LF: Air Force student pilot safely lands F-16 jet - despite losing half a wing in mid-air collision with instructor during mock dogfight

Title: Air Force student pilot safely lands F-16 jet - despite losing half a wing in mid-air collision with instructor during mock dogfight
Source: Daily Mail Online
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art ... -instructor-mock-dogfight.html
Published: Feb 21, 2015
Author: Kieran Corcoran
Post Date: 2015-02-21 12:06:33 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 5375
Comments: 21

A student pilot who lost half a wing in a potentially disastrous mid-air collision with his instructor managed to land his fighter jet safely.

The unnamed airman brought his F-16C back to base after losing five feet from the plane's right wing above Kansas during a mock dogfight.

He smashed into his instructor after losing sight of him during the practice encounter - sending the second fighter jet plummeting to earth.

Ravaged fighter: An accident left this F-16C fighter jet without half a wing - but its trainee pilot managed to bring it home safely

Mid-air smash: The pilot smashed into a jet flown by his instructor after a practice dogfight went wrong

While the plane was obliterated when it hit the ground, its pilot managed to eject in time and was not badly hurt.

Meanwhile the student managed to bring his damaged vehicle 100 miles south to an air base in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and made a safe landing.

Images of the collision were released this week as part of an Air Force investigation into the crash.

According to the Washington Post, investigators determined that a missile on the right wing tip of the student's plane tore through the right wing of his instructor's plane, close to the fuselage.

Less lucky: The instructor's jet was destroyed when it crashed into a Kansas field - though the instructor himself managed to eject and was not badly hurt

Wreckage: The smashed plane, which lost parts of its wing and tail fin in mid-air, is seen here where it landed

Damaged: Air Force investigators estimated that the accident cost $22.5million

In one piece: Both pilots were at the controls of an F-16C fighter jet, pictured above in Las Vegas, Nevada (file)

It then also hit the plane's right-hand tail fin, sending the plane hurtling to earth. The student shouted repeatedly over the radio for the instructor to bail out, which he did, landing just 60ft from the wreckage of the plane.

The collision came after both student and instructor misinterpreted the other's maneuvers and turned towards one another at an altitude of 7,500ft.

The two planes were supposed to be coordinating to hunt down a third plane in the training flight.

They successfully staged one engagement, but disaster struck during a second run.

Air Force investigators estimated that the collision, which totalled one F-16, cost $22.5million.

On approach: This diagram shows the training mission before disaster struck. MP3 was posing as a hostile craft. MP1 and MP2 are the trainee-instructor duo

Impact: The above image shows the moment of collision, after the two craft turned sharply toward each other

Notice the grass around the 2nd and 3rd photos appears to be NOT burned. The color difference in photo #1 between burned and unburned grass is obvious. But there is no color difference with the grass in the other 2 photos.