Posted on 05/20/2020 4:40:34 AM PDT by Yo-Yo
BY TYLER ROGOWAY MAY 20, 2020
THE WAR ZONE
Details remain scarce at this time, but an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that was flying out of Eglin AFB, which is located on the Florida panhandle, has crashed. Thankfully, the pilot was able to eject and is safe. The incident occurred at around 9:30 pm local time and the F-35A was on a routine night training mission.
This is the second crash of an aircraft operating out of the base in less than a week, with an F-22 Raptor going down on Friday, May 15th. Thankfully, in that incident, the pilot was also able to eject and survive the mishap. If the F-35 is destroyed, it would be the third crash of an F-35 that resulted in a total write-off of the airframe.
Eglin AFB is home to a large number of aircraft. It is a major training base for F-35, and more recently, F-22 aircraft, the latter of which were displaced after Hurricane Michael ravaged nearby Tyndall AFB. Eglin AFB has myriad other missions, including being the home of weapons development for the Air Force's tactical aircraft communities and supporting other developmental missions. The nearby Eglin Range Complex hosts all types of training and weapons development activities, among other events. Duke Field lies deep within in it, and Hurlburt Field, home of Air Force Special Operations Command's headquarters, as well as the Navy's primary air training base of Naval Air Station Pensacola, sit very close by. As such, the base sees many types of aircraft frequent its expansive aprons and runways and the nearby ranges.
We will update this story as more information comes available.
Quite sad - almost as bad as the F-22 that went down last week.
Chinese manufacture grade parts or maintenance screw up? Do we need the answers? Do we want the answers?
Hopefully there’s no trend here. Even in peace time, military operations can be very dangerous.
Training adds an element of this also.
Along the way to becoming competent in an aircraft you first start in the incompetent stage. Things can go wrong during this transition.
IF the F-35 was destroyed? If the pilot ejected the jet definitely didn’t land safely. I saw an F-105 Thunder Chief crash two blocks from my grade school in Vegas in 64. The pilot stayed with the jet and his last words were “I can’t hit the school”. I was so close I saw him go into crash position. Unfortunately it was a huge fireball and they had the whole neighborhood closed off looking for unexploded munitions for months. The pilot was a hero.
Military aviation is an inherently risky endeavor. Sometimes the jet is the problem, sometimes the pilot is the problem, and I suppose we’ll see which was the cause of this crash. The jet can be replaced, the pilot cannot. Glad he got out in time.
If I were an enemy of the US, one of the tools in my bag would be to have operatives well trained as aviation mechanics and join the military or civilian airline industry. There are many ways to subtly sabotage aircraft. The operative may do nothing for years before getting the word to perform their nefarious deed. Seldom will they be detected for whatever sabotage done, the evidence is destroyed in the crash.
Part of this is just because the pilots are getting more flight time because fuel is cheap right now. More flights, more crashes.
Better check the maintenance on those boost pumps.
Is the Air Force still training Saudi pilots there?
The pilot stayed with the jet and his last words were “I can’t hit the school”. “
And those are the people bridges should be named after, not politicians.
Folks, that, there, is a man.
May he be with God.
Why is it schools and jets?
http://faller.ssusd.org/school_info/lieutenant_commander_theodore_h__faller__a_true_he
There will be new job openings firings coming.
I’d like at the Chinese hackers.
Sounds like mainenance.
You mean like the ones who now are allowed to wear turbans?
People point to civil aviation for safety statistics, and the record is really good. Engines are pretty reliable these days. They can run without problems for thousands of hours. Here's the discriminator. Civil aviation runs airframes and engines with huge safety margins built into the design. Military combat training and flight shrinks margin to gain performance, so the engines often see more heat, more stress, more wear and tear. I'd still rather have two engines over one.
Do the F22’s have a bunch of Chinese Computers on board?
One of the reasons I love to take vacation in Ft. Walton Beach (besides the white sand and emerald water) is that there is often an air show of sorts with the variety of aircraft seen over the area.
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