Merged: Pig Vs Mr Percival

[Mick.B]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23563691-2,00.html.

Good job.:D

[Capt Wally]

................"One engine was working fine, while the other was at reduced power."


................"Its impact completely smashed the fighter's radome before causing an immediate engine failure.

Okay pick one Mr Hart!

I find it difficult that after an immediate engine shut down due to mechanical failure (bird ingestion) that the 'resonably experienced' flight crew would re start it & continue on at 'reduced power' not knowing what other damage could have occurred!

A question here could be posed, should the crew have flown the damaged craft over a populous area with a ship that could have fell out of the sky?

Just an observation.


CW

[Ultralights]

unusual to hit a bird at that height? i have had 3 run ins with pelicans at or above 3000 ft... all in the hunter valley funnily enough

[VH-XXX]

To my absolute surprise and amazement I have seen Pelicans (x 3) above 7,000ft flying along minding their own business.

[tinpis]

Regularly encountered Pelicans at 9000' on the ADL-Moomba track

[BombsGone]

Have a look at the track Evans Head to Amberley if your worried about "built up areas". I think you'll find that it was the safest course of action for all concerned.

As usual I suspect some mangaling of the message from the RAAF through the press, 550km/h is very slow for an F111 I think you can read knots here.

[bushy]

There was no structural damage??

[tipsy2]

There was no structural damage

To the Pig or the "Bird" ?


tipsy:O

[Lasiorhinus]

The aircraft was flying along on (at least) one engine, at (at least) 550 km/h.

I don't think there was the slightest danger of it suddenly "falling out of the sky".:ugh::ugh:

[Front Pit]

From ABC News:

Pelican shreds F-111's nose


An RAAF F-111 jet fighter was forced to make an emergency landing at the Amberley Air Base west of Brisbane after its nose was shredded in a mid-air collision with a pelican.

The F-111 was on a test bombing raid at about 900 metres altitude over Evans Head in northern New South Wales when the pelican reportedly hit the plane's nose and was sucked into one of its two engines.

Pictures show the aircraft's nosecone shredded by the impact, with bundles of fibreglass fibres hanging loose.

Airservices Australia, the Government-owned corporation which handles air traffic control, says the incident happened on April 11.

The jet flew back to Amberley where the two crew managed to land it without incident.

[Cap'n Arrr]

The "without incident" part I have yet to hear or see on the news. (Obviously disregarding the news article in the post above:E). Mind you the "Damage to the nose!!" and "Sucked INTO an engine!!!!" have been pushed fairly hard.

Ah yes, keeping the people informed. Good work guys:rolleyes:

[wileydog3]

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj249/tengu22/0599400800.jpg

And here I thought this was just a picture of a new sideways looking radar..:E

[Yawn]

Lucky it wasn't a 100m USD F-35.

Pelicans, flocks of birds, turbine failure, connectors of FCUs etc and your fleet is down one and (hopefully) the pilot is a new member of the caterpillar club.

A two engine aircraft comes home to fight another day. Any of these events cause the loss of a single-engine aircraft.

I find it difficult to believe that the risk analysis has not been done in the future fighter debate. Any one remember diminishing fleets of the mirage, F-16 etc

This is a case in point.

Yawn

[noip]

Sadly, the first F-111 v Pelican encounter at Evan's Head didn't turn out so well ......


F-111 2, Pelican 1

[Capt Wally]

'Las' you can't say that there wasn't the slightest risk that it won't fall out of the sky as much as I can't say it will. But considering that should the other engine fail for whatever reason (& they had no idea at the time the extent of the damage to airframe & both engines) then I know where the crew would be going if it turned pear shaped,.....UP (initially) & the plane DOWN!:bored:

I know guys the statement that there was 'no structual' damage is an insult to anyone with a basic aviation understanding!:ugh:

CW

[spanner90]

Saw/smelled a pig at Albatross about 9-10 years ago that had a mid-air altercation with a pelican. Fortunately on this occasion, the pelican had the good sense to dive straight into the intake, rather than bounce off the nose first.

The overwhelming aspect was the smell of the pelican's breakfast all around the acft (something was fishy anyway).:yuk:

BTW, wasn't the twin engine argument the reason we ended up with the F18 over the F16?

Well done to the crew who landed this pig with a floppy nose, and one engine!!:D

Spanner

[alidad]

A bit luckier than the F-111 on the 29th of September 1977.

[MakeItHappenCaptain]

Love how news seemed to focus on "returned over residential areas".
F:mad:ck I hate the media.
Lost count of how many students were surprised by how their first stall didn't pin them to the roof while their entire life flashed before their eyes!:ugh::ugh:
Blood Priority sux.

[ftrplt]

The right engine took the pelican, the left engine took bits of the shredded radome.

Neither engine was shut down by the crew and subsequently re-started; both engines 'coughed' to varying degrees, one came back to full-range throttle response, the other recovered but did not have full-range response.

Im sure most operators would always prefer 2 engines, but you cannot compare the survivability of TF30 / F404 etc with the engine in the JSF.

[FoxtrotAlpha18]

Looking at the end of the F-16 foliage footage when they do the walk-around, it appears to have F110 feathers. I wonder whether an F100 would've been so reslilient! :uhoh: