I believe the term is "fucked". Red Arrows crash.

[Swoop]

Red Arrows jets crash in training.

Two British pilots escaped serious injury today after their jets crashed during an airborne stunt by the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows.

The RAF said Mike Ling suffered a dislocated shoulder after parachuting from his plane during pre-season training at the Hellenic Air Force base at Kastelli, Crete.

His aircraft was severely damaged when it hit the runway, a spokeswoman said.

The other pilot, Dave Montenegro, landed safely with no injuries.

The Red Arrows are famous for their airborne stunts, multicoloured vapour trails, dramatic fly pasts and trademark diamond formation.

Formed in 1965, the Arrows have flown more than 4,000 displays in 53 countries. Their red single engine jet trainers are a familiar sight at air shows and military events.

The cause of the incident will soon be investigated, and training will resume as soon as possible, the RAF said.



An aircraft is "severely damaged" if it hits the runway while the pilot is dangling under his parachute?
No! The term is "fucked". The plane is fucked Sir! In fact, it is probably nothing more than a smoking hole in the ground.

[R6_kid:Me]

Not the first time I've heard ambiguous descriptions of damaged aircraft. Though it'd be interesting to know if thats the official word or the journalists impression - doesn't say if he was unable to land safely and had to eject, or if he ejected and the plane then hit the ground from low altitude.?

edit: Acutally... this one says he ejected from 1000ft
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100323...t-a7ad41d.html

but then this one says he ejected and the plane crash-landed, as opposed to just crashing?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...re/8583263.stm

[Swoop]

With what they were doing, I doubt he un-assed the aircraft because "the spark plugs fouled up". They deploy to the Med to conduct pre-summer season training in better met conditions and also less airspace congestion.
It has been quite a while since they had a blot on their record. Bloody impressive displays!

[Swoop]

The two Hawk jets were said to have touched during an “opposition manoeuvre” in which one aircraft flies like a mirror image of another.

One of the jets’ rudders was damaged and Flt Lt Mike Ling, 30, was forced to eject and parachute to safety from a height of around 1,000ft (300m).

Flt Lt Ling, who flies under the call sign Red 6, was last night in the Venizelos state hospital, in the city of Heraklion, and his injuries were described as “not serious”.

The pilot is married and lives with his wife Natalie in Biggin Hill, south east London. The pilot of the other jet was Flt Lt David Montenegro.

Five of the 10 aircraft flown by the Red Arrows are more than 30 years old and the jets have been involved in a series of incidents in recent years.

The unit’s leader - Squadron Leader Ben Murphy, known as Red 1 or “The Boss” – led a full complement of nine Red Arrows for the first time two weeks ago.

Some of the pilots are also training hard for the London Marathon next month.

The crash took place at around 11.50am yesterday in the skies over the Kastelli military airbase in Crete.

The Red Arrows had arrived there on Sunday for Exercise Springhawk, a training programme ahead of the aerobatic show season, before their planned departure for further training in Cyprus.

The unit had flown for Crete on Saturday from its base at RAF Scampton, Lincs, stopping to refuel in Lyon, France, and staying overnight in Bari, Italy.

All 10 Hawks flew to Crete, as well as a C-130 Hercules transport plane carrying equipment and the unit’s mechanical and support crew.

British flight investigators are expected to being examining the wreckage in the next few days.

Speaking after yesterday’s crash, Greek air force spokesman Dimitris Tsirogiannidis said: “The pilot parachuted under ideal conditions which is why he just dislocated a shoulder.

“Our estimate is that the accident was caused by a mid-air collision and the pilot jumped from a height of 300 metres.

“He has just been examined at a local hospital and we are on standby to transfer him to Athens if it is deemed necessary, but his condition is not serious.”

A Greek police spokesman added the plane hit the ground inside the perimeter of the military airport and was “almost totally destroyed”.

Different reasons were given for the collision: some suggested it was pilot error, others that it was mechanical.

Dimitris Parasyris, the chief of police at Kastelli police station close to the airport, said he saw “black smoke billowing over the airport” after the crash.

George Psyllakis, the chief of security police inside the airport, who was in charge of the crash site, said: “The British pilot reacted well and escaped unhurt, and nobody was hurt on the ground.”

Local photographer Stefanos Rapanis saw the injured pilot being taken to hospital.

He said: “His head and one shoulder was bandaged, and there was blood otherwise the Englishman seemed OK.”

The Red Arrows regularly train in Greece and performs over the mainland port of Piraeus.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: “An incident has occurred involving the Red Arrows whilst undertaking pre-season training at Hellenic Air Force Base Kastelli in Crete.

“One pilot ejected and has been taken to hospital, the other landed safely.”

Training at the airport has been temporarily suspended.

Since the Red Arrows’ creation in 1965, its pilots have flown more than 4,000 displays in 53 countries.

Many of the officers and support staff have recently served in Afghanistan and Iraq.


At least The Telegraph gets the decription correct!

[R6_kid:Me]

On a brighter note... if you can be bothered heading down to NZAA they have a little treat in store for plane-spotters:
http://mrcaviation.blogspot.com/2010...of-rhinos.html

5x F/A-18 SuperHornets aka "Rhino's" destined for the RAAF, a civilian K/C-10 Tanker and an RAAF C-17.

Interesting that they've gone to NZAA rather than Whenuapai.

[Swoop]

Interesting that they've gone to NZAA rather than Whenuapai.

Better facilities and class of people I guess...

[Swoop]

Speaking of F-18's... They should have stuck with Tomcats!

F-18s Aging Poorly.
March 17, 2010: The U.S. Navy has grounded 16 percent (104 of 635) of its older (A/B/C/D models) F-18 fighters. The reason is the discovery of cracks in the airframe. Small cracks were expected to show up eventually, the result of all the stress put on the metal from violent aerial maneuvers, and carrier landings. But in this case, the cracks were showing up sooner than expected. Most of the grounded aircraft can still be flown in an emergency. All these older F-18s have to be examined, and those found with cracks (usually where the wing meets the fuselage), repairs can be made.
Over the last few years, the navy has found that both their older F-18C Hornet fighters, and their newer F-18E "Super Hornet" are wearing out faster than expected. This was sort of expected with the F-18Cs, which entered service during the late 1970s and early 80s. These aircraft were expected to last about twenty years. But that was based on a peacetime tempo of operations, with about a hundred carrier landings (which is hard on the airframe) per year. There have been more than that because of the 1991 Gulf War (and the subsequent decade of patrolling the no-fly zone) and the war on terror. So to keep enough of these aircraft operational until the F-35 arrives to replace them in the next decade, new structural components (mainly the center barrel sections) are being manufactured. This is good news for foreign users of the F-18C, who want to keep their aircraft in service longer.

The F-18E entered service about a decade ago, and was supposed to last 6,000 flight hours. But the portion of the wing that supports the pylons holding stuff (bombs, missiles, equipment pods or extra fuel tanks) is now expected to be good for no more than 3,000 flight hours. The metal, in effect, is weakening faster than expected. Such "metal fatigue", which ultimately results in the metal breaking, is normal for all aircraft. Calculating the life of such parts is still part art, as well as a lot of science. Again, unexpectedly high combat operations are the culprit. One specific reason for the problem was the larger than expected number of carrier landings carrying bombs. That's because so many missions flown over Iraq and Afghanistan did not require F-18Es to use their bombs or missiles.

The navy is modifying existing F-18Es to fix the problem, which is a normal response to such situations. Sometimes these fixes cost millions of dollars per aircraft, but this particular fatigue problem is costing more to fix than expected. Many aircraft appear beyond repair, and will have to be retired after 8,000 hours in the air.

There are actually two quite different aircraft that are called the F-18 (the A/B/C/D version, and the E/F/Gs). While the F-18E looks like the original F-18A, it is actually very different. The F-18E is about 25 percent larger (and heavier) than the earlier F-18s, and has a new type of engine. By calling it an upgrade, it was easier for the navy to get the money from Congress. That's because, in the early 1990s, Congress was expecting a "peace dividend" from the end of the Cold War, and was slashing the defense budget. There was a lot of commonality between the two F-18s, but they are basically two different aircraft. Thus when used more heavily than expected, they developed metal fatigue in different parts of the airframe.

[Mully]

Interesting that they've gone to NZAA rather than Whenuapai.

They probably don't want their pretty new planes to be tagged when they're sitting overnight.

[R6_kid:Me]

They probably don't want their pretty new planes to be tagged when they're sitting overnight.

I was waiting for that! Whenuapai now has it's 2m fence and then also a barbed wire perimeter fence inside of that.
I'm guessing it's something to do with Customs wanting them in quarantine while they are here as it is a 2 day stop over.

[Mully]

I was waiting for that! Whenuapai now has it's 2m fence and then also a barbed wire perimeter fence inside of that.

Clearly, you underestimate the ability of Westie taggers.......

[=cJ=]

Still classed as a good landing...

He walked away from it.

[marty]

is there any word on when they're leaving?

[R6_kid:Me]

8:45am on Friday

More photos and some video:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10633996