Flares at 100 paces

[mickjoebill]

https://apple.news/AYgrxMAcvTParY_NbzBzPeA
Are flares really a threat in an air to air scenario?


mjb

[Ken Scott]

Well it worked for Clint Eastwood when he brought down the other Mig 31 Firefox pursuing him by releasing flares (using the thought control ‘in Russian’) that went down its engine intakes…!

[Doobry Firkin]

That wasn't a flare in Firefox, the aircraft had rear firing missiles.

[Il Duce]

High-waist flares, platform shoes and a kipper tie. Now that's a threat!

[NutLoose]

Buster will be along any moment to defend his dress sense.

[Trevor the lover]

Chinese flares

So yet again, Chinese pilots fly in front of Australian P8 Poseiden in international airspace and chuck flares out. I'm curious as to whether
this is actually dangerous. What's in a flare, would it cause kinetic energy damage to the P8 if hit, would it cause heat damage from the extreme
heat, would it bounce off the airframe harmlessly, is it a FOD hazard to the aircraft's engines?

Perhaps a military gunny could answer this.

Trev

[Ascend Charlie]

A lump of burning metal down the intake would certainly cause damage.

The Oz TV had an "expert" who said "If the flare went into the engine, it could ignite fuel in there and cause a catastrophe."

I thought that igniting fuel inside an engine was the desired result?

[Mogwi]

In ‘82 the Harrier GR3 had chaff/flares fitted in the back hatch, firing downwards. It soon became obvious that these little tykes could bounce off peat bog and cause a hazard to following jets. Mind you, so could the SAM 7s

Mog

[Thud_and_Blunder]

Similar to Mogwi's tale, right down to the peat bog - Chinooks carrying out tasking with the then-new MAWS on auto-flare-fire, when repositioning Golf towers (think 7-tonne metal boxes atop 50-80ft tall Meccano..) in S Armaghhh were prone to fire off a standard array (24? memory fails me) whenever some stray UV source such as, say, reflected rays from the nearest star were detected. As the troops securing the site weren't too keen on being doused with extremely-hot burning metal, and as the sound of the flares going off was remarkably similar to gunfire, it was considered appropriate to change the SOP to disarming the system while in the hover.

[mechpowi]

Some installations of SAAB BOL chaff/flare dispensers eject the decoys in a pattern that hits horizontal stabs. BOL flare is unconvetional ”dark” (only UV), but those and chaff only cause superficial marks to the stab. Earlier conventional flares had matal parts that were thought to have caused small dents to engine fans. Some newer flares are all pyrotechic mass and plastic, the chaff is plastic cap and lightweight strings/fibers - they pose no real danger to other (non-wood and fabric) aircraft.

[NutLoose]

There was a Puma at Odiham doing a practice radio failure fired off a flare and set fire to a farmers crop.

[steve_oc]

At sea flying to the ship (frigate) one night, we hover alongside the deck waiting for a response from the FDO - nothing, so I decide to move forward to abeam the bridge to draw their attention to our presence. At the same time, unbeknown to us, the Captain told a seaman to go and fire a green flare from the port bridge wing. It just missed us...

[Stuff]

When I read the thread title I was sure it was going to be something similar to this absolute gem from the past:

https://www.forcesnews.com/services/...-set-fire-mess

My favourite quote, "the cause of the fire “remains under investigation”."

Dunno about you but I have a pretty good idea of how the fire may have started...

[teeteringhead]

some stray UV source such as, say, reflected rays from the nearest star were detected.

ISTR garage welding torches could do the job too!