Naval aviators are taught from very nearly the first day of preflight indoctrination that smart pilots don’t fence with thunderstorms. Rapid up and downdrafts within a mature anvilhead make maintaining altitude problematical, even as the extreme variations in air density within the murk cause pressure instruments like the altimeter, airspeed indicator and vertical speed indicator to go haywire.
But that’s not the worst of it: Ice forms rapidly on wing surfaces, altering their ability to efficiently generate lift. Ice also forms on the intakes and inlet guide vanes of jet aircraft, reducing engine efficiency even before it sheds into pieces that can cause serious foreign object damage to the compressor section. And hailstones are frequently found in and around thunderstorms that are as effective at damaging a high speed aircraft as light anti-aircraft fire.
Nope, a smart pilot would never fly through a thunderstorm. Over it if he can, around it if he can’t. Under it at last resort. But never through it.
Hence the logical paradox: No smart pilot would fly through a thunderstorm. All US Navy test pilots are smart.
It’s a head hurter.
However they do have that fabulous 50 cent vocabulary that TPS teaches..
Ouch! It’s not like they have an unlimited supply of T-38s on their ramp.
Hmm….
Any chance those two cowboys are astronauts winging in to fly escort/chase for the shuttle landing? I may be well off base, but IIRC, not a few T-38 losses were caused by that fabled corps.
Aviation Ox-Bow Incident, I reckon….
If you know more than those pics and those buffoonish nimrod comments alluding to the fact that the pilots expected MaintControl to speed tape up the damage for flight, please inform us. Where, when, etc. I wonder if those pics are even legal? Most mil base flt lines require authorization to take pics- even with a cellphone cam. Is this an old incident or emergent?
In the spirit of gently chiding- sorta un-Lex-like. Other than that, wise gouge for anyone contemplating a life of flying.
I do see extensive damage. Nope, a smart pilot would never fly, “on purpose”, through a thunderstorm. Let’s give ‘em B/D.
Tim- NASA has it’s own big fleet of -38’s for chasing stuff.
b2
But then again I was led to believe that the inculcated arrogance of military pilots was necessary because the work required near – instantaneous thought/action unhindered by us mere mortals’ normal ration of doubt.
I thought these kinds of flying accidents only happened to medical doctors.
I second Badbob. Considering what you surely have access to, this post is a tease.
Bravo, Cottus! ROFL
This happened in 2003 at the latest. I’m guessing in TX somewhere. What does it say beneath the A/C?
http://www.rfcdallas.com/newsletters/2003-06.pdf
Int 18 Wis 8
Given that test pilots delibaretly(sp?) push an aircraft to it’s, sometimes not yet known, limits, I think that that “smart” deserves quotes.
That looks nice. I’d like to hear the first impressions of maintenance / higher upon seeing that.
Lex, I think you forgot a statement
1) No smart pilot would fly through a thunderstorm.
2) All US Navy pilots are smart.
3) All Navy test pilots are lobotomized to have the common sense gene removed
Therefore test pilots will fly through a storm
Kevin, only those Naval aviators whose brain cell/testosterone level ratio has tipped towards the later.
Better make a quick & hush call to Dent Wizards before the boss gets back….
Lex, back in the day, a female EA-7 pilot and her backseater (also female), had a bad case of get-home-itis down in the Keys, and flew across the Gulf of Mexico, into a thunderstorm, which made a mess of that airplane. They were given NAMs, IIRC (maybe COMMs) for their actions in not losing the plane. After Tailhook she became one of those instant Hornet drivers, and then on to bigger and better things.
Just sayin’ if you play it right, flying through thunderstorms can be career enhancing!
And yet we pay some people to fly into said bad weather so that the scientific types can get some good info on hurricanes…
P-3 hail damage:
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/aviation/images/tstorm-p3damage.jpg
from:
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/aviation/articles/thunderstorm.htm
Just kick the tires and light the fires. As long as there’s no bubbles in the wet compass, it’ll be good enough to get home.
Seriously though, I’ll email you some pics of a 727 frieghter that went through a hailstorm.
Avoiding flying into thunderstorms was not always an option.
-SJS
Sad. Those are nice looking classic jets.
Maybe the pilots could smooth things over with the MaintControl guys with a Pops a Dent Kit. (As seen on TV) “It really Works Just Stick Twist and It’s Gone!” Hey, I’m just sayin’…
They should have been in T-28’s… http://www.ias.sdsmt.edu/institute/t28/plane.htm
When I was in VT-26 Airframes a long time ago, you could always tell who had get-homeitis. It was time for intake leading edge and radome repair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
South Texas, Thunderstorms and Hail.
Especially fun with a 70 ship squadron.
Remember, those are TPS T-38s. Which means they’re flown by students.
Breaking the airplane is not a good way to make it to graduation…and you aren’t a test pilot until you have the graduate patch and diploma.
Wrote to a friend, a TPS grad to see if he knew anything about this incident. His reply:
Yes, I know the guys involved in this. Happened the class before I went through TPS.
The T-38 has a nasty tendency to flameout when AB is selected above around 35k, and it’s easy to get underpowered up there anyway. Those little wings get really draggy at the higher AOAs required (even at cruise airspeeds), and the engines don’t have much poop to start with.
These fellas knew the thunderstorms were there and had a decent plan to go over them, but they got a little slow in the climb. End result was that they couldn’t select AB because they were in the “black stripe” region (the “don’t select AB here or you’ll flameout” altitude band), and they were behind the power curve from the slow climb. So, they couldn’t maintain both airspeed and altitude. They milked it as long as they could and involuntarily descended into the top of the T-storms.
I believe the airplanes were struck because we had a couple that had Columbus AFB markings on them in our class. I don’t remember hearing anything about them wanting to ferry the airplanes home…