Why planes crash

[Glocktogo]

I forget the actual percentage but it is in the high nineties =pilot error. That is the biggest factor in plane crashes/incidents.

That's because it's easier to point the finger at pilots than anything else.

They are, after all, heavier than air. When the go-parts stop going, they tend to fall out of the sky. I spent a decade as a still photographer for the USAF, and quite a bit of my business was aircraft accident and incident photos. Yep, pilot error was real common. Mechanical or electrical malfunctions were also pretty common. Particularly when you're doing things that stress the airframe in a high-performance aircraft. Five of those years I was at Nellis AFB, where they do the Red Flag exercises. Those exercises were started because they found that most of the pilots they lost in the war in Viet Nam were lost in their first 10 mission. If they made it through the first ten, they had a pretty good chance of completing their tour and going home safe. The intent of Red Flag (and to a lesser extent, the Navy's Top Gun) were to give those first ten missions to the pilots in as safe an environment as was possible. Of course, when you're moving somewhere between 600 & 2200fps (or "Faster than a speeding bullet!" ) it's real easy to get into trouble you can't get out of. Fifty feet off the ground, for example. There was a young airman there who used "Smokey Sams" (balsa & cardboard rockets) that left a smoke trail much like that of the SA-7 Grail (Strela) rocket to make the exercises more realistic. That kid got a case of beer for every aircraft he actually hit. SEVEN of them that I knew of. The SA-7 is an IR guided rocket. His Smokey Sams were not. BTW, the missiles the Germans wanted to send Ukraine are SA-7 Grail, or Strela, rockets.

As for an inflated tire: We shipped vehicles, with tires on and in them, via air. Depending on how high you are, the air pressure in the aircraft might be quite a bit lower than where that tire was filled. If the tire ruptures, and throws bits of trash around, it can break important parts of an airplane. See my first two sentences...

Bill

I very narrowly missed an F4 with a Smokey Sam at Red Flag. Pretty sure that pilot needed help pulling the seat out of his ass when he got back to base!

 

[Poke78]

I understand that an early lesson at any flight school involves not running out of airspeed and altitude at the same time as the results are considered non-optimal. I think they cover that even before talking about Bernoulli...

 

[jakeman]

I understand that an early lesson at any flight school involves not running out of airspeed and altitude at the same time as the results are considered non-optimal. I think they cover that even before talking about Bernoulli...

You would prefer to be at 0 agl for a little while before the airspeed indicator reaches 0. This is in fact a true statement.

 

[delta6]

I understand that an early lesson at any flight school involves not running out of airspeed and altitude at the same time as the results are considered non-optimal. I think they cover that even before talking about Bernoulli...

True. The upside is you can trade one for the other.

 

[ForsakenConservative]

Take offs are optional.....landings are mandatory....

Crew: “So, when are we landing?”
Flight Engineer: “Flameout.”
Crew: “Where are we going?”
Flight Engineer: “Crash site. We’ll beat the fire trucks by 20 minutes.”

 

[Roadking Larry]

I pilot needs at least two of three essential things to keep flying, those are airspeed, altitude and brains.

I have a number of friends that are pilots. A few have given me a hard time about having served in submarines. I have from time to time needed to remind them that there are far more airplanes on the bottom of the ocean than there are submarines stuck up in the sky.

 

[Aries]

Three things that are irrelevant to a pilot...

1) How much altitude is above you...
2) The condition of the runway behind you...
3) How much fuel is on the ground.

 

[BillM]

That's because it's easier to point the finger at pilots than anything else.

I very narrowly missed an F4 with a Smokey Sam at Red Flag. Pretty sure that pilot needed help pulling the seat out of his ass when he got back to base!

Wouldn't surprise me a bit! There is a wide variety of experience at Red Flag. Had a Major walk in to the photo lab one day with a strip of gun camera film from the F-100 he was flying. He had an F-15 in the gunsight for 7 seconds during an air-to-air mission. He wanted one lousy 8x10 B&W print. Please!?! It was illegal, but we did it anyway. 7 seconds is forever in a dogfight. He had 4 combat tours in Nam, and 4000 hours in the airframe, against a new 2nd Lt., in the F-15. What's that thing about age and treachery?

Bill

 

[Lewis F Jones]

Flying has been described as "Hours of boredom permeated by Moments of Sheer Terror". I tend to wholeheartedly agree.

 

[Lewis F Jones]

Wouldn't surprise me a bit! There is a wide variety of experience at Red Flag. Had a Major walk in to the photo lab one day with a strip of gun camera film from the F-100 he was flying. He had an F-15 in the gunsight for 7 seconds during an air-to-air mission. He wanted one lousy 8x10 B&W print. Please!?! It was illegal, but we did it anyway. 7 seconds is forever in a dogfight. He had 4 combat tours in Nam, and 4000 hours in the airframe, against a new 2nd Lt., in the F-15. What's that thing about age and treachery?

Bill

Was the Hun pilots first name Denny? (122nd TFG Louisiana Air National Guard, Belle Chase, La) I think I've seen that pic.