News reports indicate a US Marine Harrier jet crashed in northern Florida on Sunday. The pilot, identified as Capt. Jarrod L. Klement in some reports, was reportedly transported to a hospital as a precautionary measure.
The Air Force has announced that the 50 year old fleet of T-38 Talons, the AF’s primary jet trainer, is being upgraded with a new ejection seat. The Martin Baker seat will reportedly be a vast improvement over the prior version, integrating the parachute with the seat (so it no longer has to be carried to the jet by the pilot) as well as giving the T-38 a zero-zero ejection capability.
The modification includes sequenced ejection; in the original version of the T-38, each cockpit ejected independently of the other. Now, either cockpit can command ejection, both seats will go, and the rear seat will always go first.
This is not an insignificant change. In 2009, a rear seat crew member ejected while the front seat pilot did not. Since the seats were independent, the front seater remained in the aircraft to impact.
According to Navy releases, a US Navy T-45C Goshawk ran off the end of the runway at Kingsville Naval Air Station, Texas, on June 10th. The report indicated the successful ejection of a single pilot (the T-45C is a two-seat aircraft) with minor injuries. The accident will be investigated by the Navy.
According to an official press release, an A-10 pilot ejected from his aircraft during takeoff at Moody AFB, Georgia, on Monday. He was reportedly hospitalized. The aircraft came to rest between the runways.
No further information is available, nor will there likely be for at least 30 days.
Two single seat F/A-18E Super Hornets collided in the airspace over Nevada during a training sortie Monday night. One pilot ejected and was recovered safely, while the other was able to land his damaged aircraft.
The Super Hornet is a larger, more modern and advanced version of the F/A-18A/C Hornet. The crash occurred on the heels of another Hornet ejection just last week.
US Marine Corps pilot Maj Duane Litpak and his backseat weapons officer Capt Jonathan Hutchison reportedly ejected from their two-seat F/A-18D off the coast of South Carolina. Both were safely recovered by Coast Guard helicopters. Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, the jet’s home base, is a training base for Marine F/A-18 crews.
The public reaction from the Marines is an interesting contrast with the Air Force. In general, the Air Force will say only that an incident has occurred and that a board will convene to investigate it, while often keeping the crew out of the limelight. By contrast, the Marines almost immediately published photos of the two climbing out of the Coast Guard chopper, and explained in detail that the crew had to slow their aircraft to a safe ejection speed and abandon the aircraft due to a fire.
An F-16 pilot at Osan Air Base, Korea, has reportedly ejected just prior to landing. The pilot is described as “safe,” while the plane, which “had nearly touched down” at the time of ejection, “did not catch fire and remained structurally intact.”
It will likely be at least a month before the initial reports are completed on the mishap.
The F-16, like most advanced fighters, is equipped with a “zero/zero” ejection seat (the ACES II, in most American ejection seat aircraft). This means at zero feet above ground and zero knots (that is, parked on the ground), the pilot can safely eject. Generally he gets “one swing in the chute” before hitting the ground, an impact that is Read more