CF-18 fighter jet crashes in northern Quebec - Pilot safe

[onecat]

SAGUENAY, Que. (CP) - A CF-18 fighter plane crashed Tuesday but the pilot is believed to have ejected, the all-news channel LCN reported.
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A search was underway to find the pilot from CFB Bagotville in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region, about 250 kilometres north of Quebec City. The pilot was reported to be safe, LCN said.

The cause of the crash isn't yet known and weather conditions were believed to be good at the time, LCN said.

The pilot was flying about 120 kilometres north of the base.


anyone have more details?

 

[Maritime_Matt]

CF-18 fighter jet crashes in northern Quebec
CTV.ca News Staff

A CF-18 fighter plane has crashed in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region of Quebec. The pilot ejected safely.

A search was underway to find the pilot from CFB Bagotville in the region about 250 kilometres north of Quebec City. A staffer in the office of the base's commanding officer says a helicopter is en route to the scene.

The cause of the crash isn't yet known.

The accident happened around 8:40 a.m. ET.  Weather conditions were reportedly good at the time.

The pilot was believed to have been on a training mission, flying about 120 kilometres north of the base.

More to come...

--

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1124203747626_119612947/?hub=TopStories

 

[Strike]

Pilot found safe -- Would love to be in the mess out there tonight.  ;D

CF-18 fighter jet crashes in northern Quebec

CTV.ca News Staff

A CF-18 fighter plane has crashed in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region of Quebec during a training exercise.

The pilot from CFB Bagotville ejected safely from the twin-engine CF-18 hornet. He was rescued by helicopter and is being examined in hospital.

The cause of the crash isn't yet known.

The accident happened around 8:40 a.m. ET Tuesday.  Weather conditions were reportedly good at the time.

 

[WannaBeFlyer]

Not sure if this has been posted yet...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20050816/ca_pr_on_na/cf_18_crash;_ylt=AnC6spBmo2kf_zV4eZkUZIWFM1IB;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl



SAGUENAY, Que. (CP) - The pilot of a CF-18 fighter jet ejected before his plane crashed and was found safely in a forested area, Col. Yvan Blondin of CFB Bagotville said Tuesday.


Blondin identified the pilot as Colin Marx of Dartmouth, N.S., and said he has been with the Armed Forces for 12 years but had arrived at the base only a month ago to train as a fighter pilot.

It was only the third of fourth flight the new pilot had taken at the base and inexperience may have contributed to the accident, said Blondin, the base commander.

Marx was with another fighter plane when the accident happened, Blondin said.

The other plane's pilot saw "the ejection and a parachute go down" and radioed the base, about 250 kilometres north of Quebec City, he added.

Blondin said the pilot, who is married but has no children, didn't have any major injuries but was taken to hospital as a precaution.

The routine training manoeuvres were being performed about 100 kilometres north of the base when the accident happened just after 8:30 a.m., Blondin said.


Related article: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1124203747626_119612947/?hub=TopStories

 

[mcnutt_p]

It has already been posted.

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/33580.0/topicseen.html

McNutt

 

[WannaBeFlyer]

My apologies for double-posting. Glad to hear he got out in time!

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

I wonder if it was one of the CF188s that was recently upgraded....?

 

[Inch]

Wow, I guess it's only a matter of time before it happens to someone you know.  We were in the same flight in Moose Jaw but Colin was a few courses ahead of me.  I did language school with his wife. He's a really good guy and I'm glad to hear he made it out alright, albeit he's probably a few inches shorter than he was when he woke up.

 

[Sf2]

CTV quoted the Base Commander as saying that the pilot may have been pushing the plane to hard.......jesus, how the hell would he know???

 

[JasonH]

Too hard?  I'd like to see a clip of how hard a CF-18 could be flown.  That'd be a hell of a video.

Good to hear the lad's safe and sound.

 

[Strike]

...and that inexperience may have been a factor.  Nice to know your superiors have your back.  Experience might not help if you've eaten a bird and have a bad profile.

 

[Slim]

Sounds like the typical bail out that senior officers perform when it may begin to look as though someone other than the pilot could/will be punished.

I wonder if the brass invented the ejection system? they seem to use it more than most here in Canada.

I am very glad that the pilot is safe and sound. I have heard (no personal experince with this) that the ejection from an aircraft has the potential to really screw the pilot up physically. Glad this didn't happen.


Slim

 

[honestyrules]

I've watched him on the news being interviewed yesterday night.
Yes he's safe and sound,walks strait, was joking and stuff, which is good.
As short final mentioned ,some Colonel said that the pilot pushed the jet the the max of it's capabilities, and that it's easy to loose control then.
Anyway,when the Air Force will get a hold of the flight recorder, we'll know the Truth (I hope).

 

[Slim]

As short final mentioned ,he said that the pilot pushed the jet the the max of it's capabilities, and that it's easy to loose control then.
Anyway,when the Air Force will get a hold of the flight recorder, we'll know the Truth (I hope).

Easy on the suppositions bro. As was mentioned above there are a number of current and former 18 drivers here who will tell you that the aircraft can hadle quite alot. I believe that one of them suggested that one possible cause would be sucking a bird into the engine...In any case I'll be quite content to let the folks who know what they're doing have the final say.

Cheers

Slim

 

[honestyrules]

Yes I agree with you SLIM,
I just mentioned what the Colonel told the journalists. It's not my pers. opinion. I know that the "highers" are concerned about "PR" especially if the journalists are becoming too curious about the aircraft. That's why they blame the pilot from the get go! Like I said ,I hope the flight recorder data will clear the pilot.

 

[Guardian]

Inexperienced though the pilot certainly was, I don't think it sets a good example for the colonel in question to speculate about the cause of the crash before it's known.

When undergoing media relations training, I remember being strongly cautioned not to talk about things outside of your personal experience or area of expertise. Although the colonel may be an SME on flight operations,  he shouldn't be framing his comments as guesses or speculation.

Contrast this with the Transport Safety guys' approach to possible causes of the crash in Toronto - facts only, not speculation (certainly on potential human error). The media already does enough of the latter.

Speaking as a flightless Army guy, could some of the AF types help me understand: could a birdstrike really threaten a two-engine aircraft? Under what circumstances? I thought the point of two engines was that you could afford to lose one...

 

[Dizzy]

If its birds, some types travel in groups. In 95, an AWACS plane in Alaska struck several geese on takeoff and birds got two of the four engines. Its possible that birds may have got both engines if that is in fact what happened.

 

[Sf2]

Not only that, but when you toss a bird into a fan spinning at 30,000 rpm, things tend to break off.

Not only will you loose the engine, but its possible that fragments from the compressor etc will rupture hydraulic lines or other systems critical to flight.  So you may have a good engine, but your aircraft may not be flyable.

 

[Strike]

Losing one engine could also be catastrophic depending on what flight configuration you are in.  If he was low and slow and ate a bird that other engine would have a very hard time spooling up to take on the extra work -- more so than if the engine was already up in that operating range, like in a climb or during a high speed turn.

I am not familiar with the cf-18, but most multi-engined aircraft have a "safe single engine speed" or some other term that means the same thing.  As also mentioned, birds travel in flocks.

I am NOT saying that this was a bird strike, I am just giving my view on why someone would eject if they did hit a bird.

 

[mover1]

Don't blame the pilot, and don't say he was inexperienced....yet

In Cold Lake in the late 90's an Amrican in an F-16 hit a pelican on a bombing run. Took his canopy and helmet off. Cut him up good too.

F-18's have been know to go down due to generator problems. Losing power etc etc.
But lets wait for the facts before we speculate too much.

  http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/dfs/docs/Reports/fti_e.asp