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View Full Version : F-18 Hornet fighter jet went down about 1 mile from here today



old steel
23rd July 2010, 11:04 PM
I was wondering if the world was ending for a few minutes as the parade of sirens a block east of here lasted way too long for a regular accident.

Anyways the pilot had excellent reflexes as he bailed when the jet went into a stall and saved his own life by a couple of seconds.

Air show is still a go for the weekend.

I have a video link somewhere around here if you want to see it.



A Canadian Forces pilot was in a southern Alberta hospital with undetermined injuries after his CF-18 fighter jet crashed Friday during practice for an air show at the Lethbridge airport.

Capt. Brian Bews, 36, was flying the plane in advance of this weekend's Alberta International Airshow in Lethbridge.

"He is alive and we believe right now that his injuries are non-life-threatening," Canadian Forces Capt. Nicole Meszaros told CBC News.

Witnesses said the pilot was doing low manoeuvres when he had to eject and parachute to the ground at about 12:20 p.m. MT.

"I noticed it start to bank a little bit off to one side, which I kind of thought was unusual and I saw a couple of pops and all of a sudden this plane just banked and slowly dropped into the ground into this huge orange ball of fire," said photographer Ian Martens.

"For a time there, it kind of looked like he was unconscious. The parachute was just pulling him off across the ground but he landed clear of the plane."

"I saw the jet flying back and forth doing air acrobatic stunts and whatnot," said Ray Cooper, who was driving past the airport on his way to work. "The jet went across to go down in the airport area and next thing I know — boom!


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/07/23/lethbridge-crash-cf18-airshow-military-plane-alberta.html#ixzz0uZqhbbLN

SLV^GLD
24th July 2010, 11:18 AM
"For a time there, it kind of looked like he was unconscious. The parachute was just pulling him off across the ground but he landed clear of the plane."
This is very common. Collision with the ground is one way to get there but any number of other factors could have resulted in him being unconscious upon ejection. His training told him when to eject but he probably did not have a whole lot of experience in actual ejection.

keehah
24th July 2010, 11:25 AM
With the new multi-billion dollar F-35 Harper is blowing our debt on, we can waste 10 times the amount per crash protecting Canadian airshows.