US F-18 crash at Tindal

[Pseudonymn]

Got some sketchy reports from the electronic media, anyone know any further?

From the SMH:

US fighter jet crashes in NT
September 14, 2004 - 5:59PM


A United States fighter jet has crashed near the Tindal Royal Australian Air Force base in the Northern Territory, the Australian Defence Force said.

A spokesman said he had no other details at this stage, but could confirm the crash occurred near the base, south of Katherine, late on Tuesday afternoon.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/14/1094927575048.html


This from ABC news:

US fighter jet crashes in Top End

A United States F-18 fighter jet has crashed near the Tindal air base south of Katherine in the Northern Territory.

The Defence Force says the sole pilot on board is believed to have ejected, but a search is yet to find him.

The plane went down around 4:30pm, about five nautical miles south-west of the air base.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200409/s1199053.htm

[Plas Teek]

Pilot stable after F-18 crash
The Australian Defence Force has confirmed the crash of a United States American Corp F-18 fighter jet near the Tindal air base, south of Katherine in the Northern Territory.

The US pilot on board ejected before the crash and has since been rescued by a military helicopter.

He is now in a stable condition at the Tindal air base.

It is believed the plane went down at around 4:30pm, about 10 kilometres fom the airbase.

It is not clear if the aircraft was part of the RAAF's exercise, Arnhem Thunder, which is currently underway in the Northern Territory.

Nah the F-18 just "happened"to be in the area. Another example of top knotch reporting! AArrgghhh:yuk:

[itchybum]

"top knotch reporting"

Not to mention the "United States American Corp ".

[maxgrad]

fa18's were conducting attack runs at Tindal in training excercise.
c130 used as refueller while undergoing it's own training sced, was last seen cutting hoops low to west of base at time of said accident.

Good to see the ejection system worked:ok:

[Buster Hyman]

Must be nice to eject into a friendly desert for a change!

"Ay bloke, you gotta smoke?"
"Nah bloke, me broke!"

Pilot stable after US jet crashes
September 14, 2004 - 8:55PM

A United States Marine Corps pilot escaped death on Tuesday when he ejected from his F/A-18 fighter jet moments before it crashed in the Northern Territory outback.

The US Marines pilot was on Tuesday night in a stable condition at Tindal Royal Australian Air Force base after he was rescued by a military helicopter late on Tuesday afternoon.

He was found about 16km from the base, about 320km south-east of Darwin, the Australian Defence Force said.

The pilot was the only person on board, and it was believed he ejected from the hornet before the accident.

He is believed to be one of about 300 US servicemen currently deployed to the NT base to take part in the joint US-Australian military training exercise Southern Frontier.

"The US pilot was rescued by a search and rescue helicopter from the RAAF base," the spokesman said.

"He was taken to the medical facility on the base where he was in a stable condition."

An investigation was underway, he said.

Exercise Southern Frontier is an annual defence exercise undertaken with Japan-based US Marine Corp fighter aircraft that began in the early 1990s.

Three squadrons of US marines take part in the exercise, one at a time, over a three month period.

The current exercise is due to finish at the end of the month.

The operation is conducted from the Tindal base, with training strikes on the Delamere Air Weapons range, 130km south-west of Katherine.

The federal government announced in July the Delaware weapons range would become a joint Australian-US training facility, in conjunction with the Shoalwater Bay facility in Queensland, Kirrabilli in NSW and Bradshaw in the NT.

© 2004 AAP

[Hempy]

Knowing the way the yanks are with disposable things like aircraft, I wouldn't be surprised if he was just chucking it away for having a blown map light and got his drift wrong :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Lasiorhinus]

The pilot was the only person on board, and it was believed he ejected from the hornet before the accident.

No, he crashed and then had the presence of mind to eject from the pile of crumpled wreckage. :yuk: :rolleyes:

[air-hag]

Wouldn't that hurt??? :confused: