Thunderbirds Jet Crashes @ airshow

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Fighter Jet Crashes at Idaho Airshow; Pilot Ejects Safely

As about 85,000 spectators looked on at Mountain Home Air Force Base's Gunfighter Skies 2003 Airshow Sunday, a jet in the Air Force's Thunderbirds precision-flying team dove into the ground.

The pilot of the F-16C ejected safely and suffered no serious injuries.

According to witnesses, the jet was the last of the six to take off. It climbed straight into the sky and the pilot performed a barrel roll.

While upside down, the pilot maneuvered the jet into a dive. As the jet continued to dive, it appeared to have an engine failure when the pilot struggled to pull up.

The pilot ejected and parachuted to safety far from the crash site. He was treated by military medical personnel.

Emergency crews rushed to the scene to protect onlookers from possibly dangerous gas fumes and flying debris.

The Thunderbird team was from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.


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Thunderbirds website
 
The Thunderbirds just don't have good luck do they? Looks like pilot made sure jet wasn't going someplace bad before he ejected though.
 
I told him (pilot) not to put that 10% pulley on, while he was still using the stock exhaust system. I bet he learned his lesson!

Calvin
 
I had an opportunity to work with the Thunderbirds Jet Demonstration Team back in the mid '90's when they were the feature of the Hamilton International Airshow. I was the 'Transportation Coordinator', arranging for rental cars and shuttle service between the hotel and the show park. These folks were top notch! ...A real class act. Even the huge support crew were great people to work with.

Oh, and they had some PR people who happened to be extremely attractive females!!! :D

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that no serious injuries resulted from this crash. Heck, you guys have a whack of spare F16's, so I doubt this will put a damper on the team's activities for any longer than it takes to complete an investigation into what went wrong.

I'll let you guys in on a little known fact: If you get the opportunity to hang around the show park for the two or three days preceeding an airshow, and the two or three days following an airshow, you'll witness a better display than you ever will during a show! When the show park is full of spectators, these guys (and/or gals) really have strict rules to abide by. However, when the park is 'empty', they get downright crazy!!! Every year when the Hamilton show wrapped up, you'd witness mock dogfights between Canadian F18's and German Tornados, and all kinds of American military aircraft. Even some of the big transport aircraft do some amazing things before heading out. If you ever get an opportunity to catch that, don't pass it up! ...And have a camera handy. ;)

Cheers,

Sean
 
WHAT TO DO ???????????????

IT SHOWS ONCE AGAIN THE " THUNDERBIRD " STEALS THE SHOW.........................FAST FREDDIE:rolleyes: :cool: :D
 
Too Bad

Well I work for a manufacturer of aircraft fasteners and mechanisms. Have a few on the F-16. I work here in Ft. Worth where F-16s are built. Wife works at Lockheed. Sad, but good no one was hurt.

I saw the list of crashes a few years ago. 2 things stand out - pilot black out, and engine flame-out.

The engines were improved over the years, but the newer F-22 and now F-35 have to fly only as good as an F-16, which really reached the pilots limit. Only way to better G load in a fighter is a small female pilot laying on her stomach. So F-16 just is not superseded by anything else in dog fighting, including new L.O. jets.

We get to see the factory jet practice for air shows all the time out here. Even the big two seat F-16 is fantastic to see flown "all out".
 
wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I used to stock car race years ago...............the cages would mustly protect you......................FIRE was our big concern..........FAST FREDDIE:rolleyes: :cool: :D
 
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