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Thunderbird crash at Boise airshow
tv

Posted on 09/14/2003 9:23:48 PM PDT by djf

An F-16 Thunderbird went down at an airshow near Boise. Pilot ejected right before impact and is OK. Pretty dramatic video available, if anyone can find a link.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Idaho
KEYWORDS: airshow; boise; eject; thunderbirds
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To: djf
. From what I've heard about ejecting, I think I might rather crash!

It's not as bad as it onced was. On earlier jets, the seat was fired out by what amounted to an artillery round. Now they use rockets, which give a longer, but gentler shove.

21 posted on 09/14/2003 10:23:17 PM PDT by El Gato (Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
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To: Jeff Gordon
A few years ago during practice, the leader's controls stuck when he was supposed to be pulling out from a loop

Like about 20 years! Time flies when you're having fun. Or when you're getting old. If you're doing both, more power to you.

22 posted on 09/14/2003 10:25:34 PM PDT by El Gato (Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
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To: El Gato
Still, they gotta get you out fast enough to clear the tail. What is it, like 9 or 10 g's?
23 posted on 09/14/2003 10:26:03 PM PDT by djf
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To: El Gato
Like about 20 years!

Really? I could have sworn it was only five or sex years ago. Wasn't it during Carter's presidency? :-)

24 posted on 09/14/2003 10:28:46 PM PDT by Jeff Gordon (Anyone who accepts the LA Times as the truth has no business calling anyone a RINO.)
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To: Jeff Gordon
Really? I could have sworn it was only five or sex years ago. Wasn't it during Carter's presidency? :-)

Sex years ago would have been during the Clinton presidency...

25 posted on 09/14/2003 10:32:07 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Sex years ago would have been during the Clinton presidency

LOL. Good catch!

26 posted on 09/14/2003 10:32:58 PM PDT by Jeff Gordon (Anyone who accepts the LA Times as the truth has no business calling anyone a RINO.)
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To: Jeff Gordon
Your droll storytelling made me laugh ... now I feel bad.
27 posted on 09/14/2003 10:40:35 PM PDT by spodefly (This is my tagline. There are many like it, but this one is mine.)
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To: spodefly
I have never been able to bring myself to watch the Thunderbirds since 1972. The Blue Angels are a different story. They used to fly parts of their show over my house - until the state's ultra liberal representitives caused Moffitt NAS to be shut down.

I am sorry to have made you sad.

28 posted on 09/14/2003 10:57:50 PM PDT by Jeff Gordon (Anyone who accepts the LA Times as the truth has no business calling anyone a RINO.)
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To: Jeff Gordon
So the now the BLUES train at Imperial NAS [kaliforina] I used to see them while I was stationed at MCAS Yuma, AZ.
29 posted on 09/14/2003 11:23:40 PM PDT by Knightsofswing (sic semper tranyis [death to tryants!!])
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To: El Gato
I caught that too, but decided to stay stealth. Readers Digest had an article about it YEARS ago. The cause I beleive was mechanical involving a pin or such for the elevator in the #1's plane. I have no idea where the final report laid the cause (maintenance, structural failure, piolet error. etc.). Oh to be so recent, mean I'd be around 35-40. I could handle that!
30 posted on 09/15/2003 12:15:59 AM PDT by Atchafalaya (1)
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To: djf
Think higher!
31 posted on 09/15/2003 12:18:05 AM PDT by Atchafalaya (1)
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To: Jeff Gordon
Walking and chewing gum can be a bitch at times. I hate when that happens.
32 posted on 09/15/2003 12:22:19 AM PDT by Atchafalaya (1)
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To: dighton
I still think the Thunderbirds should switch aircraft. The F16 may look cool, but they really should use heroic bird. Just think how great of a show they could do with A10 Warthogs.
33 posted on 09/15/2003 3:02:51 AM PDT by Jeff Gordon (Anyone who accepts the LA Times as the truth has no business calling anyone a RINO.)
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To: Starrgaizr
Some crah. That one is going to be in the shop for a while.
34 posted on 09/15/2003 4:34:33 AM PDT by Jimmy Valentine (DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)
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To: djf
My family and I are from Mountain Home and my sister-in-law was at that air show. She kept saying to my parents I am really worried about the show today. I have feeling something bad is going to happen. My parents, both retired air force, reassure her there was nothing to worry about. Kinda weird. Thankfully everyone is safe.
35 posted on 09/15/2003 9:28:38 AM PDT by Rays_Dad
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To: djf
Pilot ejected right before impact and is OK.

Good, because it would have cost us taxpayers $6M to rebuild him.

36 posted on 09/15/2003 9:30:20 AM PDT by rabidralph (Just your average whistle-ass.)
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To: djf
Still, they gotta get you out fast enough to clear the tail. What is it, like 9 or 10 g's?

Probably more than that. Heck the F-16 can pull 9-Gs when everything is working. The airplane might be able to do more than that, but that pilot can't without blacking out. Most people will black out at even lower G levels, but pilots have special gear and special "straining" tecniques to increas their G tolerance. The fact that the F-16 seat leans back quite a bit also helps, by shortening the "vertical" distance between the heart and the brain.

37 posted on 09/15/2003 11:24:41 AM PDT by El Gato (Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
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To: July 4th
Good thing though - there was absolutely nothing left of that plane.

Actually there was a rather large something that went tumbling out in front the general conflagration. You could see it, and then see it kick up a big cloud of dust just before it passed in front of the tower. Probably the engine core.

38 posted on 09/15/2003 11:26:10 AM PDT by El Gato (Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
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To: Atchafalaya
I have no idea where the final report laid the cause (maintenance, structural failure, piolet error. etc.).

I think they laid it on a nut or other FOD left inside the cockpit which fouled the control linkages.

39 posted on 09/15/2003 11:32:16 AM PDT by El Gato (Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
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To: djf
My husband and son saw them just a couple of weeks ago at Hickam AFB. Glad it didn't happen there... I'm not sure it could have happened here without serious injuries to people on the ground. I'm so glad the pilot was able to eject.
40 posted on 09/15/2003 11:33:40 AM PDT by Spyder (Just another day in Paradise)
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