An F-16 collided with a light aircraft (Cessna 172 according to one article) today in Florida (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001116/ts/crash_fighter_dc_3.html). The F-16 pilot ejected and parachuted to safety. Unfortunately, the Skyhawk driver perished. I don’t know if it was the initial impact or the fall that caused the GA fatality here. However, I look forward to the day when we can read that the F-16 pilot parachuted to safety and the Cessna pilot performed the same feat together with his damaged airframe.
An F-16 collided with a light aircraft (Cessna 172 according to one article) today in Florida (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001116/ts/crash_fighter_dc_3.html). The F-16 pilot ejected and parachuted to safety. Unfortunately, the Skyhawk driver perished. I don’t know if it was the initial impact or the fall that caused the GA fatality here. However, I look forward to the day when we can read that the F-16 pilot parachuted to safety and the Cessna pilot performed the same feat together with his damaged airframe.
It will certainly be interesting to see the types of situations in which pilots decide to deploy the 'chute (and more interesting still to see the success rate). In this particular mid-air, I read some news reports which quoted witnesses saying that the cessna “disintegrated” as it was hit by the F-16, so I’m not sure the chute would have helped in this specific case.
(of course most of these news stories also referred to the cessna as a “two-seat, cessna 172” so who knows how accurate they are)
Steve
My bet is that first Cirrus pilot to pull the chute will have suffered a mid-air that takes out the rear stabilizer or a wing tip.
Didn’t somebody once suggest, at an early Cirrus fly-in, a betting pool among Cirri in which we would guess:
-
Date of the first pulled chute
-
Reason why
An F-16 collided with a light aircraft (Cessna 172 according to one article) today in Florida (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001116/ts/crash_fighter_dc_3.html). The F-16 pilot ejected and parachuted to safety. Unfortunately, the Skyhawk driver perished. I don’t know if it was the initial impact or the fall that caused the GA fatality here. However, I look forward to the day when we can read that the F-16 pilot parachuted to safety and the Cessna pilot performed the same feat together with his damaged airframe.
An F-16 collided with a light aircraft (Cessna 172 according to one article) today in Florida (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001116/ts/crash_fighter_dc_3.html). The F-16 pilot ejected and parachuted to safety. Unfortunately, the Skyhawk driver perished. I don’t know if it was the initial impact or the fall that caused the GA fatality here. However, I look forward to the day when we can read that the F-16 pilot parachuted to safety and the Cessna pilot performed the same feat together with his damaged airframe.
AOPA news release offered some good advice to pilots in flying near military training routes (see the following reprint). This ASF advice may be better than a parachute in this particular case, but I’m sure a parachute will help in other less disastrous circumstances.
Cessna and F-16 collide, ASF cautions pilots about military training routes
Nov. 17 — A Cessna 172 and an Air Force F-16 fighter collided south of Tampa, Florida yesterday afternoon at about 4 p.m. The accident, just outside of the Tampa Class B and near the beginning of a low-altitude military training route, killed 57-year-old Jacque Olivier, a flight instructor, charter pilot and AOPA member. The F-16 pilot ejected safely.
According to the preliminary accident report, the Cessna pilot had been receiving VFR traffic advisories from the Tampa TRACON. The pair of F-16s from Moody Air Force Base in Georgia had just been cleared onto a visual military training route (MTR).
“We cannot speculate about the cause of this accident,” said Bruce Landsberg, AOPA Air Safety Foundation executive director, “but we want to remind pilots of the hazards associated with MTRs.”
Military training routes are depicted on sectional charts with a gray line. The route names begin with either VR (visual route) or IR (instrument route). Military aircraft are permitted to exceed the 250-knot speed limit below 10,000 feet when cleared onto an MTR. In fact, the rules for VR1098 near Tampa permit aircraft to fly as fast as 580 knots between 500 and 3,000 feet above ground level.
“Pilots should be aware that they can encounter high-speed military aircraft at low altitudes outside of Military Operations Areas (MOA) and Restricted Areas,” said Landsberg. (ASF is now offering its latest safety seminar, “Collision Avoidance,” at locations across the country. See Air Safety Institute - AOPA for schedule information.)
AOPA’s Vice President for Air Traffic Melissa Bailey noted that it is difficult for pilots to obtain information about activity on MTRs. “We’ve been pushing FAA and the military for years to make real-time information on military flight activities available to civilian pilots.”
An F-16 collided with a light aircraft (Cessna 172 according to one article) today in Florida (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001116/ts/crash_fighter_dc_3.html). The F-16 pilot ejected and parachuted to safety. Unfortunately, the Skyhawk driver perished. I don’t know if it was the initial impact or the fall that caused the GA fatality here. However, I look forward to the day when we can read that the F-16 pilot parachuted to safety and the Cessna pilot performed the same feat together with his damaged airframe.
It will certainly be interesting to see the types of situations in which pilots decide to deploy the 'chute (and more interesting still to see the success rate). In this particular mid-air, I read some news reports which quoted witnesses saying that the cessna “disintegrated” as it was hit by the F-16, so I’m not sure the chute would have helped in this specific case.
(of course most of these news stories also referred to the cessna as a “two-seat, cessna 172” so who knows how accurate they are)
Steve
If the f-16 pilot was forced to bail out, I’m certain there was very little left of the Cessna. I’ll be iterested to hear more details on this one.
From a local TV station’s web site (www.wwsb.com)
JET - PLANE COLLISION
INVESTIGATION IS UNDERWAY IN BRADENTON…
(Bradenton-AP) – Military and federal air safety investigators are rounding up pieces of an F-16 and a civilian rented plane that collided and then fell over a four-square-mile area.
The only fatality known so far is the pilot of the Cessna 172. The pilot of the jet fighter parachuted to safety.
The two planes collided Thursday afternoon.
Debris from both planes scattered over four miles, from University Parkway to the Rosedale subdivision on State Road 70. A wing struck the roof of a home and a dummy bomb landed in the median of a highway, but no one on the ground was injured, officials said.
The Cessna pilot was 57-year-old Jacques Olivier of Hernando.
The F-16 was loaded with dummy bombs for a training mission at the Avon Park Bombing and Gunnery Range about 100 miles east of Bradenton.
The F-16 pilot was Captain Greg Kreuder of Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta
An F-16 collided with a light aircraft (Cessna 172 according to one article) today in Florida (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001116/ts/crash_fighter_dc_3.html). The F-16 pilot ejected and parachuted to safety. Unfortunately, the Skyhawk driver perished. I don’t know if it was the initial impact or the fall that caused the GA fatality here. However, I look forward to the day when we can read that the F-16 pilot parachuted to safety and the Cessna pilot performed the same feat together with his damaged airframe.
It will certainly be interesting to see the types of situations in which pilots decide to deploy the 'chute (and more interesting still to see the success rate). In this particular mid-air, I read some news reports which quoted witnesses saying that the cessna “disintegrated” as it was hit by the F-16, so I’m not sure the chute would have helped in this specific case.
(of course most of these news stories also referred to the cessna as a “two-seat, cessna 172” so who knows how accurate they are)
Steve
If the f-16 pilot was forced to bail out, I’m certain there was very little left of the Cessna. I’ll be iterested to hear more details on this one.
My bet is that first Cirrus pilot to pull the chute will have suffered a mid-air that takes out the rear stabilizer or a wing tip.
Didn’t somebody once suggest, at an early Cirrus fly-in, a betting pool among Cirri in which we would guess:
- Date of the first pulled chute
- Reason why
I’ll bet it’s deployed while the plane is sitting on the ground, by a break-and-enter vandal or VERY nervous passenger, before the end of 2001.
I talked to Bob Nelson, the chairman of BRS, at AOPA. He thought that deployment of the chute on the ground for emergency runway stops was a viable safety procedure that Cirrus drivers should be prepared for, but don’t seem to be aware of.
I’ll bet it’s deployed while the plane is sitting on the ground, by a break-and-enter vandal or VERY nervous passenger, before the end of 2001.
Lets hope that the first deployment is not from an accident similar to Scott Andersons where the occupants survived and the fire rescue crews cut the top of the aircraft open to evacuate the passengers and snag the CAPS cable with the saw.
If there is any fuel spilled the rescue could be fatal. It is a good idea for all owners to advise all rescue facilities of the location of the CAPS activation cable and the possible dangers of hasty or improper rescue.
I talked to Bob Nelson, the chairman of BRS, at AOPA. He thought that deployment of the chute on the ground for emergency runway stops was a viable safety procedure that Cirrus drivers should be prepared for, but don’t seem to be aware of.
I’ll bet it’s deployed while the plane is sitting on the ground, by a break-and-enter vandal or VERY nervous passenger, before the end of 2001.
I talked to Bob Nelson, the chairman of BRS, at AOPA. He thought that deployment of the chute on the ground for emergency runway stops was a viable safety procedure that Cirrus drivers should be prepared for, but don’t seem to be aware of.
Interesting thought, but I wonder if it could deploy and open in enough time to effect a “save.” One would only perceive such an emergency with a couple of seconds remaining: the end of the runway rushing towards you with a hundred or so feet remaining. Perhaps in the event of a total brake failure just after touchdown it could work. On the other hand, I wonder if it would yank the nose up and slam the tail down on the runway? I hope no one has any cause to do the experiment!
If it slows you up before you hit something it will help. If I lost an engine on takeoff and was going to hit the side of a factory buiding I would pull the chute. (Where I takeoff I see a lot of factory buildings. It is either land in the school yard or hit the factory.) Any loss of speed would make it more survivable. According to the video of chute deployments it also puts you intially a little nose up which would be a better angle to hit. That Bonanza that hit a building in Newark and then bounced down the street could have made good use of a chute.
I talked to Bob Nelson, the chairman of BRS, at AOPA. He thought that deployment of the chute on the ground for emergency runway stops was a viable safety procedure that Cirrus drivers should be prepared for, but don’t seem to be aware of.
AOPA’s Vice President for Air Traffic Melissa Bailey noted that it is difficult for pilots to obtain information about activity on MTRs
In Australia, this info is published by NOTAM - there are permanent Low Jet Routes and additionally NOTAMS have info on daily flights. Also announcements are made on area/center frequencies shortly before flights. These are mostly F-111’s at low level, but with “abrupt vertical manouevers” at designated points. E.g:
LJR SE QUEENSLAND
MIL F111 JET ACFT OPR BLW 3000FT AGL ON THE FLW RTE
CHINCHILLA 105020 (DESCENT) / TARA 354010 / TAROOM 080025 / TAROOM
015040 / THANGOOL 125016 / S24 51.3 E150 44.3 / MONTO 188020 /
GAYNDAH 066014 / GYMPIE 281012 / GYMPIE 197015 / S26 23.3 E152 40.9
(ASCENT) / NOOSA 050004
OPR WI 10NM TR
(ABRUPT VER MANOUEVRES BLW 7000FT AGL WI 5NM RAD - THANGOOL 125016 -
GYMPIE 197015)
FROM 11 200800 TO 11 201200