F-18 Crashes In San Diego

SoD Stitch said:

I read a very amusing article in Smithsonian Air Space magazine a while back (I can't find it now, of course) where a pilot ejected from his a/c near the airport (military) and, apparently, the a/c was trimmed perfectly; when he ejected, the a/c continued to fly around the airport in a circle, maintaining a constant altitude, until it finally ran out of fuel and crashed.

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Read 2 above your post.

FLYBOYJ said:

Read 2 above your post.

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That's probably it; I don't recall what a/c he was flying, but how often could that have happened? I find as I get older, my memory fails me . . . .

SoD Stitch said:

That's probably it; I don't recall what a/c he was flying, but how often could that have happened? I find as I get older, my memory fails me . . . .

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That's the only situation I ever heard where a pilot ejected and the aircraft landed almost intact.

FLYBOYJ said:

Ever hear of this one...

"An F-106 of the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, piloted by Gary Faust, entered a flat spin over Montana on February 2, 1970. Faust followed procedures and ejected from the aircraft. The resulting change of balance caused the aircraft to stabilize, and it landed wheels up in a snow-covered field, suffering almost no damage. The aircraft was then sent back to base by rail, repaired and returned to service."

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Quite a blow to your ego when an aircraft can fly better without you. I heard about a T-37 once where the crew bailed out and later they found the aircraft where it had bellied in. They found it with engines still running, sucking up mesquite bushes. Very rugged those centrifugal compressors.

I grew up on the turn to final approach path to Sherman field at Pensacola NAS. Not the straight in but the overhead. Our homestead was probably there before the runway. I never remember worrying about a plane crashing into my house. There was an accident once, the plane was on a straight in final when he got too low and went end. We went exploring in the woods and found a great plowed area through the pines and oaks. At the end of the furrow, was the remains of a Navy T-2, the dead pilot long removed. That is a sight not forgotten. I use to have dreams of aircraft crashing in our back field. Much later, on a business trip to Melbourne, Florida, I was at the airport where I saw a small plane, like a Lear, but much smaller flying very low down the runway, bobbing. I knew he was in trouble. He turned left to fly a pattern, when he turned 90 to final he disappeard behind some trees. I thought he would crash. He didn't, he reappeared and decided to fly another pattern this time, when went behind those trees, only a towering column of black smoke came out. It seems he was a test pilot for a new small personal jet. All very distrubing.