F-15K crashes in Korea

[R988]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19402333-401,00.html

A SOUTH Korean fighter jet with two crew aboard crashed into the sea, the defence ministry and the Air Force confirmed.
"One F-15K jet, which left a Daegu air base, suddenly disappeared from the Air Force radar while carrying out a night-time mission," the ministry and the Air Force said in a statement.

Wreckage was discovered in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) 350km southeast of Seoul, the statement said.

The fate of the two missing airmen was unknown and a navy search operation was continuing.

The pair has been identified only as veteran pilot Major Kim, 36, and 32-year-old Captain Lee.

Major Kim has accumulated more than 1000 flight hours in the last decade, the statement carried by Yonhap news agency said.

Seoul has placed an order for 40 F-15Ks from Boeing for delivery by 2008 for $US3.7 billion ($5.01 billion), and a first consignment of four is already being used by the South Korean Air Force.

The missing jet was one of that first batch.

News reports last month said that South Korea planned to cut back its purchase of US-made F-15 fighter jets over the next several years from 80 planes to 60 due to budget constraints.

The F-15K, built by US aviation giant Boeing, is one of the most sophisticated warplanes ever built.

Ouch, they only just got the first handful and they have already splashed one of them.

 

[loomaluftwaffe]

ouch

 

[Royzee617]

Like F104 in Germany etc., you need some hot jocks for these hot ships.

 

[evangilder]

One of the guys at our museum said the F-104 killed more Luftwaffe pilots than the 8th air force.

 

[R988]

Yet the Spanish lost no F-104s, but they only flew them in good conditions (is there any bad weather in Spain ) apparently the Luftwaffe did their training in Arizona or somewhere then came to Germany and had a lot of trouble with the worse weather in Germany.

Also the AV-8A Harrier had a similar fate in the US marines, at first they put there best pilots in them and didn't have many problems for the first year or two, then they started putting in helicopter pilots and all sorts in there thinking they would be ok (harrier is like a helicopter so that should work right? err... no) and then the accident rate went up quite a bit, earning it a reputation as a dangerous aircraft.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

The Germans still do there training in Arizona. They have a squadron (maybe 2) stationed in Arizona still today.

The same happened with the Saudi Arabians when they bought the Blackhawk. They were doing there initial pilot qualifications on the aircraft and were not used to using Night Vision Devices and balled one in in the desert.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Yet the Spanish lost no F-104s, but they only flew them in good conditions (is there any bad weather in Spain ) apparently the Luftwaffe did their training in Arizona or somewhere then came to Germany and had a lot of trouble with the worse weather in Germany.

Also the AV-8A Harrier had a similar fate in the US marines, at first they put there best pilots in them and didn't have many problems for the first year or two, then they started putting in helicopter pilots and all sorts in there thinking they would be ok (harrier is like a helicopter so that should work right? err... no) and then the accident rate went up quite a bit, earning it a reputation as a dangerous aircraft.

When the Germans starting loosing -104s it was a time there there was no transition aircraft to go from the F-86 into the F-104, and that's what many pilots did, plus the aircraft was being operated at low level, something it wasn't designed for. Once the accidents got under control the -104 had an averave attrition rate when compared with the rest of NATO operated fighters.

The worse aircraft? The F-100....