Pilots Eject From Super Hornet In Aborted Take-off

[GregHyde]

Pilots eject from Super Hornet in aborted take-off at Amberley RAAF Base outside Brisbane

A $75 million Air Force jet has hit the runway during an aborted take-off at the Amberley RAAF Base outside Brisbane.


Witnesses have told the ABC they saw pilots eject from a F/A-18F Super Hornet as it was about to take off from RAAF Base Amberley.

Photos from the scene suggest the Super Hornet has suffered some damage to its forward starboard fuselage.

Analysis of photos suggests the plane has a collapsed nosewheel, or the nosewheel is in a drain.

A Defence Department spokesperson said the aircrew of the aircraft were safe and no other personnel were involved in the incident.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-08/supe...r-base/12962426

https://7news.com.au/news/disaster-and-emer...wlers-c-1733971

[Brenden S]

I heard it was an engine fire/failure on application of take off power. We will have to wait and see.
The aircraft rolled into a ditch, thus the "loss" of the nose gear. These things are meant to smash onto a ship, so they can take some punishment. As for the black soot, you can thank the MB seats for that mess. It will clean up just fine.

[SpazSinbad]

Perhaps the smoke/dust seen in the video screenshot is from the aircraft leaving the runway to go look for the nearest deep airfield drainage ditch. OR now that I see the rocket ejection photo perhaps that is smoke from the seats firing? In this instance USN NATOPS says EJECT! Perhaps there was an unsolvable steerage problem? BTW an old Super Hornet NATOPS 2008 found here (19Mb):

https://info.publicintelligence.net/F18-EF-000.pdf

Chapter 14 - Take off Emergencies starts on page 571 of 934

Page 573: [take off ABORT] "...If in doubt, eject prior to the aircraft leaving the prepared surface...."

I don't think the MB NACES seat rocket blasts will be kind to the cockpit interior. https://martin-baker.com/products/mk14-ejection-seat/

PHOTO: https://martin-baker.com/wp-content/uploads...7/05/mk14-3.jpg

This post has been edited by SpazSinbad on Dec 13 2020, 12:46 PM

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[SpazSinbad]

PHOTO: https://martin-baker.com/wp-content/uploads...7/05/mk14-3.jpg

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[SpazSinbad]

https://martin-baker.com/wp-content/uploads...5/line-mk14.jpg

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[SpazSinbad]

https://info.publicintelligence.net/F18-EF-000.pdf

This post has been edited by SpazSinbad on Dec 13 2020, 01:06 PM

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[Brenden S]

Nice pics.
Like all things we will just have to wait and see what the investigation states. Hopefully not a write off.

[SpazSinbad]

A story or two about going 'off piste' (off the runway) in a miljet (F-4s):

https://martin-baker.com/2020/11/03/andy-moir/

[SpazSinbad]

RAAF Super Hornets & Growlers back in the air 23 Feb 2021 Andrew McLaughlin

"...ADBR understands the aircraft suffered a loss of nosewheel steering during takeoff at Amberley, and the crew – fearing a possible rollover – ejected from the aircraft. With the ejection sequence automatically cutting power to the engines, the aircraft rolled off the main runway and across the cross runway, before slowly coming to rest in a drainage channel....

...ADBR understands that initial inspections by the Air Combat and Electronic Attack System Program Office (ACEASPO) have revealed the aircraft’s cockpit suffered only minor scorching and ejection seat rocket exhaust damage, and that it will soon be returned to flight...."

https://adbr.com.au/raaf-super-hornets-grow...ack-in-the-air/

[Invader26]

Backseater was a US Navy exchange officer...

[SpazSinbad]

Could be a different bloke by time of Dec 2020 Eject [a year later] but anyway:

US Air Force exchange officer soars with partners down under 26 Oct 2019 [and of course this one is USAF not USN]
https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Art...ers-down-under/

This post has been edited by SpazSinbad on Mar 7 2021, 09:05 PM

[SpazSinbad]

TALK TO THE HAND (the TERMINATOR) humour from the humourless robot.