Cf-18 Loses Control, Aborts Landing In Yellowknife

[CD]

CF-18 loses control, aborts landing in Yellowknife
WebPosted Jun 19 2004 02:38 PM CDT

YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife's airport is closed for the second time in two days following an aborted landing by a Canadian Armed Forces CF-18 on Saturday morning.

Yellowknife airport remains closed as DND works to secure ammunition on this CF-18

The pilot ejected safely, landing a short distance from the aircraft as the plane skidded off the runway.

He's in hospital with minor injuries.

A team from the Department of National Defense is working to secure the plane, and remove the live ammunition it's carrying.

"Upon landing, one of the aircraft was unable to stop, " says Major Rob Carter.

Carter is with the 441 Squadron out of Cold Lake Alberta.

"He went through his appropriate procedures in the jet, in order to get the aircraft, to maintain control of the aircraft. The aircraft was departing the runway and according to his standard operating procedures he ejected."

The airport and surrounding area are closed.

Medi-vacs and emergency aircraft can still land, but all domestic flights have been cancelled.

Site where missile was dropped on Friday

There was another unusual incident involving a military aircraft in Yellowknife, just yesterday.

On Friday, a missile on a Canadian Forces CF-18 fell from the jet as it was landing at the Yellowknife Airport.

The AIM-7 Sparrow missile landed on the driving range of the Yellowknife golf course.

The missile was live, but the safety mechanism was on.

For that incident, local transportation officials closed a nearby highway, and evacuated parts of the airport and the nearby diamond polishing plants.

DND officials detonated the missile last night where it lay.

The CF-18 carrying the missile was also based in Cold Lake.

CBC North

 

[T-rex]

Another Joke!!!!!

Come on boys!!! Eject..when you have a armed jet!! what kind of SOP is that....!

Well can't stop..I am out of here! ..someone elses problem now! Oh well who cares that it is armed!!!!


Morons!

 

[Batfink]

T-Rex,

Better a broken plane than a funeral with full military honors. The military frowns upon pilots killing themselves unecessarily, that's why the ejection seat was invented...

 

[407 Driver]

As a tax paying citizen, I'm outraged at the number of expensive aircraft the Military looses. It seems to be a F-18 a year, and what are they worth? 35 million a copy? For an armed force that only trains, never fights, they sure loose a lot of aircraft ??????

I'm glad the pilot survived, I hope he peels potatos in the Mess for the rest of his military career !!!

 

[100ft]

.....not to mention the sparrow. Aren't those babies worth a million a pop like the sidewinder???

The Conservatives are take power and ban missile strikes on Canadian golf courses now. As the Liberals say....SCARY!

 

[T-rex]

Batfink....

Hey maybe consider the consequences of that airplane straying into a building full of people......Hmmmmm..

I am glad the pilot is OK, but never the less.. the out of control, armed aircraft is a concern as well.

 

[donnybrook]

It sounds, to me, like some people are automatically assuming pilot error. As a pilot I personally try to find out more about an incident before I sound my opinion on another's ability. Perhaps waiting for an official report on the incident would better serve intelligent debate?

 

[407 Driver]

How long until the Military publically releases cause for this? It takes the TSB 2 years in Civie life, I don't recall that the Military routinely publishes this type of internal info ?

I never did hear what happened to the F-18 last year (or was it 2 years ago?) on the Cold Lk range?

Please supply us with the Canadian Forces website that may publish these reports Donnybrook

 

[CD]

Please supply us with the Canadian Forces website that may publish these reports Donnybrook

Directorate of Flight Safety - Reports

Often, there will also be information here as well:

Directorate of Flight Safety - Flight Comment

 

[donnybrook]

Another site that helps to keep people in the loop is "http://www.cfc.forces.gc.ca/spotnews_e.html". It's a link to civilian newspaper articles on topics concerning the Canadian military.

 

[407 Driver]

Thanks Gents, Great websites

....My next question is...why does the Civie TSB take so long to publish similar accident / incident info?

If the Military can do this in 1 year, why are we waiting 2 years for the vague TSB reports in civy life?

Makes you go ...Hmmmmmm?

 

[Winnie]

I can to some degree agree with the sentiment (was that a rotten sentence?). However, we don't know what happened, and I'd much rather eject if I had the possibility, than ride it in to that little farm with a BIG stone over it...

 

[MagSeal]

I still like the headline...."Aborted Landing". What does that really mean?

Is that like he was landing, but he really wasn't? Did he get into a perpetual go around? It looks like it landed quite alright. And I bet if the guy rode it out and kept the brakes on it might just have stopped before going off the end of the runway into to weeds. I know the last time my car hit some washboards and it started shaking and swerving, my first impression was to jump and save myself...some probably wish I had jumped.

 

[Batfink]

From a fellow member of a Military Pilot Web Site, here is the info from someone that was actually there.

Good day All;

Having been there when all this took place it is easy to say that Joe did the right thing. I was the DND rep in the Airport Emergency Coordination Center. The aircraft did leave the runway after spinning through approx 480 degrees. Joe actually punched out sideways at around 50 knots with no more than 50 feet of runway remaining. He is leaving Yellowknife today on a commercial flight to Edmonton. He is in good shape just a few pins in his left ankle. He did however manage to get rid of the seat pack so he has no back or neck pain yet.

All seems to be well.

Without the 0/0 ejection seat, he could easily have been killed.