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Aviation History
1979
1979 - 1619.PDF
RIGHT International, 12 May 1979 1549 European F-15 crash details revealed DETAILS have been released of the circumstances surrounding the loss of five McDonnell Douglas F-15s of the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing, Bitburg, Germany, between April and Decem ber last year. The following sum maries were issued by the US Air Forces in Europe: April 17, 1978 The mishap aircraft was No 3 in a three-ship flight on a Dissimilar Air Combat Tactics (Dact) mission against four F-5Es. The inci dent took place in the Aggressor Training Area, 125 n.m. north-east of RAF Alconbury, UK. During the en gagement No 3 called "bingo minus one," indicating that his remaining fuel was 1001b below the prebriefed fuel state for return to base. The F-15s disengaged and began recovery. Two minutes later No 3 called that he had 4,0001b of fuel remaining but no fuel in the feed tanks. The starboard engine then flamed out, followed two minutes later by the port engine. Anticipating a complete loss of flight controls the pilot ejected at 14,000ft, sustaining minor injuries in the pro* cess. June 15, 1978 Adler 53 (the mishap aircraft) was one of two F-15s on a Dact mission against two F-5Es. The aircraft had just begun conversion to a gun attack on the lead F-5 when he called to terminate the engagement. Flames were observed coming from both engines. Adler 53 established a glide and reported that one engine had stagnated and that the other refused to start. The aircraft continued to descend. After passing through a haze layer the pilot ejected safely, 3min 30sec after the problem first arose. July 6, 1978 The accident F-15 was one of a flight of four en route to an Air Combat Tactics/Air Refuelling mission. After take-off from Bitburg the aircraft formated for a standard instrument departure and established radio and radar contact with departure control. Shortly after, the departure radar failed and the flight leader, Adler 21, was: informed that radar contact had been lost. Adler 21 told departure control that he was in visual meteorological conditions (free of cloud) and was instructed to con tinue the instrument departure. Radar contact was re-established one minute later, by which time the flight was flying level in cloud at 7,000ft. De parture control requested all aircraft except the flight, leader to switch off their radar transponders. Shortly after, Adler 24 called "Four is lost wing- man," indicating that he had lost con tact with the flight. Adler 21 acknow ledged. Seventeen seconds later Adler 23 called "Two-three is lost wingman." The flight leader acknowledged and informed departure control of his lost wingmen, requesting permission to climb above the clouds. The flight was cleared to climb to 20,000ft, but Adler 21 levelled off above the clouds at 9,500ft. Adler 23 rejoined the flight visually. A radio, radar and visual search failed to locate Adler 24. The aircraft crashed 13 n.m. north-north east of Bitburg. The canopy was still on the aircraft and ejection had not been initiated. The pilot was killed on impact. December 19, 1978 A three-aircraft flight left Bitburg for an Air Combat Tactics/Air Refuelling mission. Tran sit to the training area was unevent ful. Combat started when Growl 17 (the mishap aircraft) made a radar lock on Growl 18 and began a rear attack. The aircraft closed on its target, attempting a high-angle gun shot. Growl 18 saw Growl 17 overshoot and burst into flames, and its pilot called "punch out, punch out!" Growl 16 saw a parachute shortly before the aircraft hit the ground. The pilot re ceived minor injuries. December 28, 1978 The mishap air craft was on an Air Combat Tactics mission. After the third engagement, the pilot entered a chandelle man oeuvre. The wingman reported fire corning from the nozzle area, prob ably from the starboard engine. The pilot cut the afterburner on the port engine, shut off the fuel to the other engine and entered a shallow dive to maintain airspeed. During the re covery the left engine wound down and attempts to air start both engines were unsuccessful. The pilot ejected safely. MX ICBM decision postponed DESPITE a directive from a Senate Committee, US Defence Secretary Harold Brown has postponed the planned May 9 decision on a method of basing the proposed MX strategic missile. "He is going to do what he intended all the time—make a basing decision later this year," say Pentagon sources. The Senate Armed Services Com mittee had earlier ordered the Defence Secretary to report "not later than May 9, in time for the Committee's consideration and action on the Fiscal 1980 budget, his best judgement and his preference as to the missile design characteristics and basing system which should be developed." The House Appropriations Committee has also told Brown to "proceed immedi ately with full-scale engineering de velopment of the missile basing mode known as the Multiple Protective Structure system [and] full-scale engineering development of the MX missile, unless and until [he] certifies to Congress that an alternative basing mode is militarily or technologically superior to and more cost effective than the MPS system." MX is scheduled to go into service in June 1986 and be fully operational about five years later. Harold Brown has already told the House Appropria tions Committee: "I think that a delay until sometime later this year on a basing-mode decision won't ob struct things." Black Hawk survives crash tests HARD LANDING trials conducted by the US Army have demonstrated the crash survivability of the Sikorsky UH-60A Black Hawk utility transport helicopter. In tests at Rentschler Field, Connecticut, a Black Hawk sur vived a descent rate of ll-5ft/sec at 63kt with a gross weight of 16,8251b. At gross weight of 20,2501b, the heli copter landed at 6-5ft/sec without damage. An autorotarion landing at the same weight caused the tail wheel to touch down at 12ft/sec and the main undercarriage at 8-5ft/sec with out damaging the aircraft. Another Black Hawk has success fully demonstrated the de-icing sys tem at Minneapolis, Minnesota. For the artificial icing trials the helicopter flew behind an aircraft spraying water. Natural icing trials begin later this year. HMS Invincible on sea trials. Powered by four Rolls-Royce marine Olympus engines, the anti submarine cruiser is the largest western warship powered solely by gas-turbines
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