Posted on 05/15/2024 6:01:29 AM PDT by Red Badger
An Air Force instructor pilot died early in the morning on May 14 from injuries sustained when the pilot’s T-6A Texan II training plane ejection seat activated during ground operations the day before, the 82nd Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, announced in a press release.
“An investigation into the cause of the incident is underway,” the wing wrote, adding that the pilot’s name is being withheld for 24 hours to notify his or her next of kin.
The 82nd is the host unit at Sheppard, but the pilot was assigned to the 80th Flying Training Wing, the unit which runs the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) Program, a multinational school where students and instructors from across NATO learn and teach the basics of flying.
The wing flies the T-6, a two-seat propeller plane often used for basic aviation lessons in undergraduate pilot training, and the T-38, a two-seat jet typically used to teach future fighter and bomber pilots. Two years ago, 76 T-6s and 203 T-38s were grounded due to concerns about potentially faulty ejection seat parts. The grounding affected 40 percent of the T-38 fleet and 15 percent of the T-6 fleet.
At the time, Air Force Materiel Command said the explosive cartridges used in the ejection seats may suffer from “quality defects.” Each seat has multiple and redundant explosive cartridges. Two months after the stand-down, the Air Force had found no faulty cartridges on any of the T-6s, Breaking Defense reported at the time.
“Our primary concern is the safety of our Airmen and it is imperative that they have confidence in our equipment,” Maj. Gen. Craig Wills, then-head of the 19th Air Force, said at the time.
The average age of the T-6 fleet is 17 years old, according to 2023 data. While spry compared to the T-38’s average age of about 56 years, senior Air Force leaders say the age of trainer aircraft is slowing down pilot production.
“From the time they [student pilots] are commissioned—because of the challenges we’re having with T-6 and T-38—we have a little bit of a backup. It can be as many as four years,” then-Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin told the House Armed Services Committee in 2023. “So almost an 18 month- to 24 month-wait just to get into pilot training.”
A T-6 made an emergency “belly flop” landing at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, on April 3 after its pilot declared an in-flight emergency. No one was injured in the incident.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more details become available.
I did not work on Seats but had to attend classes because I worked in the cockpit. You are sitting on an explosive seat; on the flight line, they are fully armed, and a series of wire pins are the only thing between you and a bad day. The seat and LOX system were the only things that made me nervous working around jets. Lots of gruesome videos to watch in training.
My father flew one of these 75 years ago, and it definitely did not have an ejection seat.
I was a plane captain in the navy.
The last thing you do before the pilot gets into the aircraft, is unpin the seat.
The first thing you do when the pilot exits the aircraft is pin the seat.
This goes for back seaters too.
If the seat is pinned it cannot be manually activated.
This means a failure of the seat itself.
Why wasn’t the safety pin installed, or was it removed during the pre-flight?
Not if the canopy was closed.
I worked the EA-6B...
7 pins in that ejection seat
I don’t know details but it should be a top priority to the Investigation. There’s usually multiple Safety Lockouts.
A squadron of those flies over the Santa Ana Cemetery in Santa Ana, Calif. each Memorial Day as part of a ceremony to honor our veterans.
Ejection is designed to get you far enough from the plane to be safe. It has to be powerful enough to get aircrew over the tail that may be coming at you at mach speed, plus.
I heard stories of a suicide by ejection seat, inside a hangar. Even a low altitude ejection can be injurious if the seat’s parachute doesn’t have time to properly deploy. Ejection is a best-option in a worst case scenario.
True. I think there are three pins that have to be pulled. Not knowing the full story but I think the pins were pulled and ready to roll out ... waiting for the results.
Oh man. Prayers for the pilot and his/her family.
The streamers are attention-getting indicators that interdiction pins are installed. With the pins in place, the seat can’t launch. In a mishap, it could still ignite.
Someone must have removed the NOT A SEAT ADJUSTING LEVER tag.
Thanks. Since my son flew the T-6 in pilot training, I will also ask his opinion. I am sure they heard about it rather quickly.
There you go again....assuming pronouns. That’ll get ya 5 years in Canada................
They are. They are safed on the ground with pins the pilot removes during preflight prep (using a checklist). Most incidents like this occur when something snags the seat ejection handle.
Another scenario is that the pilot wasn't strapped in and accidently activated the handle. The parachute is integrated into the seat and the pilots straps it on upon entry and flight prep. He goes with the seat but is separated after ejection.
Incidents like this have happened before.
The other possibility is seat or chute failure to achieve safe deployment. We just won't know until the accident investigation.
Yes, it’s highly likely that the pilot wasn’t strapped in.
Could an open canopy, or, not having seat belts on be the problem?
Notice, as soon as the seat clears the canopy, the "Pilot Chute" is deployed instantly. It should have worked.
“Minor backup” is FOUR YEARS AFTER COMMISSIONING!
He’ll. WWII was over before today’s Air Force can commission and train a pilot.
I’ve read that the process of ‘ejecting’ is very dangerous even under the best circumstances.
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