift vector straight up and pulling to the max that the wing can sustain without stalling.

I hate thinking what was going through his mind when he realized he was in deep s**t.
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cgzro
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Re: Sussex Airshow Crash

Post by cgzro »

Yes, unlike a loop which can be flown basically "by the numbers" ie entry speed , G at entry, pull gate etc as function of density altitude plus a margin this is more difficult because the roll rate factors into it and the moving lift vector. It would take a lot of practice at $5000/hr.

A similar problem occurs if you do a loop with a strong crosswind. It causes you to corkscrew over the ground (but loop in the air) which is fine energy wise but if you get fancy and correct for it (say to avoid blowing over the show line) by rolling slightly into it then you loop cleanly over the ground but corkscrew in the air and that means your lift vector was not working 100% to get you around the loop, some was moving you. At the surface that loss of energy could be fatal.

Anyway all just speculation.
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