View Full Version : US Military details reckless flying
CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/05/08/rogue.pilots.crashes.ap/index.html)
Ex Douglas Driver
9th May 2005, 09:06
Investigators said a Marine Reserve squadron commander in a Hornet fighter jet at Quantico, Va., flew a low-altitude air show for family and spectators before his brakes failed performing touch-and-go landings on a short runway.
Why was he using the brakes during a touch and go??
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/US/05/08/rogue.pilots.crashes.ap/story.f18.wash.file.ap.jpg
BEagle
9th May 2005, 09:54
Well, how surprising to note that many of these recklessness claims concerned reservists.
Many of the non-regular US fast jet people I came across in the KTO were ill-disciplined swaggering macho idiots just itching to kill something - anything - so that they could big it up when they returned Spamside to their airliner co-pilot jobs.
Truly scary!
Subject became newsworthy because of a court martial. See here (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4992768,00.html).
Razor61
9th May 2005, 14:39
See also Here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4521237.stm)
for a Blackhawk Pilot trying to impress in Afghanistan
Is it just me having a tired senior moment, or does the scale of the photo look all wrong? The guy with the hose looks as though he wouldn't anywhere near fit into the cockpit - looks awfully like a large scale model to me...
...In which case, what's it doing used as an illustration for an accident report? Is someone taking the mickey?
engineer(retard)
9th May 2005, 15:40
Doesn't look much like a fireman either. Unless he is aircrew and is washing is model aircraft on the drive.
Razor61
9th May 2005, 15:43
He's the Jolly Green Giant :E
Correct on the size, the F-18 would be towering above him.....
Mad_Mark
9th May 2005, 16:13
I think you'll find the reason it doesn't look tall enough is because it is still 'knee deep' in the marsh. And he is probably not a fireman, but a general dogs-body washing the mud off :rolleyes:
MadMark!!! :mad:
Knee deep in the marsh? You can see the nose gear and wheels. Besides the Hornet is a very large beast, and as Razor61 notes, it would be towering above him - whoever he is...
Gainesy
9th May 2005, 17:03
Maybe he's stood atop a fire truck?
Colour scheme looks a bit skoshi too.
Chronic Snoozer
9th May 2005, 17:56
Interesting though, that long after the infamous B-52 accident (Czar-52) in the early nineties, rogues are still up to the same old tricks and giving pilots a bad name.
Mad_Mark
9th May 2005, 21:41
Knee deep in the marsh? You can see the nose gear and wheels.
Yep, you are quite right :O Looking at a larger copy of the image you can indeed see the nose gear and wheels.
My bad :(
MadMark!!! :mad:
Need for Speed!
10th May 2005, 00:42
Spent last week with USS Kitty Hawk Air Wing - Thats not life size!
NFS
Ex Douglas Driver
10th May 2005, 03:04
http://www.mfr.usmc.mil/gallery/Image/VMFA-321Decommission/decommisson4.jpg
I reckon it's legit. Above photo is from the decommisioning ceremony, and seems to show the same jet (tail number 01):8. This would be the squadron commander's aircraft with its flash paint job.
As for the relative size in the original photo, it'll be one of those photo foreground shortening things, where the sense of scale gets thrown out. You can see the ejection gun rail protruding above whats left of the cockpit.
The photo heading was:
:An F/A-18A was recovered from a marsh after the brakes failed as the pilot performed touch-and-go maneuvers for family members.
So it would seem the jet has been hauled out from the swamp and is undergoing a wash down.
Or then again, it's all a conspirancy designed to make the US forces look bad.......:hmm
mcidiot
11th May 2005, 08:57
The tape also shows the pilot and co-pilot debating whether they can fly safely between tall trees while traveling nearly 90 miles per hour at 16 feet above ground.
``Think I can make it in between there?'' the pilot asks.
``Nope,'' the co-pilot answers.
``Oh, ye of little faith. Look how big that is,'' the pilot says.
Seconds later, the Apache's rotors struck a huge limb, shattering one blade as the pilot struggled to land safely. ``C'mon, get it under control, Mark!'' the co-pilot shouts. Both crew survived. The 1997 accident caused $1 million in damage.
You used to ba able to find it on altavista videos- typed in apache, and clicked on siwarp.com
shame- you could see it from the outset that they were going to mess up!
I've always liked the idea of flying airliners in the week and military jets at the weekend (or the other way around) but I don't know if I could have coped with the demands of both and do it all to the highest possible standards. Some of the reservists I have flown with (near?) have been pretty poor even at such basic skills as navigation. Would anybody out there who is/was holding down both jobs care to comment?
scrubed
11th May 2005, 15:50
All wrong.
Easy for all you arm-chairs knucks and MS Combat Sim jocks to whinge about the lads enjoying themselves.
Showing off?? Who cares? What next..... no airshows?
All these mouths here who've never screwed up anything before, judging all and sundry...
Tools.
Bet he felt silly punching out and watching the ship roll to a halt from under canopy...