'unreal accidents'

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Sometimes you hear of an aircraft loss which you couldn't dream up in your wildest dreams. I would like to see a tread of these -sometimes funny- stories.

To give you an idea of what I mean:

In 1989, the iron curtain was firmly in place, the USSR had more then one aircraft stationed in the Deutsche Democratische Republic. A young lieutenant was flying his MiG-23 over the East German countryside at 20.000 feet or something and the engine was acting up a bit which forced him to eject. Nothing strange about that wouldn't you say.
As he was hanging at his shoot he expected to see the aircraft crash nearby, but instead the engine's problem solved it self and the MiG flew away heading in a Western direction. You can imagine what happened in West Germany when a Russian MiG over flew the Iron Cur into the West. Anyway, the Aircraft went from Germany to Holland to Belguim eventually crashing into a farm and sadly killing the farmer. Talking about bad luck, I can't begin to calculate the ought of being killed by a Russian fighter in Belgium during the cold war, when it was still cold.

JW

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 20-02-02 AT 11:10 AM (GMT)]I always thought the Thunderbirds "diamond crash" in 1982 was an unusual case.
Just in case nobody remembers this tragedy: Coming out of a loop in the four-ship diamond formation during a training session, the lead's aircraft develops a serious fault which prevents him from pulling out of the dive. His aircraft impacts the ground fatally - but so do the other three aircraft, whose pilots were so concentrated on the leader's aircraft and thus maintaining formation that they followed him straight in.
It's a surreal, frightening image - four aircraft, three of which are in perfect working order and all with highly-experienced pilots, slamming into the ground in a perfect diamond formation. The circumstances and mechanics of how it happened are understandable, but for me the accident still feels very strange. :-(

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Another one...

This is a story that's been recounted a few times, and one that's so unlikely that it has to be true.
An RAF base, some time in the late 'fities / early 'sixties. A Javelin crew is preparing to take off and are waiting for a Hunter formation to land. One of the Hunters lands and, while on the ground develops a catastophic fault. The pilot very smartly escapes from his aircraft, the runway remains clear and had things been allowed to continue at a natural pace, all would have been well.
Unfortuately, at the very moment he gets out, the duty controller in the tower screams down the radio - "Hunter, eject! Eject!". The pilot of a landing Hunter, lined up on the runway centerline, assumes they mean him and punches out. His now unmanned jet makes an absolutely perfect landing.
Our Javelin crew laughs so long and hard that it completely escapes their attention that their aircraft has caught fire... Cue a hastily aborted take-off and a visit from the fire engine. Turned out that the Javelin was actually quite tricky to get out of without a ladder, but somehow they made it.

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RE: Another one...

One that I recall, was the incident where a 1sqdn Harrier GR.7 made a letter perfect vertical landing 50ft to port of (I think, cant quite remember) Invincibles flight deck.

Turns out that the pilot, someone told me it was the Sqdn Ldr, completely forgot to turn on his water injection system and the plane simply ran out of thrust before he could translate over to the deck!. the saving grace was that he had an empty tank under each wing which provided sufficient bouyancy (like a pair of kids swimming armbands) to keep the thing afloat long enough for RN divers to get straps around the fuselage and winch the thing back aboard!

Another one I read about somewhere was the unfortunate incident that saw a SHAR FRS.1 land aboard a Spanish frieghter during the Falklands war! The pilot homed in on what he took to be Invincible and commited to the landing only to realise his error and find that it was too late to do anything but set the thing down. Whoops!

Cheers,
Steve

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Submarine Harrier

I saw this in the January AFM, on page 71.

RN 800Sqdn FA.2 (ZD614 R-122) is seen amost completely sumberged in the river Yeo after running off the end of the runway upon landing at RNAS Yeovilton on Oct 8 last year.

If that's a river, don't come down under, to us that's a creek! But anyway on to the important stuff, why didn't the pilot jump it? He's in a Harrier for crying out loud! A quick swivel here a bit of power there and up he goes. Still makes for a good pic!

Fighter pilots make movies, Bomber pilots make history and Nerds make money from the sims!

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

The pilot of the Soviet MiG-23 was Colonel Skurigin who ejected shortly after take off from his base in Poland.

TJ

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

How about in 1989 a spanish farmer was really pissed at the amry helicopter pilots which were flying at very low over his land.
Out of frustration he trew rocks at the heli which hit the tail rotor which inturn broke away from the Huey which crashed of cause, talk about cheap SAM's

JW

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

Two Dutch AF pilots were flying near a base. One was landing while the other had just taken off. Both had the same first name. One of them developed engine troubles that he was unaware of (I believe the one that was landing, not sure though). The tower crew saw it and tried to warn the pilot. They called him, using his first name, over the radio, and said to eject, which he did. The other pilot with the same first name also heard the radio call and ejected as well. Leaving a perfectly good aircraft to crash. I believe they were flying F-84s (not sure though).

After that incident the RNethAF started using callsigns, unique callsigns that is.

Best regards,

Ference.

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

How about losing a $20 million F-16A Fighter this way!

At PAF Sarghoda an F-16 of 11 sqd was about to start on a routine sortie when taxing, comes on the runway for takeoff, engages afterburner, as the airplane speeds down the runway a WILD BOAR, runs across the airfield, crashing with the nosewheel of the F-16.
The aircraft, nose comes crashing into the runway at high speed and a engine fire develops forcing the pilot to eject!

Happened some time in 1989 I think!

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

1989 wasn't a particular good year for aviation, I guess,

JW

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 21-02-02 AT 02:29 PM (GMT)]Interesting thread.

Another incident which most posters are probably already familiar with is the time test pilot Pete Purvis 'shot himself down' in an F-14 in 1973, during the Sparrow missile separation test programme. This took place off the coast of California. Upon launch he reports the explosion was louder than on previous occasions. Immediately a number of faults occured, including an engine fire. As he was trying to sort this emergency the nose pitched up very violently (he says it was more than 10G) and neither him nor his RIO were able to use either ejection handle. The G force then subsided and they finally ejected.
Apparently the post ejections drills proved to be difficult for him to perform and he found himself struggling with various supposedly simple survival tasks. Both he and his RIO were eventually rescued and their experience highlighted the need for a refresher in post ejection preocedures.

Pete Purvis's account of this incident appears in the April 2001 Issue of Flight Journal.

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

Come on, All of you should know more storries then that....

regards,

JW

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

>How about in 1989 a spanish farmer was really pissed at the
>amry helicopter pilots which were flying at very low over
>his land.
>Out of frustration he trew rocks at the heli which hit the
>tail rotor which inturn broke away from the Huey which
>crashed of cause, talk about cheap SAM's
>
>JW

maybee i was for slagging off the plaistinas for using just rokcs

rabie :9

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

A U-2 is nearing final approach when (it was later determined) the pilot has a seizure. The plane then under its own control begins a slow descending turn to the right, with the right wing hanging down to the ground at about 45 degrees.

Just before the right wing is about to strike the ground, which would have proven catastrophic, it clips a set of four high tension wires. By the time the wing cuts through the fourth wire the plane has turned nearly 180 degrees (due to the wires) and has come to a nearly level slow flight just above the ground. It's slow and level enough that the plane crash lands softly enough that the pilot survives.

As the pilot regains consciousness he begins to climb out of the cockpit through a rather large hole in the canopy created by the crash. As he is climbing out he accidentally deploys the ejection seat. Normally this would have thrown the canopy back on its rails and cut the pilot in two. However the ejection mechanism has been damaged by the crash and the canopy stays put. The seat fires, but it too has been damaged and only explodes with enough energy to flip the pilot out of the cockpit and deposit him, on his feet, in the field next the plane.

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

I heard of this Radar incident once but unsure how true it is or how the people on the ground would have known about the lock.

No planes or lives were lost but it is a funny story.

The incident takes place near inverness on a long dangerous stretch of road where a police car is parked with his Speed radar gun. It has been a long day and as a bit of fun after not catching anyone all day he points his radar gun at a low flying Tornado who in turn takes evasive action believing he has been radar locked and under attack. The pilot knowing that he is safe comes back for a very low flying look at where the radar came from sees the police car puts two and two together and reports back to his CO who contacts the local plod and I guess the guy who pointed the radar got a rather good telling off.

Moral of the story never try to give a Tornado pilot a speeding ticket.

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A vague memory...

An American test pilot is making a flight in a top-secret aircraft (pretty sure it was a U-2; could have been a A-11), and to cut a short story shorter, it crashes. He glides down on his 'chute, and a passing farmer sees him and makes a beeline for his landing site in a pickup. Hanging in his straps, the pilot faces a problem. How does he stop this guy from poking around the crash site? And how does he get to the authorities extra-quick so they can promptly secure the sensitive wreckage?
He solves these problems easily.
"Hey, buddy, need a ride?"
"Yeah, thanks, I do. I just punched out of a Thunderchief with a live nuke on board."
:-)

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

here's something i found on the net:

U(-2)nbelievable
This story was told to me by my father (a former SR-71 RSO) several years ago. I cannot remember the names or squadron information or even where it happened. But I do know that it is true.
A U-2 is nearing final approach when (it was later determined) the pilot has a seizure. The plane then under its own control begins a slow descending turn to the right, with the right wing hanging down to the ground at about 45 degrees.
Just before the right wing is about to strike the ground, which would have proven catastrophic, it clips a set of four high tension wires. By the time the wing cuts through the fourth wire the plane has turned nearly 180 degrees (due to the wires) and has come to a nearly level slow flight just above the ground. It's slow and level enough that the plane crash lands softly enough that the pilot survives.
As the pilot regains consciousness he begins to climb out of the cockpit through a rather large hole in the canopy created by the crash. As he is climbing out he accidentally deploys the ejection seat. Normally this would have thrown the canopy back on its rails and cut the pilot in two. However the ejection mechanism has been damaged by the crash and the canopy stays put. The seat fires, but it too has been damaged and only explodes with enough energy to flip the pilot out of the cockpit and deposit him, on his feet, in the field next the plane.

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

Hmmm... i think there are two stories around on this one. I recall a version that a Spanish farmer shot down an Ejercito Bo105 with his shotgun, as the helo pilots indeed liked to fly low over his house. What is almost never mentioned is the reason for the pilots to do so - the farmer's daughter who was appearantly offering a whole lot of visual entertainment.

Regards,

Arthur

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

Take a look at post 13 :+
Still a good story, like all the others.

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

you want to hear somthing really funny where here is another true story. Happened about 3-4 years ago somewhere in Texas USA.

a hotshot new F-16 pilot was trying to impress his girlfriend by showing off. He tells her to wait by a certain deserted strech of the highway at 14:30 when he was up for a routine training mission. The girl is there as told to and as he gets there in the aircraft, starts doing manuvers and stunts to show off. Well to make the story short his final thing is to do a loop right on top of the highway next to where his girl is standing. He goes low and starts the loop but on the way down i guess forgets to pull up and crashes fatally right in front of the eyes of his girl. Talk about "dying in love"

Another one: this is not really a crash story but true nonetheless.

Right after the gulf war the RSAF is tasked with patrolling the skies over Iraq. The deal with the E-3s of RASF was that they were required to have atleast one American operator on board. So here they are flying in hostile territory.... when the American operator sees one of the other operators go towards the back of the plane, a few mins later he sees a couple of more heading towards the rear. Soon the whole crew is in the back includin the pilot and co-pilot. Turns out it was time to pray and since there was room in the back of the plane some boozo decides to pray there. The plane is flying on auto-pilot(in hostile territory) and the only person who is doing the job is the American operator who by now is ##### scared.
After the event the USAF changed operating procedures and put multiple crew(including relief pilots) on the Saudi E-3s.

And finally last story.
During the gulf war there was a Iraqi a/c shot down by a RSAF F-15 using AIM-7. Well here is the story. The F-15 was launched to provide CAP over the base, when the ground-operator saw a flight of 2 bandits coming towards the base. The F-15 pilot is ordered to intercept. This boozo decides to fire all 6 of his AIM-7 on one a/c, the bandit is shot down(poor guy had no chance against all 6) Standard intercept procedures are shoot-look-shoot mode, but this guy goes ahead and shoots all his $500,000+ missiles at one target. And 5 mins after take-off RTB's. The ground controller trying to figure out why the plane is returning ask's the pilot whats wrong to which he replies"i've gone winchester"

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RE: 'unreal accidents'

In may 23 of 1982, during Malvinas war, Capitan de Corbeta C. M. Zubizarreta was flying one of 3 navy's Skyhawk that attacked some British ship in San Carlos strait. In the moment of releasing his bombs, something work wrong, so the bombs didn,t fell and stayed in the plane. Zubizarreta and the rest of the squad managed to get back to the continent. While landing his A4Q, one of the tires blew up, maybe because of the bombs weight. The airplane was out of control, and with 2000 lb of bombs, so Zubizarreta decided to eject. Unfortunately he hadnt enough speed or height and the parachute didnt open resulting in his death. Ironicly the airplane only suffered minor damage and after some repairs was soon back in service.
Think in this: Zubizarreta had avoided enormous risk: managed to escape harriers pac and had flown succesfully through the air defense of british navy, but no matter all this he finally died landing in home safety.
Despite everything he had survived it seems that it was his destiny to die that day.

Sorry, I know that it is not an amazing or so incredible story like the ones you posted, but I dont know why, I always thought that there is something special in this story.

About the photo I dont remember what happened but it is funny any way.

Heechee.

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