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Israeli's prove their skill and how tough the F-15 is, again!

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 6:33 pm
by Cacophonix
Two Israel Air Force pilots carried out an emergency landing after their F-15 fighter jet lost its cockpit canopy during a training exercise at 9,000 meters.

The pilot and the navigator had taken off from the Tel Nof airbase in central Israel and headed south. During the flight the canopy suddenly detached for unknown reasons, leaving the two pilots exposed to a severe cold of -45°C, violent turbulence and deafening noise.

Once the air crew understood that neither had been injured by the sudden detachment of the canopy, they estimated that they would be able to bring the damaged plane to a safe landing at Nevatim airbase east of Beersheba.

The crew, which had to communicate to each other by yelling, radioed the control tower at Nevatim – some 15 kilometers north from where they were – which was put on alert to prepare for an emergency landing.

The pilots, who were having difficulty communicating with one another and were facing strong winds and biting cold, slowed their damaged plane and began an orderly descent towards the airbase where they landed safely.

According to a senior officer in the Air Force there were no indications or warnings before the canopy detached.

“At what height are you going to stay at,” a voice is heard in audio recording of the incident released by the Air Force on Monday. The sound of the cockpit detaching and subsequent screaming is then heard before Capt. Y. is heard telling the ground controller that he and his co-pilot will be “coming in for a landing at the nearest base without a canopy. Please confirm.”

The plane’s navigator, Lt. R., then asked the pilot if he was all right, who screamed back “Yes, everything is all right.” The navigator then confirmed that he too was alright. They then decided to slow down their speed to 200 knots and recontacted the tower to inform them that they would head to the airbase for “an immediate landing.”

The two pilots were given a medical check when they landed by emergency rescue services and were found to be uninjured.

“It went from 0-100,” the senior officer said. “Imagine you go from the quiet in the canopy to a massive boom and being exposed to all the elements. You have to think, am I injured, is my co-pilot okay? There are many things the pilots have to deal with within seconds.”

“The pilot, Capt. Y., and the navigator, Lt. R., conducted the event in complex conditions where there was a real risk to the plane and crew,” the IDF said. “The plane’s crew was in full control throughout the incident, acted with level-headedness, professionalism and great skill in handling the rare malfunction, and landed the plane safely at the Nevatim Air Base.”

Following the incident IAF Commander Maj.-Gen. Amikam Norkin ordered a stop to all training flights for the F-15 until an investigation is completed.

According to the senior officer, there have only been three similar incidents where an F-15 canopy has detached mid- flight in the world. In 2004, another IAF F-15 lost its canopy and in 2014 a US Air Force F-15 fighter jet lost its canopy during routine training exercises off the coast of Okinawa, Japan. The crew landed at the Kadena Air Base with no injuries.

“This is a very rare incident,” the officer told reporters on Monday. He noted that in regards to the 40 year-old jet, the military is still searching for the canopy.

The air force – which is in contact with Boeing which manufactures the jet – is investigating whether the canopy detached due to a mechanical or technical fault.

“We are already in contact with the American manufacturer to understand the nature of the problem and its source,” the senior officer said, adding that the “F-15 Falcon has undergone changes and adjustments over the years and is still considered to be the most significant aircraft in the Israeli Air Force.”


Most of Israel’s F-15s were acquired in the second half of the 1970s with a more advanced squadron of the F-15 arriving in Israel in the 1990s. The Air Force is set to place orders on several new aircraft to upgrade its aging squadrons, including a new model of the F-15IA from Boeing.

The F-15IA model that the Israel Air Force is leaning towards purchasing is being advertised by US defense giants as one of the most advanced and cost-effective fighter planes ever to be built.

The jet will have fly-by-wire avionics to reduce maintenance costs and advanced sensors and displays with high reliability. The wings have also been designed to be able to use two additional outboard stations to carry a payload of some 13,380 kilos such as 12 air-to-air as well as 15 air-to-ground or air-to-maritime strike weapons which are able to engage multiple targets simultaneously.

Officials believe that a force mix of F-35I Adir stealth fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin along with a squadron of F-15IA would allow Israel to carry out a number of complex operations, including dealing with any possible confrontation with Iran on its borders.

https://m.jpost.com/Israel-News/Report- ... eet-576565





Caco

Re: Israeli's prove their skill and how tough the F-15 is, again!

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 7:51 pm
by Boac
I wonder if someone accidentally popped the jettison lever......

Re: Israeli's prove their skill and how tough the F-15 is, again!

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 8:38 pm
by Cacophonix
One of the instructor's back at Staverton back in the day was an ex RAF guy who wore grommets because his ears had been damaged by the slipstream when ejecting at high altitude and high speed.

What does the site's resident ejectee say about the likelihood of that kind of injury?

Do you want me to speak louder! ;)))

Caco

Re: Israeli's prove their skill and how tough the F-15 is, again!

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:08 pm
by Boac
Mine was at around the 230kts 200 feet so cannot comment. I would be surprised if ear damage resulted, though, as unless you lose the bone-dome in the 'excitement', the ears are well protected. Can you recall a name?

Re: Israeli's prove their skill and how tough the F-15 is, again!

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:51 pm
by Cacophonix
Boac wrote:
Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:08 pm
Mine was at around the 230kts 200 feet so cannot comment. I would be surprised if ear damage resulted, though, as unless you lose the bone-dome in the 'excitement', the ears are well protected. Can you recall a name?
I can't off the top of my head unfortunately. I believe he was the CFI at Staverton back around 1995. He was a fairly elderly chap back then. I will fish through my logbook to see if I can find it.

Caco

Re: Israeli's prove their skill and how tough the F-15 is, again!

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:20 pm
by Cacophonix
Looking at my log I can only find the name of one instructor and he is not the guy I am thinking of.

Interestingly this Canadian military human performance factors and ejection seats study notes the following...
Activating the ejection sequence results in immediate jettison of the aircraft canopy with cockpit depressurization to ambient. This exposes the ejectee to all the attendant risks of altitude including: hypoxia, decompression sickness, barotrauma and cold. Several cases of conjunctivitis have been reported because of dust and dirt from the cockpit floor entering * the eyes during depressurization. Since 1972, all ejections have occurred below 16000 feet MSL (Figure 22) however, before this ejections tended to be .. higher (Table 13). There are numerous cases of F86 and CF100 ejections above20000 feet MSL, and several of these were above 25000 feet. At least four ejections were over 30000 feet, the most recent being from CF100789 in May 1971. Annex B presents some ejection parameters for CF ejections since 1972. A few cases of hypoxia following ejection have been recorded. These appear to be confined to high altitude F86 ejections where the oxygen bottle and mask were lost on ejection, resulting in varying degrees of hypoxia during - descent and in one case, loss of consciousness (F86 23278 May 1955). No recorded cases of decompression sickness were found. Aerodynamic suction also occurs on canopy jettison because of Bernoulli's principle. This suction has been known to pull an individual off his seat cushion because of slackness in the harness restraint system, thereby increasing the accelerative "jolt" on the spine at the time of seat ejection.
Seems a bad cold or ear infection plus a high altitude ejection may just ruin ears and your day!

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a197896.pdf

I am going to be bugged by this until I remember the chap's name now.

Caco

Re: Israeli's prove their skill and how tough the F-15 is, again!

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:29 pm
by Boac
"Seems a bad cold or ear infection plus a high altitude ejection may just ruin ears and your day!" Absolutely - that's why you don't commit high altitude aviation in those conditions.

Re: Israeli's prove their skill and how tough the F-15 is, again!

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:34 pm
by Cacophonix
Boac wrote:
Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:29 pm
"Seems a bad cold or ear infection plus a high altitude ejection may just ruin ears and your day!" Absolutely - that's why you don't commit high altitude aviation in those conditions.
Possibly what happened in the case of the chap I am thinking off. The reason I thought of him was the question of how these Israeli bods might have been adversely impacted by their sudden loss of canopy at high speed and altitude.

Caco

Re: Israeli's prove their skill and how tough the F-15 is, again!

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 8:56 am
by Boac
It is worth remembering that as an ordinary jet airliner passenger/crew, if you fly with a badly blocked head - while you might get away on a normal flight with a fair bit of pain - if the aircraft has a sudden de-press at cruise you will be far from well at the end of it!

The loss of a canopy at high speed/altitude would be traumatic to say the least! Loads of noise, buffeting, cold as well as the de-press. It can be pretty exciting at low level too!

Re: Israeli's prove their skill and how tough the F-15 is, again!

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:12 pm
by Cacophonix
Boac wrote:
Thu Jan 10, 2019 8:56 am
It is worth remembering that as an ordinary jet airliner passenger/crew, if you fly with a badly blocked head - while you might get away on a normal flight with a fair bit of pain - if the aircraft has a sudden de-press at cruise you will be far from well at the end of it!

The loss of a canopy at high speed/altitude would be traumatic to say the least! Loads of noise, buffeting, cold as well as the de-press. It can be pretty exciting at low level too!
One of the crew didn't sound too happy about it on the audio in the video above! Probably a heart felt ejaculation in Hebrew roughly translated as "f@ck me, look what's just happened! =))

Completely out of context but here is another example of a heart felt ejaculation in English this time...



Caco

Re: Israeli's prove their skill and how tough the F-15 is, again!

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 3:42 pm
by llondel
Also a bit off topic but in similar vein but without the ejaculation, although the cameraman probably said something. The thud is very audible.




Re: Israeli's prove their skill and how tough the F-15 is, again!

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 5:20 pm
by Cacophonix
Completely, and tragically off topic, South African aerobatic champion, Nick Turvey (aka Topsy Turvey) hit and killed a cameraman in an incident exactly like the one noted above.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Turvey

Caco