Oh man!! Guy ejects from an F-16! *pic*

[BaseRSX]

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040205/i/r2862232513.jpghttp://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040204/capt.vg10102042024.thunderbirds_crash_vg101.jpg
Seen in a photo released Friday, Jan. 30, 2004 by the U.S. Air Force, Capt. Christopher Stricklin ejects from the USAF Thunderbirds number six aircraft less than a second before it impacted the ground at an air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, Sept. 14, 2003. Stricklin, who was not injured, ejected after both guiding the jet away from the crowd of more than 60,000 people and ensuring he couldn't save the aircraft. This was only the second crash since the Air Force began using F-16 Falcons for its demonstration team in 1982. Nobody was injured in the crash. The Air Force blamed the incident on pilot error. The Thunderbirds are based at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/ Bennie J. Davis III/U.S. Air Force)

[possessed_beaver]

fucking hell thats crazym aparantley cuz there spine compresses from been ejected they can't fly for 6 months.


amazing pictures!

[jeroen40]

whoooow pretty scary to take those pictures I think, crazy shit!
luckily no one injured :)

[Zonda11]

They blame him - yet he was able to guide the plane away from the cround and tried to save it. What could he have done to "doom" his plane?

[DeMoN]

maan i love it how people are always ready with their cameras lol. The plane could be heading his way, but picture comes first.

[atlshaver]

Awesome pic. Reminds me of the Behind Enemy Lines movie when they ejected.

[jon_s]

Whoever took that pic is a brave motherfucker! lol
:shock:

[ulti3mat]

Wow!! That's crazy!....glad he got out of the F-16 on time

[sentra_dude]

God damn...that's amazing. Typical of the Air Force...'pilot error', wow, now we know exactly what happened, and of course the pilot gets all the blame...

Air Force desk jockeys :fist:
(Without knowing any details, but I'm a pilot so...)

[Johns]

OWNED :lol:

[gis]

lol,that camera man is either incredibly stupid or incredibly brave

[BADMIHAI]

lol,that camera man is either incredibly stupid or incredibly brave

Actually, I'm pretty sure the photographer used a 1000mm telephoto lens (or more), because that's what they typically use at airshows. As we can see, the shutter speed is 1/4000 s or faster, which is common with thelephoto lenses. The only thing uncommon to telephoto lenses is the large depth of field, which (from my knowledge) should be very limited due to the use of a telephoto lens....it looks more like a f11. Anyway...crazy stuff!



EDIT: my point above was that most likely the photographer was pretty damn far away from that plane when he took the photo.

[DTM8]

wow, good pictures :shock:

[Kangaroo Boy]

Thats Incredible..Were the F-16 Falcons used in the Movie Top Gun?

[geekdiggy]

Thats Incredible..Were the F-16 Falcons used in the Movie Top Gun?

those were f14 tomcats. BIG difference, literally

my point above was that most likely the photographer was pretty damn far away from that plane when he took the photo.

yep. it should be pretty easy to tell the photographer guy was far away. and judging by the angle of the plane, it wasn't headed straight for him either. so i think shitting of pants was limited in this case

[levensnevel]

Holy Mackerel,

That's an awsome picture.
One could say that Bennie J. Davis III was at the right place at the right moment to be able to capture this image for eternity :wink:

[Toronto]

i don't know if everyone here likes planes, but a couple of years ago the russians displayed there mig 29's and the hit each other like 50 feet from the ground both lived, the russians built the best ejection seats, this guy looks 100-200+feet above the ground but, it is still insane

[yunet]

i don't know if everyone here likes planes, but a couple of years ago the russians displayed there mig 29's and the hit each other like 50 feet from the ground both lived, the russians built the best ejection seats, this guy looks 100-200+feet above the ground but, it is still insane


do u know anything about the new mig 1-42 concept. is it out yet. I saw it in my Jane's Pocket guide to tactical fighters.
migs are so cool i have a video of a mig 31 taking off, from under the see. You can actually see the plane pop out from the sea, then the engine blasts on, and it rockets upwards. really weird, im not sure if it was faked.

[Evo]

The pilot of this plane is really really brave IMO.. and he knew what to do .. He did not eject the seats as soon as he lost control of the plane.. he took it away fron harms way then ejected.. .. Now I am wondring.. if he did not do so and ejected.. and the plane crahed in to the people.. how would the guy be able to live a normal life.. ?? :?

This happend a lot of times in the world.. Maybe just twice in the US..
I think onces in Russia or somewhere the plane crashed in to the people, and killed many of them..
:(

[BADMIHAI]

I think onces in Russia or somewhere the plane crashed in to the people, and killed many of them..
:(

I'm pretty sure it was in the Ukraine. Anyway, a sad event. It happened just a few years ago.

[kian]

whats the error that the pilot did ??? he had done his best steering away the plane from the crowd , and i dont think the huge G-force impacted on his body during ejection would be a pleasureble thing ....

[levensnevel]

Video footage :
http://www.avweb.com/newswire/10_05a/briefs/186582-1.html
and
http://www.avweb.com/newspics/tbird.wmv

[BaseRSX]

Holy Shit!! Those vids!! Thanks for the find

[levensnevel]

For Ame

http://www.aeroworldnet.com/1ra01189.htm
and
http://www.military.cz/russia/air/mig/Mig_39/mig_39.htm

[sentra_dude]

Ok, that was pilot error...and I'm surprised an experienced pilot like him made a mistake like that. For those who read that report and don't know what AGL & MSL are...AGL=above ground level, MSL=mean sea level. Damn, I don't know why he just didn't set the altimeter to 0...could have saved that $20 million lawn dart... :?

Thanx for the links levensnevel.

[Caplax40]

I was at the air show above (I live in Boise, Idaho about an hour north of Mountain Home) and believe me that was an amazing site to see. He ejected at about the last possible second...then boom! Plane crashed and just exploded. An incredible spectacle. He was coming in very fast and he actually did manage to clear the crowd by a considerable distance. Those are some good photos and the video is quite good too but nothing like seeing it first hand from the flight deck!

[Domyalex]

Thats Incredible..Were the F-16 Falcons used in the Movie Top Gun?

The 'good' planes were F14 TomCats, alredy retired (they are now using F18 Hornet); while the 'bad' guys used F5 Tiger if I remember correctly, basically a pocket fighter plane, but still a fighter.

[Domyalex]

This happend a lot of times in the world.. Maybe just twice in the US..
I think onces in Russia or somewhere the plane crashed in to the people, and killed many of them..
:(

In the '80, in a German base airshow, 2 Frecce Tricolori (Italian acrobatic team) crashed head on and parts of the aircrafts hit the crowd; a very, very sad event with lots of deaths and injuries. After that, they increased the safe distance from the planes to the ppl watching.

[Domyalex]

Thats Incredible..Were the F-16 Falcons used in the Movie Top Gun?

The 'good' planes were F14 TomCats, alredy retired (they are now using F18 Hornet); while the 'bad' guys used F5 Tiger if I remember correctly, basically a pocket fighter plane, but still a fighter.

[yunet]

For Ame

http://www.aeroworldnet.com/1ra01189.htm
and
http://www.military.cz/russia/air/mig/Mig_39/mig_39.htm

thanks levensnevel those sites are really cool :)

[hirari]

Damn...shit happens.

[McLarenF1God]

That plane is worth a lot more than any of the cars on this site huh. And we thought a wrecked Ferrari Enzo was costly.

[EridanMan]

Yeah, I remember the Crash in eastern Europe... a Mig-29 didn't quite pull up soon enough...

The russian's haven't had good luck over the years at airshows... There are several famous photo's of the mid-air collision between two Mig-29's where one's wing severed the other's cockpit (Both pilots ejected).

http://jeanclaudeboetsch.free.fr/photosgaleries/diverscrashs/migs%2001.jpg

http://jeanclaudeboetsch.free.fr/photosgaleries/diverscrashs/migs%2004.jpg


There was another Mig 29 that had a flameout at about 500 feet, 500mph... the plane did a wing over and dived straight into the ground, the pilot ejected litterally upside down about 100 feet above the ground, and survived...

http://jeanclaudeboetsch.free.fr/photosgaleries/diverscrashs/mig%20004.jpg

The russians have the best ejection seats in the world... but I suppose that's because they need to use them so much :lol:

-Scott

[kompak]

those guys have guts man......even i don't have that calmness when that situation come.......pity that they have been accused for that accident......do you guys know that fighter pilot is the calmest among all(fighter pilot vs rally driver vs F1 driver)....they conducted test to see how these guys cope with the situation given and how they solve the situation....and the results is the fighter pilot beat the test and declared the calmest and can cope with the situation given and solve it in the given time.....