F-16 swallows a bird
It is worth 42 seconds of your time.
Amazing 45 second sequence. You may have to replay to see the bird
that entered the engine. Go to large screen if you can. This is
footage from the cockpit of an F-16. Cool reaction and professionalism of the two
pilots, including cockpit transmission with video.
F-16 engine ingests bird after takeoff at Tyndall AFB. Think you might
find it interesting to see a crash from the cockpit of an airplane.
It is an instructor pilot in the rear and a student in the front seat
of an F-16.
A "Bird Strike," as seen through the Heads Up Display (HUD). You can
see the bird flash by just prior to impacting the engine. You can hear
the aircraft voice warning system telling them they have a problem and
referring to the "D-6 NL" which means there is no engine RPM.
They made two attempts to relight the jet engine, but evidently there
was too much damage from the bird strike and they had to eject. These
guys were very cool; note the heavy breathing... They certainly flew
longer than one would expect before ejecting. Airspeed can be observed
on the HUD's upper left corner. It goes down to the low 120's as they
struggle to get the engine going again, but as the plane noses over
and dives to earth it increases to at least 175 just before impact.
It just goes to show how quickly your day can go to pieces - 45
seconds from strike to ejection. All and all, not bad. They ran the
Emergency Checklist, made two relight attempts, and picked out a
plowed field for impact before ejecting.
You can follow the audio attached to it and hear the conversation
between the pilot and instructor pilot and then the tower. Including
the pilot saying they were punching out. The tower didn't seem to
completely understand it all, and missed the significance of the last
transmission..
The tower's last radio call, he's talking to an empty aircraft. The
video continues until impact, even after they both eject. A classic
"buying the farm" as you can see the plow rows get bigger. A real nice
job from the aircrew by keeping their cool and turning the aircraft
away from populated areas. No one hurt and no one killed but the dirty
bird did cost the Taxpayers a "few" million dollars!
Rating: 
Views: 487
Add a Comment
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Comment by Bill Harrison on October 17, 2009 at 10:04pm -
Great video!
While there is an east-west runway at Tyndall AFB that matches the compass heading in the HUD (275) prior to the bird strike, and, while the CFI executes the right turn, you can see the heading rotate approx 150 degrees to ~ 070 and the geography details seem to match up... the details of the runway itself (in the video) do not seem to match what I am seeing on Google Earth for the east-west runway at Tyndall, ie. threshold markings, touchdown indicators and taxiways to the right. I suppose it could be an old photo on GE and new improvements at Tyndall. Or a faulty compass display in the HUD (one would think they had that sorted)... the markings and taxiways on the main NW/SE runway (32R/14L?) do seem to match up with the video (albeit without the chevron pattern beyond the threshold seen on GE).
In any case, you can also watch the altimeter on the right of the HUD. They are passing 200' when the bird strikes and they trade more than 100 knots of airspeed for approx 100' or so of altitude when the instructor pitches the nose up. Which also has the effect of shortening their flightpath, keeping them in close to the airbase, out of the water, off the parkway, out of the presidents plan housing deveopment, etc.... as well as gaining some vertical safety margin to eject. The instructor is a very cool customer. The student seems to be stressing a bit, ie. the heavy breathing and the tone in his voice. I've never encountered a bird strike or lost my engine on take-off, but, I know the feeling of being in the front seat while my instructor handles something I wasn't quite prepared for... lol.
Great video! Thanks again!
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