Mishap at Red Flag 18-1 at Nellis?

[Airbubba]

Runway 03L has been closed at Nellis AFB and there are reports of a possible fire and aircraft mishap:

M0071/18 NOTAMN
Q) ZLA/QXXXX/IV/NBO/A/000/999/3614N11502W005 A) KLSV B) 1801271945 C) 1801272359
E) RWY 03L CLOSED

[Airbubba]

There is some online chatter that the plane may have been a Growler. Sounds like everyone is OK. :ok:

Nellis Air Force Base
Public Affairs
4430 Grissom Ave., Ste. 107
Nellis AFB, NV 89191
Phone: (702) 652-2750; Fax (702) 652-9838
Nellis Air Force Base (http://www.nellis.af.mil)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release No. 18-01-27
Date: January 27, 2018

Aircraft incident on Nellis Air Force Base

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. – At approximately 10:45 a.m. this morning, a military aircraft experienced an incident during takeoff on the Nellis Air Force Base flight line.

Emergency services are on scene. No serious injuries are reported.

More information on the incident will be released as it becomes available.

Contact the 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs office at 702-652-2750 for questions.

[rjtjrt]

Now reports says it is an RAAF Growler. Crew said to be ok.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/910894/las-vegas-plane-crash-fire-nellis-air-force-base?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+daily-express-news-showbiz+%28Express+%3A%3A+News+%2F+Showbiz+Feed%29

[dead_pan]

Being reported on social media as an engine fire, the crew climbing out rather than ejecting

[rjtjrt]

Facebook photo that is more detailed..

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155391160668247&set=p.10155391160668247&type=3&theater&ifg=1

[atakacs]

Well definitely an F-18. Hard to say what type but seems relatively benign.

[flighthappens]

Well definitely an F-18. Hard to say what type but seems relatively benign.

From the photo on rjrjt’s link it’s clearly a Growler.

And it’s not benign, unless by benign you mean it’s going to be parked up for a loooong while The black stuff under the wings, rear fuselage and both fins gives it away!

[TBM-Legend]

RAAF 6 Sqn EA-18G Growler aborted takeoff and off the side of the runway. No ejections. Crew exited aircraft OK....

[Buster Hyman]

Good job to the crew & glad they are safe.

[Airbubba]

This was the first overseas exercise deployment of the RAAF Growler. They sent four to Red Flag 18-1 which only has Australia, the UK and the U.S. as participants.

It appears that the RAAF Growlers have an A46-3XX registration but also have a U.S. Navy Bureau Number (e.g. BuNo 169153 on A46-306) as well.

[TBM-Legend]

The BuNo is used for maintenance and other tracking as they're plugged in to the US Navy system..

[Airbubba]

The BuNo is used for maintenance and other tracking as they're plugged in to the US Navy system..

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense. :ok:

Those ALQ-99 jammer pods with the RAT on the front date back over four decades, I didn't realize they were still in use. :eek:

[gums]

Yeah, Bubba, "they" musta greatly improved those pods ince we saw them integrated on U.S. jets. Being the "dark world" of ECM, I would not expect to see details of any improvements, ya think?

Secondly, can't tell if they tried to use the hook. I had my A-7D hook skip the cable one rainy night and thankfully snagged the primitive one at the overrun that dragged out huge boat chain links, heh heh. Could be they were past the departure cable or thot they were too fast or..... Takeoff roll isn't that long, best I can tell. Then again, maybe they lost directional control and never got there. No mid-field cable either, but a very good overrun cable that's much better than than one I took.

Crying shame to lose that expensive beast, and this Red Flag looks like it's gonna be a ballbuster for "close" allies only.

Gums...

[Airbubba]

Secondly, can't tell if they tried to use the hook.

Looks to me like the hook is down in the Facebook screen grab off the back of a DSLR camera posted above.

Crying shame to lose that expensive beast, and this Red Flag looks like it's gonna be a ballbuster for "close" allies only.

Seems odd to me that the Canadians aren't invited. Maybe they are all in Daytona Beach or at hockey games right now. Or perhaps they don't have much to offer for the electronic warfare and GPS jamming scenarios.

[gums]

I also wonder about the Cannucks.

Flew with them and over them back when I was a nugget at Grand Forks. Ran into a few at Red Flag in early 80's when they flew F-5's.

I ask....... How many countries would allow nuclear-armed buffs from another country fly over their territory? Think Chrome Dome procedures back in the late 60's.

So I would rate them very "close".

Gums recalls...

[Airbubba]

I ask....... How many countries would allow nuclear-armed buffs from another country fly over their territory? Think Chrome Dome procedures back in the late 60's.

So I would rate them very "close".

And starting about 1963, the Canadians 'borrowed' U.S. nukes and deployed them at home and in West Germany.

Officially Canada had no nukes because the 'special weapons' were property of the U.S. But they were deployed on CF-104's, and on CF-101's into the 1980's in the case of the Genie air-to-air rocket.

There was also some apparent maritime deployment but it is unclear to me whether it was just for training articles or for actual war shots.

[gums]

Nuke ownership....

I never figured out all the fine points WRT the Genie rx and Canadian "rules".

Let's face it, the Voodoo had the Aim-4 IR doofers that went as a pair, and then the two Genie nukes. So we had three shots to thwart the Russian horde of buffs.

I never heard about the Canadian Zippers having the nuke capability. Hmmmm. But I was very young and clueless about many things back in 1966.

Those were very scary times, my friends. I am glad they remained scary and "back then".

[TBM-Legend]

Amazing thread drift,,,,

meanwhile the RAAF EA-18G looks fixable...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ovw2WkKuzs

[OFBSLF]

Fixable? Really?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUsCDCOU0AEc01b.jpg:large

[Airbubba]

There is a news report of 'minor injuries':

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — 9:05 AM SUNDAY UPDATE:

The aircraft that had to abort its take off was an Royal Australian Air Force EA-18G. Five personnel suffered minor injuries. The crew was taking part in Exercise Red Flag, an operation that draws flight crews and aircraft from around the world to train at the expansive Nellis range.

Fighter jet appears to have crashed/burned at Nellis Air Force Base | KSNV (http://news3lv.com/news/local/fighter-jet-appears-to-have-crashedburned-at-nellis-air-force-base)

[Airbubba]

Unconfirmed report from social media that the plane was A46-311, BuNo 169158.

[TBM-Legend]

Fixable? Really?

Big job but a valuable aircraft. I guess it depends on how "deep" the fire was..

[flighthappens]

Big job but a valuable aircraft. I guess it depends on how "deep" the fire was..

Word I heard also started with F... the word was not fixable.

[Brat]

Probably not. Spare parts.

New buys have extra wiring that will enable configuration upgrade to replacement Growler

[Dan Winterland]

Not 'Black Monday' then.

https://youtu.be/U49ZklFwwV4

[charliegolf]

The F14 that went in at about 1:49 was very lost- it was in Maryland!

CG

[Vzlet]

Well, NY, actually. (And, after after flying from Nellis, it still had enough gas for a nice fireball!)

[charliegolf]

Well, NY, actually. (And, after after flying from Nellis, it still had enough gas for a nice fireball!)

Was it not the test pilot flown airframe that had hyd failure on approach to Pax River?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfM5FxnWPm4

CG

[Airbubba]

Was it not the test pilot flown airframe that had hyd failure on approach to Pax River?

It was at Calverton on Long Island in New York after a test hop in the local area.

See: https://theaviationist.com/2013/01/29/tomcat-first-flight/

[charliegolf]

It was at Calverton on Long Island in New York after a test hop in the local area.

See: https://theaviationist.com/2013/01/29/tomcat-first-flight/

Suitably chastened vzlet and Airbubba!:ok:

CG

[Vzlet]

No chastening intended!
There's an AWST video that includes an interview with one of the Grumman test pilots on the aircraft. He said that when his chute opened, he looked straight down at the (close and rapidly getting closer) fireball. The only thing that kept him out of it was the rising thermal effect of the heat. :eek: This was just the second flight of the program.

[sandiego89]

The F-14 crash on the second flight of the program got me thinking, what other military programs have had incidents/losses on first flight or very early in the program?


-Hughes XF-11- first flight (largely due to Hughes being stupid)
-Northrop XP-79- first flight fatal, program cancelled.
-F-16, damaged on high speed taxi test- aborted to airborne, became first flight.
-Dh110. Guess that was a bit after first flight, not sure how many flights it had undertaken.


Others?