Accident board reports jammed throttle cable led to F-16 crash

F-16.net ^ | November 27, 2007 | Asif Shamim

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

only 50 feet above the desert he decided to eject.

Nobody can say this dude didn't do everything he could.

[VOA]

Nobody can say this dude didn't do everything he could.

I'm not an aviator...but do agree.

He should get some sort of recognition from the manufacturer of
the ejection seat...for doing a real-world test showing the guvmint got
their money's worth in an ejector seat.

[RightWhale]

That happened on my Chevy Caprice. I didn’t have to eject, but it was highly entertaining to the pedestrians in the parking lot.

[xsrdx]

jammed throttle cable

These jets are fly by wire, so this must have been well downstream from the cockpit controls, or the headline is wrong.

Not like he could have jiggled the gas pedal and unstuck it.

[Teflonic]

Too bad they didn’t get their money’s worth in the person assigned to turn on the runway lights.

[MindBender26]

Kudos to the Good Major.... and it must have been a hell of an eight minutes ride!

[xsrdx]

Realising he would not reach the runway and only 50 feet above the desert he decided to eject.

Well now, there's an opportunity for reflections...

[xsrdx]

Realising he would not reach the runway and only 50 feet above the desert he decided to eject.

Well now, there's an opportunity for reflection...

[sionnsar]

That happened on my Chevy Caprice. I didn’t have to eject, but it was highly entertaining to the pedestrians in the parking lot.

Happened on my old '72 Datsun pickup too. Nobody was entertained 'cuz I just turned off the ignition and coasted off to the side.

[sionnsar]

He survived, I hope?

[gathersnomoss]

Has Audi been providing the cable linkage?

[SIDENET]

Happened on my old '72 Datsun pickup too. Nobody was entertained 'cuz I just turned off the ignition and coasted off to the side.

I'm just glad that you didn't have to eject.

[VOA]

“Too bad they didn’t get their money’s worth in the person assigned to
turn on the runway lights.”

Maybe.
But it sounds like an automated system that would switch on automatically
when an emergency landing call would come in. Maybe it’s poorly written:

“The problem was then further compounded when the airfield automated
lights failed to activate when Epperson and his Flight leader radioed
in the emergency.”

I’d love to know if, after the crash, somebody said “NEVER buy those
d-mned Made In China Christmas Tree Lights for the runway again!”

Regardless of details...this sort of “landing” should get included
in some special “survival tales” of History Channel’s “Dogfights”.

[RightWhale]

Yeah, that was an option, but the Chevy had power assist everything and would have really been out of control, so I had to do other things while standing on the brakes and making rubber circles on the pavement.

[gridlock]

I’m just guessing here, but I would imagine that an F-16 glides kinda like a brick with fins. 50 feet of altitude does not buy you a whole lot of time at that sink rate.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

He did eject safely.

[1rudeboy]

Real world? Bah. Here is F-16 ejection seat REAL WORLD. [YouTube]

[VOA]

dang it, my dial-up doesn’t digest YouTube at all.

But I’ll take your word for it that the clip must show a pretty wild ejection.
All I can do is bump the thread...maybe some folks with more bandwidth will
latch onto the clip!

[1rudeboy]

It’s a great video of a F-16 Airforce Thunderbird that tries to do a loop at an airshow. My understanding is that the airfield was higher elevation, and someone forgot to callibrate the altimeter. The pilot punches-out right before the aircraft pancakes. Added bonus: additional video taken from the cockpit.

[IronJack]

Why didn’t he just put it in neutral? Or hit the parking brake?