Well, I had no intention of joining or posting as I was just doing some web surfing but I felt the need, the need for...a reply, sorry.
Originally Posted by DelaneyT
Video of the mishap is brief but revealing. It shows a low speed runway pass at very low altitude, with a smooth transition to a classic asymmetric stall (right wing drop) and a right yaw before nose low impact.
It is quite amazing that you have determined all of this from a quick clip of video. Without knowing the full story it is only speculation at this point. I have been flying Hornets for a number of years and in my personal speculation (Which I personally hate doing) it looks to me like something happened with his right engine. As the spectators mentioned a popping sound, this is a classic sign of a compressor stall, which was one of the reasons the design of the intakes on the Super Hornet were changed to provide better airflow at high AOA. While it does to appear to be a stall, the question needs to be answer
how the stall occurred. That being said ...
The aircraft stalled because it was flying too slow for those conditions. Lack of adequate speed might have been a piloting problem or some aircraft malfunction. A clean F-18 normally has lots of thrust available and flys well even on one engine.
Quite incorrect. Airshow manuevers are not done anywhere close to the edge of the envelope because of the extreme emphasis on the safety of those at the demonstrations. This particular maneuver is done at an altitude and AOA that the pilot has roughly a 50% chance of recovering the aircraft should they catastrophically lose an engine. Even if it is unrecoverable, they have enough time and authority to put the jet in a safe place before jumping out. As far as I know, this is the first time this has ever happened during this maneuver to a Hornet ever.
Differing engine nozzle configurations seem abnormal. Spectators report that one afterburner engaged just prior to impact, and the impact video section indicates the left engine might have been in AB. A malfunction on one engine could account for all that, but absent any other obvious problems (smoke/fire, aircraft oscillations, etc) it seems a lower probability. Bird-strike is also possible, but likely would have been noticed by the many spectators.
I would agree with this as a bird strike that would take out and engine would have made a lot more noise and if the engine catastrophically failed there would have a lot more evidence of that on the tape. Having personally watched a Hornet engine eat itself on a fan blade, it is quite a fireworks show. I won't get into the nozzle discussion but to say that it is something that is part of our instrument scan to ensure both nozzles are scheduling correctly.
It's also possible the pilot had one engine in idle and controlling thrust entirely with the other throttle... perhaps to demonstrate CF-18 single-engine capability (as part of the formal flyby practice, or merely to himself). That would account for nozzle difference and sudden use of only one AB (..and the quick yaw just before impact).
Nope, simply not possible for reasons that mentioned above about safety. WWW said it perfectly in his long post and I agree whole heartily.
Getting behind-the-Power-Curve at low altitude can be big trouble, even for modern high-performance jet fighters.
Sometimes bad things happen. That's why the procedures are in place. It's just a bunch of CF, wires, and metal. The pink fleshy body is the important part and it lives to fly another day.
Originally Posted by lomapaseo
The pics seem to confirm the RH engine has lost all power while the LH engine is at high power...
...at very low speed and altitude an engine failure might lead to little room for recovery.
If I were a betting man I would bet this will be the eventually outcome.