Posted on 09/16/2014 12:48:19 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
By Dario Leone
The F-15 is not only a famous MiG Killer.
The legendary Eagle is also a very robust aircraft, that can survive some serious damages. As shown by a very well-known incident which occurred in 1983, in the skies over Nahal Tzin in the Negev desert, in Israel, during a mock aerial combat between two Israeli Air Force F-15Ds and four A-4Ns, when one of the Eagles, the F-15D #957 nicknamed ‘Markia Shchakim’, 5 killmarks, used for conversion of a new pilot named Zivi Nedivi, collided mid-air with one of the Skyhawks.
As explained in No Wing F-15, an interesting piece written by John Easley, Zivi didn’t immediately realize what had happened: he felt a big jolt and saw a huge fireball caused by the A-4 explosion, followed by radio communications according to those the Skyhawk pilot had successfully ejected.
He realized that the F-15 was badly damaged when the aircraft fell in a very tight spiral after a huge fuel leak from its right wing.
After regaining the control of the aircraft Nedivi was ordered to eject but decided not to bail out since he was confident he could land the plane at the nearest airfield, 10 miles away, even thought the F-15 was flying on vapors: he began to reduce speed but the missing right wing (that the Israeli pilot was still unaware of) caused a new spin.
Then just before ejecting, Nedivi decided to light the afterburners, gaining speed and managing to somehow control the F-15 once again.
Once he reached the air base, he lowered the tail hook, touched down at about 260 knots, which was twice the speed recommended for a standard landing, and managed to stop the plane about 10 meters before it engaged the Safeland Airfield Arrester Barrier.
As told by Easley, it was only after he turned back to shake his instructor’s hand, that Zivi discovered that he had flown and landed without a wing!
After the mishap, McDonnell Douglas, inquired by the Israeli Air Force, affirmed that it was impossible for an F-15 to with one wing only, but once they received the photo of the Eagle flying without one wing, they said that, pilot skills aside, damaged aircraft had been able to return to the base thanks to the lift generated by both its engine intakes and its fuselage.
Nevertheless proving once again its tremendous strength, after two months the Eagle received a new wing and returned to fly, as you can see in the picture below.
They are able to withstand arrested landings. I’ve personally witnessed many of these on the approach end of the runway, some in excess of 160 knots. They will use the approach end cable which is usually about 1500’ from the runway threshold when they have in-flight problem such as hydraulic failure or an unsafe landing gear indication.
If I remember correctly, an F-15 has a thrust ratio greater than the force of gravity, meaning it can accelerate straight up like a rocket.
Thrust/weight = 1.02
More important for this incident is that the large body generates substantial lift.
FYI...went to site and watched vid.
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No, it’s part of the standard package in case of damaged runway (or, in this case, damaged plane).
I didn’t know Air Force planes had them, I thought just navy planes did
I thought it was just navy planes, now I know. I guess I learned something today
Me too.
They can. I used to live about three miles from Lambert Field in St. Louis where McD built them. My friend was an engineer on the F-15s and would call me up to come out to the flight line to watch them test the aircraft. One day watching a pair of 15’s, they didn’t even get halfway down the runway and went vertical, straight up until you couldn’t see them anymore. Greatest fighter the US ever built (along with the F-18).
The D model F105s had tailhooks. Later F 100s also got them and F 111 s were designed from the beginning with them.
F101/F102/F106 fighters also had hooks but I don’t know if they were added after original design or not.
Better to snag the plane on the concrete and keep them out of the over run barrier———or the trees.
I wonder what he did to piss off the colonel.
Is the F-15 one of the last of the slide-rule fighters?
I vividly recall changing planes at Lambert... TWA was still in business... and I went out to have a smoke and heard a roar and then witnessed an F-15 takeoff, pitch to vertical and just head to the moon... what an awesome, awesome aircraft.
Yup. When he lit the ‘burners, he basically went into ‘rocket mode’. The thrust pretty much allowed him to make it to base (along with piloting skills and b*lls of titanium) .
Great pic, looks like a Vulcan in the background? That plane was the definition of “wing area”.
Now, the F-18 Super Hornet is a different animal, what the F-18 should have been all along. The engines were probably not available though.
It is an eye opener to see a Super Hornet take off without afterburner faster than the original F-18 with AB. Amazing acceleration.
Cool story. F15 has twin tails, so 2 rudders for directional control. If he can get out of the spin using the remaining aileron I guess in this situation there was enough lift from the remaining wing and fuselage, elevators & thrusters to keep flying for a bit. Not sure if it lost wing and tailwing? Still, probably a fluke that I doubt could be replicated if you could try 10,000 times.
You should search for videos about the reaction of the main landing gear of the TSR-2 during landing - awful!
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