[Rhodes22-list] No Joke: F/A-18F Super Hornet Mishap at Pensacola

[Michael D. Weisner]

Brad,

Tough landing - I don't know how long ago the airshow was but a friend just sent the pix to me today from http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobear410/sets/72157594401072103/detail/

As I recall, those birds had anti-skid brakes.  I wonder if the problem was related to the tires or the braking system or even the pilot.  It is hard to tell from the shots exactly when the tires blew out.

Mike


"After performing the usual impressive Demo, the Super Hornet came in to land. Almost immediately upon touching down there was a loud "BANG" - he blew a tire. He got the jet slowed down and held it in the runway until the other tire gave way, then she broke loose. The back end came around, and you could see him fighting it and adjusting into it as much as possible, but things progressed and the plane spun around. He did almost a complete 360, then the tail end went off the runway and into thedirt. The stabs dug in, the nose lifted up, and for a moment things looked as if the jet would flip over backwards. Thank God it did not, and came to a stop directly in front of me. The aircrew got out quickly, and the jet remained there for the rest of the show.....Amazing. The pilot did an incredible job controlling the plane, keeping it in the runway as long as possible, and getting it slowed. Had it happened differently he actually could have spun off into the Blues line as his tire exploded right before he passed behind them. Thank God no-one was hurt and the plane appeared to have sustained only minimal damage."