T-38 incident?

[sandman2122]

So I come home from a trip and the wife tells me there was a T-38 incident/accident out of Laughlin. I can't verify this anywhere on the internet - anyone hear about this? If not, I going beat the living h#ll out of that wo........um, I'll talk to her about it.

 

[sandman2122]

Crew okay

Caught the news tonight. T-38 crew out of Laughlin had a bird strike and both guys ejected okay. Happened east of Laughlin, near Bracketville.

 

[Huggyu2]

Are they in C-models yet? Any names?

 

[sandman2122]

The news report said a "C model" but the file picture was, yes you guessed it, a T-37.

 

[talondriver]

Are they in C-models yet? Any names?

Laughlin got it's last C model a couple of months ago. ENJJPT and the Navy TPS '38s are the only ones going through the Boeing barn now.

My question is: was it a PMP jet? And how many birds can you fit in those intakes???

 

[LAFrequentflyer]

T-38C, TN 65-10333, 47 FTW, 87 FTS
low level training, 1 Major and 1Lt got out ok...The Major was the IP... ;-

-LA

 

[CCDiscoB]

Do they have birds down at Del Rio? There's nothing else there. I guess there must be, there's a lake there, from what I'm told. Must have been a big one. Did it go through the windscreen, or take a wing out? I hope the guys are ok. Not many SPs have an ejection at UPT.

And how many birds can you fit in those intakes

Perhaps a Swallow, North African of course. :laugh:

 

[FastCargo]

The Major is laid up at Brooks Army Medical in San Antonio, non-life threatening injuries. The SP was checked out at Laughlin's clinic...don't know if he was released yet.

The IP was a friend of mine I used to fly with down at Laughlin as a reservist. Lots of stick time in the 38.

Birds? Yeah, there are a few...turkey vultures. They're the perfect type to take out a T-38. Big, slow, and like to hang around in flocks right around .5 to 1k AGL. Back in the early 90s, one killed a T-38 front seater when it came through the front windscreen. The incident happened near Abilene, TX and the rear seater (former roomie at the zoo) flew it to Dyess and landed. That incident sparked the change to put in T-38 windscreens rated to 400 kts for a 5 lb bird. However, there have been incidents since then where the bird has smashed through the canopy above the windscreen canopy bow.

Y'all be careful out there!

FastCargo

 

[Terp737]

why no info in the newspaper article on the T-38 class A in '86 (dual ejection on student's dollar ride) and they made an error on the Spofford crash (it was a T-37). Any others to report?

 

[Floyd R. Turbo]

The 38 that had a midair with a 172 in San Antonio sometime around 90 or 91. 38 crew ejected, 172 landed in a field, or maybe on a road, even though everything forward of the firewall except the battery was gone.

 

[Terp737]

I remember that one. The IP was a former student of mine. I guess I didn't teach him how to clear! Good guy. The cessna landed on 1604 minus one engine. Everyone in both acft unscathed.

 

[talondriver]

There's HUD (C model) video of a near miss with a light aircraft during a PIT low level. The IP is at CBM now. It had maybe two frames showing the encounter danger close.

 

[CRJDispatchKid]

I did find this from San Antonio

http://www.woai.com/mediacenter/?videoId=184118,565

 

[Huggyu2]

I remember that one. The IP was a former student of mine. I guess I didn't teach him how to clear! Good guy. The cessna landed on 1604 minus one engine. Everyone in both acft unscathed.

Yeah, that was Perlman! He went through the canopy and didn't even know it. The 172 pilot was the chief pilot about 4 years ago that that flight school at SAT. Lucky guy!

 

[Mud Eagle]

That incident sparked the change to put in T-38 windscreens rated to 400 kts for a 5 lb bird. However, there have been incidents since then where the bird has smashed through the canopy above the windscreen canopy bow.

A couple months ago an IP at Moody took a bird right in the middle of the windscreen over at Townsend range. The glass spidered, but the bird did not penetrate the windscreen (sts).

 

[Fury220]

It's not so much the large, easy to see, single-ship bird that I worry about.


More like the flock of hundred, small, I-won't-see-them-until-a-millisecond-before-impact, dual-engine-FODing kind that's on my mind.

It helps that I'm typically in the rear (sts) with Stanley Birdscreen in the FCP.

 

[SIG600]

That T-38 vs. Cessna story is amazing. I can't believe the thing was still controllable with the huge firewall/speed brake AND the aft CG shift.

 

[Fury220]

That T-38 vs. Cessna story is amazing. I can't believe the thing was still controllable with the huge firewall/speed brake AND the aft CG shift.

From the hearsay I've heard about the story (and you know how reliable that is...), the Cessna was practically uncontrollable. Due to the CG and airflow changes, it entered a series of stalls and recoveries on its way down, and the IP on board made the most of it.

(Stall...recover...stall...recover...crap pants...stall...recover...stall...recover...land.......change pants before the NTSB arrives.)

 

[Huggyu2]

More hearsay:
Apparently, he went down (sts) like a falling leaf, with no real control. Also, "it is said" that the battery (or something else heavy) remained attached forward of the firewall, and had it not remained, the aircraft's CG would have been so far aft that they would have not made it.

 

[LAFrequentflyer]

He used 8 of his 9 lives that day...

One lucky SOB...glad he and the AF guys made out without loss of life.

-LA