Bird strike likely cause of crash [F-16]

Air Force Link ^ | 9/19/2003 | AFPN Staff

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

9/19/2003 - HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFPN) -- Air Force investigators determined an F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed after at least one Spot-billed Duck was ingested into the engine, resulting in catastrophic engine failure, according to a report released Sept. 18.

The May 29 crash happened off the end of the runway at Osan Air Base, South Korea.

The mishap pilot was the wingman in a two-ship formation on a night-training mission at the time of the accident. The pilot and a Korean on the ground were slightly injured in the crash.

According to the report, shortly after taking off, the pilot said he saw a grayish object flash in front of him followed by a loud band and an apparent fire in front of his aircraft. The pilot then experienced severe deceleration causing him to be thrown forward in the cockpit. He initiated emergency procedures for an engine fire by raising the nose of his aircraft and releasing his external fuel tanks. After assessing that the engine was not responding properly to his throttle inputs, the pilot ejected safely approximately 12 seconds after liftoff. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact. (Courtesy of Pacific Air Forces News Service)

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I'm glad the guy got out OK.

[Vesuvian]

I'm glad nobody got hurt, but it seems an awfully risky and expensive method to make duck pate'.

[Cathryn Crawford]

I keep telling people that birds are demon-possessed, but no one believes me. Proof at last!

[Eala]

he saw a grayish object flash in front of him followed by a loud band

Bet the loud band did more damage than the duck. *\;-)

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

...the pilot ejected safely approximately 12 seconds after liftoff.

That lousy bird sure made that one a short flight.

Get your duck pate here. It was even cooked in the jet's engine. The only downside is that you have to scrape it off the runway.

[thinktwice]

The flash/bang combination as first indication of problem indicates something more than bird strike.

[boris]

"According to the report, shortly after taking off, the pilot said he saw a grayish object flash in front of him followed by a loud band"

Were they playing Taps? Or maybe the Flight of the Valkyries?...Or "On the Future of Aviation"?

--Boris

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Yep, that's a sure sign that there's trouble in paradise.

[Gritty]

Birds have taken down a lot of airplanes and killed a lot of people. They are a serious aviation hazard.

[Scenic Sounds]

I keep telling people that birds are demon-possessed, but no one believes me. Proof at last!

You know, I'm aware of the hazard that birds can present to jet engines, but it's never been clear to me why that hazard can't be somehow eliminated by perhaps some sort of screen or something. I'm sure that there must be some problem with the obvious solutions, but I've heard what it is.

And birds are not evil, Cathryn. They're not particularly topheavy in the intellect department, but they're not evil. LOL.

[Cathryn Crawford]

They...are...EVIL.

[Scenic Sounds]

They...are...EVIL.

"EVIL" implies moral reprehensibility, Cathryn. Birds experience no emotions except those of affection for their fellow beings.

[Renegade]

At the Atlantic City airshow last month, a seagull crashed through the canopy of an F-16 ( at 450 mph). Luckily the pilot was unharmed and made it safely back to the air base nearby .

[Cathryn Crawford]

They're demon-possessed then.

[Scenic Sounds]

They're demon-possessed then.

Cathryn, no birds are "demon-possessed."

I challenge you to find just one source demonstrating that any bird can be "demon-possessed." LOL.

Ha!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

[Cathryn Crawford]

You know how people discount other people as "crazy", and then find out one day that they were right all along? Well, laugh all you want now, but one day you're going to find out that I was right.

I've known hundreds of evil birds. One attacked me Thursday.

Anyway, here's someone that agrees with me.

[Cathryn Crawford]

I can't tell you how many times people have posted that to me. Various members of my family threaten regularly to hold me down and tape my eyelids open and make me watch that movie.

[Scenic Sounds]

A Google search for "demon possessed birds" leads to one hit. And (no surprise here), it quotes some crackpot in Texas: "I don’t believe in demons, not literally that is. And I can’t stand to hurt animals, well, except for those demon-possessed birds known as grackles."

But, I submit that the opinions of crackpots in Texas just don't count. ;-)

[Cathryn Crawford]

Crackpots in Texas are often right. Texans have a higher percentage of being right than, say, Californians.

Here, take a look at this:

Notice the wings and the bird-like attributes? It's not there for nothing. Birds are demon-possessed. As a matter of fact, birds may be little demons in and of themselves.