A massive case of bad luck: I first saw this a few years
ago, but it re-surfaced again today as I was strolling through the internet.
There are a number of examples of this footage that
identify the aircraft as a USAF F-16, but in fact it is a Canadian (RCAF) BAE CT-155
Hawk jet trainer. The incident took place
on 14 May 2004 at the NATO Flight Training in Canada (NFTC) programme at CFB
Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan (anyone who has been through the area would recognise
the terrain). The automatic voice
instruction is male with a slight British accent (the F-16 version has a female
voice).
The trainer (command pilot) was Canadian, of course,
Captain John Hutt, and the student pilot was British RAF Flight Lieutenant
Edward Morris. You can see the bird at
about the 0:06 mark, just as the aircraft has rotated off the runway, and it’s
sucked into the port intake. The
automatic warning ‘T6 NL’ refers to the turbine temperature out of limits (T6),
which would spike rather quickly with an ‘avian injection’; ‘NL’ refers to the
low pressure turbine off the scale.
(Does it sound like I know what I’m talking about? I understand the concept, but I’m not adept
by any means. If anyone has better
information, by all means update in the comments section.)
The heavy breathing is a natural reaction to the incident,
from Flt Lt Morris, but despite that, the training and expertise of the crew
takes over, with Capt Hutt calmly but quickly (he only has about 45 seconds) to
work through the procedure. They attempt
to re-start the engine, twice, to no avail. Hutt tells Morris and Flight Control (who is a
little slow on the uptake) that they will eject. If it is the same type system that I am aware
of, the command pilot initiates the ejection, which also ejects the student
(notice that he tells him to prepare to eject, meaning position himself
correctly). Once they are out, the nose
drops significantly as there is no more attitude control, and it corkscrews
slightly to port before it literally ‘buys the farm’.
Both pilots ejected safely, but Capt Hutt was injured
when he struck the ground in a malfunctioned flight seat. His back injury apparently effectively grounded
him.
What impresses me (other than looking at this type of
incident from the inside) is how calmly the pilots work through the problem and
arrive at the only possible conclusion, and act on it. Good show.
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