:)

[Cobra412]

TC from what I understand about this particular incident.  The pilot flying this bird had collided with a A-4.  He felt the massive shudder but though he had flown through the A-4s jet wash.  Immediately after the A-4 called that he was bailing out.  The pilot proceeded to check his aircraft.  He saw a ton of flames coming from the wing.  He checked his fuel indications and it read 0.  He was about to punch but remembered the F-15 has one way check valves to prevent internal fuel from exiting the wing area in the event it's damaged.

The plane was initially uncontrollable.  He reset the CAS system.  Gave it a bit of thrust and the plane became controllable again.  His instructor told him to bail but instead he stayed.  He landed the jet at almost 260-290 kts extending his arrestor hook.   The hook sheared and he barely stopped the jet from hitting the catch nets at the end of the runway.  He was demoted after this incident and then promoted for saving the aircraft.

[68DevilM]

are we sure it was the whole wing or more like 75% of it? ive been able to set down planes with just 25% of my wing left, tricky but possible.

[TequilaChaser]

Cobra you more connected with what goes on I'm sure, I just read some news article off the internet, wasn't  like internal documented info or anything........

you know how some news articles can be misleading LOL

[Hyrax81st]

Originally posted by Cobra412
If you say so Hyrax.  I've seen our birds hit by vehicles and by heavy maintenance stands and never has one done anything like this.  I've got photos of an E model too that crashed on landing.  I had to help clean up the wreck.

I was just being "flip". If that plane landed without that wing - he did a great job.

[Cobra412]

68Devil that area on the right there is only a little over 2 maybe 3 feet.  That slant edge where the wing was ripped off is maybe 5 to 10 percent of the whole wing itself.  It basically ripped off right where the wing starts to become the flat main area of the wing.  Here's a few normal photos to reference that area.

Aft View



Forward View



Hyrax I figured you were being a goof.

[68DevilM]

cobra

ohh i was talking about aces high.

[Cobra412]

According to McDonnell Douglas they tested this in flight simulators and it was impossible to stay aloft and in control of the aircraft.  They were simply amazed that for one the pilot stayed with the aircraft and two that he was actually able to make a controlled landing in it.  They could never duplicate such a feat no matter what scenario they tried.  Basically it was a miracle with what had happenend.

One other thing to note about this incident.  Since the automatic flight controls don't do anything for the ailerons or flaps they weren't damaged during the incident.  In the end he had almost full authority control on his horizontal stabilators and his rudders.  The only thing that was limiting them was his altitude and airspeed.  He should have had about 10 degrees extra authority in pitch up and 5 degrees pitch down.  He also still had full authority on his rudders adding an extra 15 degrees.  

I've actually witnessed crews coming down missing half of their stabilators due to water entrapment.  The water freezes at altitude and then under maneuvers rips the surface off.  One even had it's horizontal stabilator go up and through the rudder ripping it completely off.  The aircrew had no clue that it was missing and noticed no degradation in the flight control handling properties.

[Arlo]

F-15 arrestor hook? Didn't know they had `em.

[Zazen13]

I shot both wings and the entire tail off a lancaster last night. He successfully 'landed' the fuselage on the water and got the ditch, from 3000 feet.




Zazen

[senna]

F-15s have good all round visability.

[Cobra412]

Arlo yeah the F-15 has them on all models.  They are purely for emergencies.  Especially if the brakes fail, Utility Hydraulic system failure, or a gear failure is probable.  They want to get the bird stopped as quickly as possible.  There is assemblies at both ends of the runway, take off or landings.  They can catch the "barrier" as we call it if in the event they have to high speed abort or one of the above mentioned failures.

We had a bird divert to Khobar towers when I was in Qatar for a utility hydraulic system failure.  On approach he came in to shallow and with his arresting hook down.  It was trying for the landing barrier and not the run off barrier.  But because of his approach his hook caught the first line instead.  It yanked him out of mid air and slammed the jet to the runway.  It collapsed the gear and did a bit of damage from one of the donuts on the line.

[Howitzer]

Originally posted by Cobra412
Rod I beg to differ on your take a wing off and a plane won't land.  Granted this is from newer technology but there is a real life story of a fighter losing a complete wing and landing it. Call it whatever you want, sheer luck or not it made it home.  

An Israeli F-15 landing home safely without a complete wing.  Actually without a wing at all.



This aircraft was struck by a A-4 Skyhawk during a combat training mission.  With having intimate knowledge of this airframe I can tell you that where it seperated was almost right at the wing mount bolts.  It only had about 2 feet or so from the actual spot inwhich it's mounted.

Yeah, it was the whole wing.  This was on the history channel a while back and they interviewed the pilot who flew it.  Was pretty amazing to hear this.. He landed at an incredible rate of speed, I want to say 300 knots, but it may be 250 or so.  What the analysts said was that the f15 has such a high thrust to weight ratio that it is basically a rocket, and as long as he didn't get slow, it wouldn't flip over.  The plane this guy hit completely exploded, just a freak accident, but tragic as well.