F15 CRASHES IN SEA OF FLAMBOROUGH HEAD YORKSHIRE

Sad news and very unusual as its a very rare occurrence here in the UK, that a USAF F15 which I presume is from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk has crashed into the sea off Flambrough Head, in Yorkshire just south of Scarborough.
Its a beautiful day here today, blue skies and unlimted visibility.

Just hope the pilot ejected safley or landed it on a smooth sea.
The aircraft was seen circling around before the crash on a flight tracker website, so probably struck a sea bird which is common.

UPDATE

The US Air Force today confirmed the US Air Force F-15C Eagle had crashed about 9.40am today in the North Sea.

In a statement, they said: "The aircraft was from the 48th Fighter Wing, RAF Leakenheath, United Kingdom.

"At the time of the accident, the aircraft was on a routine training mission with one pilot on board.

"The cause of the crash as well as the status of the pilot are unknown at this time and UK Search and Rescue have been called to support."

The east Yorkshire and Bridlington coastguard has confirmed a major operation is underway.

This trace of the F15C before it crashes was during the Mayday call, so he clearly had a problem, which looks hydraulic on ailerons!

Hope the pilot banged out and theyve picked him up.

In the old days of RAF SAR ops, the nearest SAR helo would be engines running within minutes of the pilot declaring an emergency and was going to bang out, if he had time to do that.
Not sure how the comms gets routed through USAF, or UK mil ATC, and with no RAF SAR anymore, and all civvie Coastguard, how much of a delay that all introduces?

Even at this time of year, the North Sea is bloody cold, even with all the lifepreserver stuff they have.

:(

See that callsign NATO06 circling above, probably an AWACS from RAF Waddington. See his mates QID 256/257 and 258 stuck around with him before the crash. Still no sign of the pilot I'm afraid!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gil Boyd

See that callsign NATO06 circling above, probably an AWACS from RAF Waddington.

---

NATO06 is one of the NATO E3's on standing patrol, as LX code not a RAF E3.

Not a good sign they haven't picked the pilot up yet.

A lot of Lightnings are lying in bits on the sea bed in that area, and the pilots if they banged out they were using picked up within 10-15 mins by a RAF SAR back in those days....

Not looking good then Gil, no personal locator emergency beacon, would tragically mean he went in with the F15.

We can but hope and pray he made it out...

Let's hope for the best!!!

Bit of useless information this.................as a past Police Diver, we were taught in Cambridgeshire to recover downed pilots from jet aircraft operatiing in the County.

Back then, RAF Wyton had Canberras/Nimrods etc and USAF Alconbury had F4 Phantoms and F5's operating from there, also a host of others operating from RAF Lakenheath and Mildenhall with various fighter jets includingt he F15, so we were trained to get the pilots out of their seats on simulators with a fully charged and operating seat under water in nil visibility where they hadn't banged out for whatever reason as the County was full of deep open water pits, rivers and reservoirs.

We went on several Martin Baker and other courses to achieve this safely.

The Royal Navy Clearance divers at the time didn't have the training to do this which was ironic, because when the Freedom of Free Enterprise ferry tipped over at Zeebrugge a few years later, we were on the RAF airfield with an RAF Sea King with all our kit waiting for the go to assist the dutch with underwater rescues of passengers.

Ironically, the British Government cancelled us, who were trained in search and recovery of dead bodies and the Royal Navy Clearance Divers went instead. To this day never understood that decision!!
Later we learnt many had PTSD following harrowing tales of recovering bodies underwater.

That was our bread and butter job and sadly we became climatised to it, as our job was really a forensic underwater recovery and examination as the Police. I had when I retired recovered with a 5 man team operating in this County 342 bodies underwater from every disaster you can imagine.
I hope he banged out in this case and hope he's still not in his seat for whatever reason!:(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gil Boyd

Ironically, the British Government cancelled us, who were trained in search and recovery of dead bodies and the Royal Navy Clearance Divers went instead. To this day never understood that decision!!
Later we learnt many had PTSD following harrowing tales of recovering bodies underwater.

---

Who understands any decision made by Govt....given they are all made by people with very little understanding of the issues at hand......:rofl:

Not looking good.

Vis at sea and low level is very poor in search area from weather reports and sea temp is 9C today.

:(

Not sure but the TAC B would have been transmitting for a period.
Technology & Engineering..................................
Always lets you down when you need it most!!

https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video...7787660870.mp4

Full Statement From The US Air Force

"The pilot of the downed F-15C Eagle from the 48th Fighter Wing has been located, and confirmed deceased," said a spokesperson.

"The name of the pilot will not be released until all next of kin notifications have been made.

"This is a tragic loss for the 48th Fighter Wing community, and our deepest condolences go out to the pilot’s family and the 493rd Fighter Squadron."

Just heard that the pilot died in the crash

Must be a cause there, as he circled for some time and gave out a mayday. One would assume he was chatting to his buddies he was in formation with. Sounds like a bird strike into the cockpit!
Thoughts with family and friends. RIP

This hapened years ago but it is still a tragedy as he struggles to get free sadly he was unable to who knows what fault appened wit th Zero/Zero bang out!

Trapped Pilot Drowns in Sinking Plane (1958) | British Pathé - YouTube

The seats fitted at this time were not Zero/Zero as they are today, they required a minimum of 90 knots forward speed to achieve a successful ejection. Without the rocket that is now fitted to the seat to give an ejection safe height the forward speed of 90 knots allowed the chute to open whilst traveling forward in an arc horizontal to the ground.
Nor did they have MDC (miniature detonating cord) fitted to the canopy or "horns" on top of the seat which allows the pilot to fire the seat straight through without wasting time for the canopy to come off.
There was a restrictor fitted which would not allow the seat to fire until the canopy was clear of the aircraft which means that even if this unfortunate pilot had pull the ejection handle it is unlikely that the seat would have functioned as the unlocked canopy required windspeed to pull the canopy clear.
It was the development of the Harrier that brought about the rocket seat and MDC on the canopy, if you had an engine failure in the hover there was very little time to leave so through the canopy and straight up was the only option.
Early seats had two handles one between the legs and one above the head, the one above the head had a face blind that protected the face from the huge wind blast during ejection, the visors that you see today did not exist then. The top handle eventually disappeared as with the very high sink rate of modern aircraft it was almost impossible to reach the top handle because of the high "G" encountered, it also led to the automatic face visors that are now seen on all pilots helmets.
I am very out of date with the really modern seats but even 30 years ago they were fitted with various explosive charges which helped speed up the process of getting out in a hurry but the basics did not change, if you left the aircraft above 10,000 feet then the seat would not separate from the pilot until that altitude was reached, an oxygen bottle fitted to the seat would ensure that the aircrewman could breath normally until it was safe to separate, all of these functions being done by the seat with no need for an input from the occupant once the ejection handle was pulled.
It was always very gratifying when a successful ejection took place and the pilot and crew survived especially when they came to the seat bay to say thankyou and brought a crate of beer with them......

I've been in the unusual position to witness a double ejection...

International Air Tattoo at Fairford in 1993, when two Mig 29's collided.

I can still clearly see in mind's eye one Mig slice straight through the other, right behind the cockpit, they were low enough to see both pilots eject....

One pilot having to wait while the cockpit section collapsed underneath the airframe, until he saw sky and banged out.

They were very low at the time.

Fortunately, both pilots landed 'ok' with mainly a bruised pride....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mrclark303

I've been in the unusual position to witness a double ejection...

International Air Tattoo at Fairford in 1993, when two Mig 29's collided.

I can still clearly see in mind's eye one Mig slice straight through the other, right behind the cockpit, they were low enough to see both pilots eject....

One pilot having to wait while the cockpit section collapsed underneath the airframe, until he saw sky and banged out.

They were very low at the time.

Fortunately, both pilots landed 'ok' with mainly a bruised pride....

---

I was there too, they 'hit' right in front of where I was standing......

The crowd just went silent......millisecs later all you could here was the clatter of hundreds of motordrives clattering into action......

Legend has it that the pilot that got hit, returned the compliment by way of his fists when they both met back on the ground.....

I believe the worst injury was the Belgian airforce guy that fell off the C-130 that was parked airside when it looked like one of the MiG's was heading his way into the airside hard standing area.

A really sad read.
Bless him, his family and fellow crew.