Hope that they were able to repair it. Neat video in here too.

“An Air Force rookie pilot crashed a $140million F-22 stealth fighter jet on the runway right after takeoff because they took off too slowly and pulled the nose up too early, an investigation has revealed.
…
Board concluded that the pilot crashed the plane because the pilot brought the nose up to early, failed to reach the right speed for take off and prematurely retracted the landing gear.

The F-22 took off going 23 knots below the recommended speed, which was fast enough to leave the ground but too slow to keep the plane in the air…”

https://dailym.ai/2QbYlts

Damn ground effect!!!!

Freakin' density altitude!

As it says in The Good Book, "Keepeth up thine airspeed, lest the ground riseth up and smiteth thee."

I strongly suspect that is one pilot that won't be finishing his training. I hope he likes Food Service or Grounds Maintenance.

Why let a rookie fly a plane like that? Put him in a busted Tomcat.

Ground effect reduces induced drag; less drag within half a wingspan of the ground, meaning the aircraft will fly at a lower airspeed and lower thrust than if it were even twenty or thirty feet higher above the ground. The moment one climbs out of ground effect, however, a rapid drag increase occurs, and the aircraft can't climb, despite the takeoff power. Because it takes more and more power to fly slower and slower with the drag increase that occurs when flying at high angles, the result is that one runs out of power.

The formula for climb performance is excess thrust; if all the thrust is consumed fighting drag...then there's nothing with which to climb; the airplane sinks back into ground effect. Without wheels to prevent ground contact, the result may be undesirable.

Expensive mistake.

quote:

Without wheels to prevent ground contact, the result may be undesirable.

Understatement of the week.

It was an interesting point that nearly all the bases that fly F22s are at sea level whereas NAS Fallon is ~4000 ft.

JP

quote:

Originally posted by jprebb:
It was an interesting point that nearly all the bases that fly F22s are at sea level whereas NAS Fallon is ~4000 ft.

JP

On a 100 degree day, while the airport is physically located at 4,000 above mean sea level, the "density altitude" is nearly 8,000. That means that the air density, at that the field elevation and temperature, equates to the air density at 8000 on a standard day. That means that the aircraft doesn't perform like it's at a 4,000' airport, but instead, like it's at an 8,000 airport.

Takeoff distance is longer, climb performance less, thrust less, and true airspeed higher.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
Why let a rookie fly a plane like that? Put him in a busted Tomcat.

That aircraft in that photo, with the TY tail marking means it's assigned to Tyndall AFB (or a "joint base something" now?). Tyndall is a training wing for F-22s.

I'm assuming they're operating out of Fallon NAS while TAFB is still recovering from Hurricane Michael.

But as I read through the whole article, it said the aircraft is assigned to Elmendorf?

Maybe he thought it flew itself? I mean doesn't a $140 million air frame do that?

If you're gonna do low transition takeoffs and suck the gear up as soon as you break contact with the ground you damn well need to be sure you have 2 positive rates of climb first.

And yeah, flying at Fallon is nothing like flying at a sea level base (e.g Cherry Point, Tyndall, etc.) Even in the winter there we were hard pressed to hover with more than 1,000lbs of fuel onboard.

It was a cool day in Fallon on 13 Apr 2018 with moderate winds. That said, DA at 3934' MSL is still something to consider, especially if you're trying to show off your low transition skillz in your uber-fighter.

Did he spill his espresso on himself or something. I'm not a pilot but I would think there would be some kind of red/green thingy that says you aren't going fast enough to fly yet.

Or is that not an option on a $140 million dollar aircraft. Or did they skimp and not get the S-Line version?

The one time I flew a Cessna 150...I felt like I was dragging it up off the runway just waiting for that little kite to stall. It didn't...I guess I must have rotated at the proper airspeed!

To do this in a $140m 5th Gen fighter with that much power on board is nuts.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:

quote:

Originally posted by jprebb:
It was an interesting point that nearly all the bases that fly F22s are at sea level whereas NAS Fallon is ~4000 ft.

JP

On a 100 degree day, while the airport is physically located at 4,000 above mean sea level, the "density altitude" is nearly 8,000. That means that the air density, at that the field elevation and temperature, equates to the air density at 8000 on a standard day. That means that the aircraft doesn't perform like it's at a 4,000' airport, but instead, like it's at an 8,000 airport.

Takeoff distance is longer, climb performance less, thrust less, and true airspeed higher.

I know nothing about planes. But I would think that an F22 would have enough power to power out of it. Are you saying that no amount of throttle would have saved him?

I don’t know if there are red/green thingies, but there are certainly altitude/temperature/weight tables. You have to read ‘em, though.

@ limy123x.
Yes.
He was behind the power curve.

By the time he realized his error, his reaction time, and the time for the engines to spool up, he was already an incident looking for a place to occur.


Here is a good write up I recall from many years ago.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-...hind-the-power-curve

Somebody's going to be flying cargo planes full of rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong.