Royal Thai Air Force Praises F-16 Fighter Pilot

[Jacob Maslow]

Commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Air Force is praising a pilot who sacrificed himself to prevent a fighter jet from crashing into nearby homes.

The Royal Thai Air Force’s Commander-in-Chief has praised the courageous pilot who died in an F-16 fighter on Friday. The pilot went down with his plane to prevent the aircraft from crashing into nearby homes.

Commander-in-chief Treetod Sonjance noted the pilot’s bravery, stating that he sacrificed himself and deliberately chose not to eject himself from the plane because he was concerned the aircraft might crash into a nearby village.

The pilot, Noppanon, was flying the F-16 Fighter Falcon during a training flight when it crashed. Treetod says he deserves to be praised and should serve as inspiration to the rest of the corps.

ACM Treetod along with the pilot’s commander, Group Capt Rawin Thanomsing and other high ranking officers gathered at the Don Muang Air Force Base on Sunday morning for a special ceremony. The pilot’s father, mother and girlfriend were also in attendance. Noppanon, 30, was promoted to group captain from first lieutenant posthumously.

Noppanon was from the Sa Kaeo province. He was taking part in a daily training exercise when the crash occurred on Friday afternoon in the Khok Samrong district of Lop Buri. Just 40 minutes after take-off, the jet crashed into an empty field.

A witness stated that he saw the aircraft fly above his home before losing altitude and speed. The plane crashed into the witness’s field 300 meters from his home.

Despite the fact that the F-16 Fighter Falcon was over 30 years old, ACM Treetod insisted that it was well maintained. The engine was working and the weather was clear during the flight. Currently, the investigation team is working under the assumption that something went wrong during the training flight.

The Royal Thai Air Force will host the pilot’s funeral, which will run until Saturday, at the Phra Si Mahathat temple’s Taksinpradit Hall in Bangkok. The cremation ceremony will take place next Sunday.

-- 2015-02-24

[Hugh Jarse]

I doubt we will get to know the reason why this plane crashed inexperience ,poor maintenanceor whatever. RIP Noppanon.

[Gonsalviz]

Surprised the crowd with '0' aviation experience has not hammered this one.

[Thongkorn]

Surprised the crowd with '0' aviation experience has not hammered this one.

Its called respect a man has died.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I doubt we will get to know the reason why this plane crashed inexperience ,poor maintenanceor whatever. RIP Noppanon.

Well, we could always comment on the Thai expertise at accident/crash investigations...

Currently, the investigation team is working under the assumption that something went wrong during the training flight.

Really???

[gyrosman]

Surprised the crowd with '0' aviation experience has not hammered this one.

Not sure if you ex Navy aviation person to use the term "O" which could mean " O " level mainteance which are the usual maintenance team. And the F-16 is a fly by wire aircraft lots of avonics to control the aircraft.

[Marknreston]

Having ejected from an F-4 (fire on takeoff), I can understand having to avoid populated areas with an emergency on takeoff or landing ( low altitude and low speed). What I am wondering is why this happened 40 minutes after takeoff. At that phase of flight he should have been high enough or fast enough to avoid any populated area and still eject. 30 year old airplanes do t have black boxes or voice recorders and I doubt radar coverage I'll tell much. I don't know the area so maybe he was doing practice approaches somewhere. I doubt we will hear more.

[Daniel Ingalls]

Did I read that correctly, "Praised for other pilots to follow?" The pilot destroyed a 20 million dollar F-16. I'm sure Thailand

can not afford to loose to many of theses planes. If he maneuvered the plane away from a village, he should of still had enough time to eject after the maneuver. I would hate to see what would of happened to him if he lived through the ejection from the aircraft. You just don't walk away from a 20 million dollar mishap. Air crashes just don't happen, some one is at fault. 90% or more of the time it is pilot error. This is a time tested aircraft. F-16's have been in the American arsenal for a long time. So now he is labeled a hero after crashing a 20 million dollar aircraft? Missed crashing into a village? This story is a bit

to real to swallow. Take a look at the ground crew and their maintenance records, there is more to uncover.

[Briggsy]

I think you can take these words for what they are, some comfort to the family, a shifting of the narrative away from the crash itself and a positive spin for an armed forces which seems to have a disproportionately high number of aircraft losses in non-combat arenas.

They weren't meant to be taken literally.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Maybe it's just me... But... if you think about the relatively limited number of aircraft (jet and helicopter) operational hours the Thai military conducts per year, and then consider the number and frequency of aircraft loss mishaps they experience, it likely would make for a very interesting ratio were it possible to compare that to a similar lost aircraft mishaps per operational hour ratio for other countries.

[F4UCorsair]

I think you can take these words for what they are, some comfort to the family, a shifting of the narrative away from the crash itself and a positive spin for an armed forces which seems to have a disproportionately high number of aircraft losses in non-combat arenas.

They weren't meant to be taken literally.

Exactly Briggsy. It's far easier to tell his parents and partner he was a hero than that he f***** up, which is always a possibility, but may not be in this case.

Having a hero in the squadron, albeit a dead one, is also morale building.

I have some difficulty with understanding him not ejecting....seats are zero/zero, and a safe ejection can be effected whilst the jet is stationary on the tarmac.

[billd766]

On a similar topic in the UK from the BBC News here.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-31459574

A snippet of information

"

A US fighter jet crash destroyed a £28.6m ($44m) aircraft and left a clean-up bill of nearly £400,000 ($600,000), an investigation revealed.

The pilot ejected safely from a F-15D during a training exercise in October.

A USAF spokesman at RAF Lakenheath said the accident investigation board had yet to finish its study into the cause of the crash."

Why are you bashers of the Thai Air Force not commenting on this incident as well?

[Srikcir]

On a similar topic in the UK from the BBC News here.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-31459574

A snippet of information

"

A US fighter jet crash destroyed a £28.6m ($44m) aircraft and left a clean-up bill of nearly £400,000 ($600,000), an investigation revealed.

The pilot ejected safely from a F-15D during a training exercise in October.

A USAF spokesman at RAF Lakenheath said the accident investigation board had yet to finish its study into the cause of the crash."

Why are you bashers of the Thai Air Force not commenting on this incident as well?

I didn't comment on the Thai crash but what relevance does the Britsih crash have to the Thai crash?

Yes, both involved training missions, F-1x aircraft that crashed into empty fields, no conclusions yet as to cause for malfunction but there the similarities end.

The F-15D went into a sudden flat spin at 4,600m ASL and pilot ejected safely at 1,830m ASL Plane crashed near a housing development in an empty field. No flight information is yet available from the Thai crash. Department of Defense paid for cleanup; is this an issue?

If one had to surmise (and that's usually what happens in TV), was what happened with the Thai crash an instance of pilot error more than equipment malfunction might have been a cause for the crash. So far as sacraficing himself to save civilians, that should be apparent in the coms but there's no mention of such intentions.

The real question is whether the Thai military is willing to conduct an honest and open investigation and present any evidence to the public as to the cause for the crash. When one considers the manner in which the military rules the nation, it has a policy more like, "Don't ask me and I won't tell you."

[Bignose]

Where there has been no loss of civilian life and minimal damage, what do any of you care what happened?

Apart from a few experts among us, who would understand a thorough and detailed report on what happened?

A pilot has died serving his country (even if it is peacetime!) It appears to me that the air force have done the right thing.

They have praised a pilot who was doing his duty, they have posthumously promoted him which hopefully will provide increased benefits for his family.

Apart from the nay sayers and the yet to be seen "conspiracy theorists" what is there to be negative about?

Commiserations and condolences to his family and girlfriend, a very real and tragic loss for them all.

[Hopho]

Well done to that man.

Any human that sacrifices themselves and willingly meets death in order to possibly save the lives of others is a hero.

May you respectfully rest in peace, and may your family's grieving be softened by knowing that.

[Stargeezr]

The F16 fighter jet is a single engine aircraft. When the engine quits or

has to be shut down, the aircraft goes down quickly as the wings are small.

This pilot did what he could and it is sad that he was killed in the crash.

For Daniel Ingalls, are you a pilot or an aviation expert?

I think your comments are wrong, and heartless. It does not matter how much

this aircraft is worth, and unless you have flown in an F16, you have no idea

how hard it is to crash in one, let alone just to fly it.

Stargeezer

[billd766]

On a similar topic in the UK from the BBC News here.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-31459574

A snippet of information

"

A US fighter jet crash destroyed a £28.6m ($44m) aircraft and left a clean-up bill of nearly £400,000 ($600,000), an investigation revealed.

The pilot ejected safely from a F-15D during a training exercise in October.

A USAF spokesman at RAF Lakenheath said the accident investigation board had yet to finish its study into the cause of the crash."

Why are you bashers of the Thai Air Force not commenting on this incident as well?

I didn't comment on the Thai crash but what relevance does the Britsih crash have to the Thai crash?

Yes, both involved training missions, F-1x aircraft that crashed into empty fields, no conclusions yet as to cause for malfunction but there the similarities end.

The F-15D went into a sudden flat spin at 4,600m ASL and pilot ejected safely at 1,830m ASL Plane crashed near a housing development in an empty field. No flight information is yet available from the Thai crash. Department of Defense paid for cleanup; is this an issue?

If one had to surmise (and that's usually what happens in TV), was what happened with the Thai crash an instance of pilot error more than equipment malfunction might have been a cause for the crash. So far as sacraficing himself to save civilians, that should be apparent in the coms but there's no mention of such intentions.

The real question is whether the Thai military is willing to conduct an honest and open investigation and present any evidence to the public as to the cause for the crash. When one considers the manner in which the military rules the nation, it has a policy more like, "Don't ask me and I won't tell you."

Why would you have to surmise just because many other people do. Very few countries in the world conduct an investigation into military air crashes in public, certainly not in the UK or USA so why would you expect it to be done in Thailand?

With aircraft accidents in general I usually wait for the board of enquiry report which gives far more information than some hack in a newspaper could ever find out and most of those hacks are wrong far more than they are right.

I don't KNOW why the aircraft crashed any more than you or anybody else on the forum or Thai newspapers does.

Therefore I don't speculate or surmise or try to prove how clever I am. I let the aviation specialists in crash investigations do their job and if I am lucky and I remember then I will know what THEY come up with as a cause.

The reason I posted the UK crash link was to point out that the USAF will not publish the full report until August 2015 some 9 months after the crash which is about the time I would hope that the Thai report should take.