Crash of Thai Air Force’s F-5 fighter jet may have been caused by bird strike

[webfact]

 

The Royal Thai Air Force F-5 fighter jet, which crashed into a rice field in Chai Badan district of the central province of Lop Buri last Friday, struck a large bird, according to Air Vice Marshal Prapas Sornchaidee, the RTAF’s spokesman.

 

He said that the pilot, Wing Commander Suthimet Ouamdee, who suffered injuries after he ejected from the plane, wrote to his wife telling her that he had to eject from the jet after a hard object struck and broke the cockpit windshield, splashing blood all over the cockpit and making it impossible for him to control it.

 

AVM Prapas explained that the jet was flying at an estimated 1,000 km/hour, which blasted air and debris through the broken windshield, making it impossible to save.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/crash-of-thai-air-forces-f-5-fighter-jet-may-have-been-caused-by-bird-strike/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-12-06

 

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[ezzra]

Saving face are we now? OK, let's go with the "large bird" story...

[Tropicalevo]

Hope that the pilot recovers OK.

[kingkenny]

Air brake failure. 

[SAFETY FIRST]

15 minutes ago, ezzra said:

let's go with the "large bird" story...

Big Bird 

Edited December 6, 2021 by SAFETY FIRST

[HAPPYNUFF]

Wonder what  his phone reception to his Mia Noi was at 1000 kmh?

[silver sea]

52 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Saving face are we now? OK, let's go with the "large bird" story...

 

37 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Big Bird 

Readers, who are British, of a certain age, will remember 1982: collisions with big birds can sometimes happen apparently, with tragic results ????

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-454382/For-time-25-years-fomer-SAS-man-tells-Falklands-tragedy-killed-20.html

Edited December 6, 2021 by silver sea

[Denim]

 caused by bird strike

 

What  were they striking for ? Better pay , a cap on bird seed prices ?

[ozimoron]

it happens

 

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/58422

 

I watched this plane crash.

[Liverpool Lou]

52 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Saving face are we now? OK, let's go with the "large bird" story...

How do you know that it is untrue?

[kingstonkid]

Working with Jet fighters and pilots I can attest that the one thing they hate the most is seeing a flock of birds.  A bird strike will damage a cockpit and can down a plane.  

many airfields have noise emitters that scare the birds away.  It is the same for passenger jets the time from when you are taking off until you have reached altitude or from altitude to landing is the scariest as you have no idea what might be flying around out there. 

 

If he says a bird hit him believe it.  The only other thing that Canadian pilots hate is winter and lots of snow. 

[Moonlover]

16 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

Working with Jet fighters and pilots I can attest that the one thing they hate the most is seeing a flock of birds.  A bird strike will damage a cockpit and can down a plane.  

many airfields have noise emitters that scare the birds away.  It is the same for passenger jets the time from when you are taking off until you have reached altitude or from altitude to landing is the scariest as you have no idea what might be flying around out there. 

 

If he says a bird hit him believe it.  The only other thing that Canadian pilots hate is winter and lots of snow. 

Thank you, spot on. 22 years in the RAF and I've known a few bird strikes, fortunately none fatal.

 

And I'm sure everyone here remembers this one. 

 

[ozimoron]

https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-handley-page-hp95-hastings-c3-darwin

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by ozimoron

[SAFETY FIRST]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

a large bird

We all know that a flock of birds can bring down a plane, but this article reads 'a large bird'.

 

Sounds extremely unlucky if that's the case

Must have been big bird 

Edited December 6, 2021 by SAFETY FIRST

[alanrchase]

1 hour ago, ozimoron said:

it happens

 

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/58422

 

I watched this plane crash.

Watched this one take off, an hour past the scheduled landing was informed it would not be coming back.

 

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/55369

[Moonlover]

7 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

We all know that a flock of birds can bring down a plane, but this article suggests 'a large bird'.

 

Sounds extremely unlucky if that's the case

It would have to be a large, relatively heavy bird to penetrate a jet fighter's windshield. They are pretty tough. All bird strikes are unlucky.

 

[ozimoron]

1 minute ago, Moonlover said:

It would have to be a large, relatively heavy bird to penetrate a jet fighter's windshield. They are pretty tough. All bird strikes are unlucky.

 

Mostly they get pulled into the fan. Darwin has some of the highest incidents of bird strike in the world.

[Moonlover]

2 hours ago, ezzra said:

Saving face are we now? OK, let's go with the "large bird" story...

Would you have made the same childish comment if this was an incident involving your home country's air force?

[Doctor Tom]

2 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

It would have to be a large, relatively heavy bird to penetrate a jet fighter's windshield.

A small bird will do it.  The energy in a small object, hit at 500mph is substantial.  Remember, a piece of foam brought down a Shuttle when it hit at around that speed. 

[Moonlover]

5 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

A small bird will do it.  The energy in a small object, hit at 500mph is substantial.  Remember, a piece of foam brought down a Shuttle when it hit at around that speed. 

The small piece of foam did not bring down the shuttle, it came off during the launch. Its loss left a break in the protective heatshield which resulted in a fatal overheating in the belly of the spacecraft during re-entry.

 

I've seen the results of several bird strikes during my time in the RAF. Only large birds have caused significant damage.

[Doctor Tom]

2 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

The small piece of foam did not bring down the shuttle, it came off during the launch. Its loss left a break in the protective heatshield which resulted in a fatal overheating in the belly of the spacecraft during re-entry.

 

I've seen the results of several bird strikes during my time in the RAF. Only large birds have caused significant damage.

You are missing the point.  The foam punched a hole in the wing leading edge , which eventually brought the shuttle down on re entry. 

[Farma]

38 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

It would have to be a large, relatively heavy bird to penetrate a jet fighter's windshield. They are pretty tough. All bird strikes are unlucky.

 

As a 17yo my first introduction to crash recovery was collecting bits of body and aircraft around the F111 crew module impact site.

 

A pelican had taken out the nav on a low level bombing run. The aircraft was nearly upside when the module ejected. We found the navs helmet 5 kms back from the impact site.

[KhunLA]

45 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

It would have to be a large, relatively heavy bird to penetrate a jet fighter's windshield. They are pretty tough. All bird strikes are unlucky.

 

I think the 1000 kph is more of a factor than the size of the bird.  When working for the airlines, more than few windshields have to be replaced, delaying flights.

 

At least it wasn't blamed on a drone  ????

[pacovl46]

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

How do you know that it is untrue?

Because fat, old, miserable, bitter, retired falangs, who lost all their valuables to a bargirl who they thought will love them forever, but in reality was only after their money, duh, always know what’s true and what isn’t! ????

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

We all know that a flock of birds can bring down a plane, but this article reads 'a large bird'.

 

States 'a large bird', but doesn't state flock of or lack of flock.  

While out birding, I've seen my share of low and high flying flocks.  Same photo, just one cropped in a bit.  Along with < 10 way up circling, and not exactly close.  That he didn't see or notice the rest is irrelevant.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

He said that the pilot, Wing Commander Suthimet Ouamdee, who suffered injuries after he ejected from the plane, wrote to his wife telling her that he had to eject from the jet after a hard object struck and broke the cockpit windshield, splashing blood all over the cockpit and making it impossible for him to control it.

I preferred the "Miracle on the Hudson ending" at least he hung-in-there"

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, silver sea said:

 

Readers, who are British, of a certain age, will remember 1982: collisions with big birds can sometimes happen apparently, with tragic results ????

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-454382/For-time-25-years-fomer-SAS-man-tells-Falklands-tragedy-killed-20.html

I was aged 23 and remember it all too well.

[Doctor Tom]

1 minute ago, hotchilli said:

at least he hung-in-there

well he didn't have much of an option did he, no ejection seats in an airliner? 

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Thank you, spot on. 22 years in the RAF and I've known a few bird strikes, fortunately none fatal.

I was on Buccaneers in Germany early 70s, being low level a/c bird strike were fairly common. I took a team to recover one in the north that had landed at a German base from a bird strike. Something about the size of a pigeon had penetrated the radome and smashed up the radar set. Pilot said he was glad it didn't hit the windshield.

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

We all know that a flock of birds can bring down a plane, but this article reads 'a large bird'.

It doesn't have to be a flock, and anything bigger than a pigeon would be a large bird, as opposed to a sparrow.

The aircraft was on a live firing competition so wouldn't have been very high giving the pilot very little time to react to a windscreen penetration.

 

Windscreen/canopy strikes (and especially penetrations) were much more common during cruise flight than during operations at or near aerodromes. During cruise, windscreen strikes were reported in 28 of 83 cases for which the part struck was reported (Table 8). At least 18 of these involved windscreen penetration, and in at least 4 more cases windscreen shattering or obscuring was a major contributing factor.

"Cruise" includes flights on weapons ranges.

https://www.lgl.com/images/pdf/Richardson_1996_BSCE-London.pdf