Snowbirds
- Thread starter Darts
- Start date
I have a soft spot for the Snowbirds. I kinda like the fact they fly those old Tutors. They're a great recruitment tool and still useful as a trainer. Why fly F16 or F18s like the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels.
They're also an excellent flying team. It always gives me goose bumps when I see them do a Line Abreast Loop & Roll. It takes some serious skill to perform that maneuver. You won't see other teams do it. My friend used be an instructor in Tutors. He said due to the difference in the distance traveled, during the roll, the inside plane of the group is just feathering the throttle while the one on the outside is just about at full throttle. He practiced with the team on many occasions. I remember when he said: "You think they look close together from the ground, you should see what it's like when you're up there with them."
They're also an excellent flying team. It always gives me goose bumps when I see them do a Line Abreast Loop & Roll. It takes some serious skill to perform that maneuver. You won't see other teams do it. My friend used be an instructor in Tutors. He said due to the difference in the distance traveled, during the roll, the inside plane of the group is just feathering the throttle while the one on the outside is just about at full throttle. He practiced with the team on many occasions. I remember when he said: "You think they look close together from the ground, you should see what it's like when you're up there with them."
I thought that might be a possibility from day one. Simple engine failure sounded strange given how meticulously maintained these things are. We shall wait and see.
I'm no jet engine expert, but would they not have a metal screen/grate on the intake to stop any bird from causing damage?
Screens are restrictive, cause turbulence and are therefore not suitable to be used in flight.
News is now reporting with a photo likely a bird strike. Birds can take down a plane Remember Miracle on the Hudson.
Spoke with my friend that was involved in the ground crew for years & is now in civil aviation & asked him his thoughts on what caused it & his answer was the audio at 4 seconds into the video is your answer. I asked him to elaborate & he said you'll read about it shortly. When I asked him why their still flying Tudors he said politics...he agreed they should have switched to Hawks years ago
Maybe so, but this crash was not likely caused by the age of the aircraft itself.
They seemed to take a long time to punch out. I watched the video and they did not get out for 8 seconds after hitting maximum altitude. I am not sure if that is the length of the ejection sequence or if they just took to long to pull the handle.
For sure they are meticulously maintained
Part of any military pilots training is to try & recover the aircraft & minimize civilian damage/casualties (think back to the ex in 89) & at worst case eject which they have a lot of training for. Looking at the video I'm sure the pilot did his best to recover it, & not to sound like a coward but if I was the media officer in that plane as soon as it lost airspeed & became a brick I would have ejected
When the pilot zoom climbed, he knew 100% the engine had flamed out, and loss of RPM would have made it 100% clear. Sure his finger was on the relight button as he climbed hoping it would fire up again, but he also knew he was low and slow. Once he was at the peak altitude, it was time to get out. Once the stick shaker went there was no hope of control. Not sure why he waited. I think it is the pilot that pulls the ejection handle on the plane.
I'm sure when it didn't relight he was consciously looking at his surroundings trying not to dump a plane full of fuel onto a populated suburb. The plane is unique in the fact it has mechanical flight controls & probably the lowest stall speed of any jet trainer in the world. As for the seats to my knowledge all trainers are equipped with seperate controls
Once the plane stalls you have no control. I think I read somewhere that the pilot controls the ejection sequence as they carry less trained observers quite often for PR.
I understand what stall means lol. You didn’t understand the point I tried to make, no military pilot wants to dump a plane full of fuel in the burbs. I’m guessing he tried to the very end to get the plane headed somewhere in a clearing or not so populated before it bricked. I still think the seats are independent I’d have to verify that, regardless as a officer she would get the same training & have to pass the same yearly ejection testing as a pilot, riding to every event first was her job.
