SemperFitz
Expert in Nameology
quick background, I'm a Marine Aviation Officer Candidate, went to PLC-C last summer. Now that I'm back at school (NC State) I'm back to my job as supervisor of airline operations for a fuel vendor at RDU Airport (Raleigh/Durham International).
On Friday, situation normal, except there are two F/A-18's at our competitors ramp. They are from VFA 15 at Oceana, and getting ready for take-off.
I am at gate A23 watching the take-off...they are taking off Runway 23L. My vantage point is front and center-AC should start roll at my 10 o'clock and lift off at 12 o'clock and depart to my 3 o'clock. First A/C no problems, awesome take-off, good show.
Here is where it gets interesting. I'm watching the second F/A-18 start his roll, full power and I notice a lot of dirt is flying out behind the AC. I'm thinking that he must be close to the runway edge to blow up that kind of dirt. As he keeps rolling, I notice that the AC must have at least one wheel off the runway, then I realize that he is bouncing a LOT...AC appears to be completely off the runway at this point.
Here is my take (keep in mind witness testimony is sketchy and I am in no way guessing as to what occured, I am just giving my viewpoint...what I saw...NTSB and navy are out in full force investigating, I'm sure they will figure it out)
So, AC is off runway and rolls hard left about the longitudinal axis. At this point in my head I am still thinking it is just a crazy take-off, that will probably result in a fender bender, nothing major. Well, the pilot at this point ejects! I see him go up and see a good chute, look back at AC. It still seems to be at a high throttle setting and continuing down off the left side of the runway. I'm thinking "Oh ****!!" there are commercial planes full of people and a terminal! A/C starts to turn right towards the planes and terminal when it catches the ground. (this is a VERY loose guess, but I think it is going somewhere at 200-300 mph now) A/C rolls multiple times, crosses the runway, crosses the taxiway (by now it is a ball of fire shedding pieces) and plants just past the terminal, but before a two island 4 hose Jet-A fuel depot. It narrowly misses one of my company fuel trucks complete with fueler (about 15 feet to spare) some burned scratches on truck prove it. My fueler in this truck and an airport authority car both have to drive out of this fiery debris field, the car had wreckage on and inside it. Those two guys are lucky!
I look back and see pilot has landed on the ground. Me and another sup. take off running for him. When we reach him, he is on the runway, about 10 feet from the left edge of the runway. He is moving and making noise. At this point Crash/Fire/Rescue personel reach him, and we back off. (btw, he went to local hospital for observation-minor injuries, rumors of a broken arm)
All the fire trucks are now heading to the site of the crash, the fire is huge! Apparently fuel is burning and rolling downhill, catching all the grass in the area on fire. For the next 2 hours, all the CFR trucks, plus local departments battle it.
Things I noticed:
-It freaked me out seeing this, I remember hearing no noises and it all happened in the span of about 10 seconds.
-The NACES seat worked well, he ejected at an angle, and I remember thinking in my head how cool it was the seat went from an angle to straight up.
-The canopy was laying next to the pilot on the runway (about 10-15 feet away). Guessing by the hole in it, he went out through it.
-Watching an F/A-18 unmanned is terrifying, ya have no idea where that puppy is gonna go!
-F/A-18's are robost! It tumbled many times on fire and ended up finally on it's wheels and relatively intact. Notice how the major surfaces are still intact...the largest part near the actual impact sight was the cannon and a big chunk of the fuselage with it. All the surfaces seem to have been composite and melted off more than ripped off.
All in all, it went as well as it could have, pilot minor injuries, and the ac didn't hit any of the dozens of objects that would have made this a truly horrible catastrophy-I had visions of it ripping into the Delta 737 that was full of people waiting to take off. It landed in the one clearing we have in that area of the airport, the nearest structure is an uninhabited operations building. The fire came to within 10 feet of the fuel farm, but CFR did wonders keeping it under control.
The pilots name and information is out at this point, but if you want that info, you can look it up. I just wanted to let everyone know about the most amazing thing that I have ever witnessed. It was awesome and horrifying at the same time, and I'm glad that things didn't get worse than they did.
ps-the AC if facing approx 170 degrees from intended heading...he is pointing almost back the way he came from. Notice also how close it is to the commercial ramp, 300 feet?, it missed a BAE146 and a 737 on his way to that resting place
On Friday, situation normal, except there are two F/A-18's at our competitors ramp. They are from VFA 15 at Oceana, and getting ready for take-off.
I am at gate A23 watching the take-off...they are taking off Runway 23L. My vantage point is front and center-AC should start roll at my 10 o'clock and lift off at 12 o'clock and depart to my 3 o'clock. First A/C no problems, awesome take-off, good show.
Here is where it gets interesting. I'm watching the second F/A-18 start his roll, full power and I notice a lot of dirt is flying out behind the AC. I'm thinking that he must be close to the runway edge to blow up that kind of dirt. As he keeps rolling, I notice that the AC must have at least one wheel off the runway, then I realize that he is bouncing a LOT...AC appears to be completely off the runway at this point.
Here is my take (keep in mind witness testimony is sketchy and I am in no way guessing as to what occured, I am just giving my viewpoint...what I saw...NTSB and navy are out in full force investigating, I'm sure they will figure it out)
So, AC is off runway and rolls hard left about the longitudinal axis. At this point in my head I am still thinking it is just a crazy take-off, that will probably result in a fender bender, nothing major. Well, the pilot at this point ejects! I see him go up and see a good chute, look back at AC. It still seems to be at a high throttle setting and continuing down off the left side of the runway. I'm thinking "Oh ****!!" there are commercial planes full of people and a terminal! A/C starts to turn right towards the planes and terminal when it catches the ground. (this is a VERY loose guess, but I think it is going somewhere at 200-300 mph now) A/C rolls multiple times, crosses the runway, crosses the taxiway (by now it is a ball of fire shedding pieces) and plants just past the terminal, but before a two island 4 hose Jet-A fuel depot. It narrowly misses one of my company fuel trucks complete with fueler (about 15 feet to spare) some burned scratches on truck prove it. My fueler in this truck and an airport authority car both have to drive out of this fiery debris field, the car had wreckage on and inside it. Those two guys are lucky!
I look back and see pilot has landed on the ground. Me and another sup. take off running for him. When we reach him, he is on the runway, about 10 feet from the left edge of the runway. He is moving and making noise. At this point Crash/Fire/Rescue personel reach him, and we back off. (btw, he went to local hospital for observation-minor injuries, rumors of a broken arm)
All the fire trucks are now heading to the site of the crash, the fire is huge! Apparently fuel is burning and rolling downhill, catching all the grass in the area on fire. For the next 2 hours, all the CFR trucks, plus local departments battle it.
Things I noticed:
-It freaked me out seeing this, I remember hearing no noises and it all happened in the span of about 10 seconds.
-The NACES seat worked well, he ejected at an angle, and I remember thinking in my head how cool it was the seat went from an angle to straight up.
-The canopy was laying next to the pilot on the runway (about 10-15 feet away). Guessing by the hole in it, he went out through it.
-Watching an F/A-18 unmanned is terrifying, ya have no idea where that puppy is gonna go!
-F/A-18's are robost! It tumbled many times on fire and ended up finally on it's wheels and relatively intact. Notice how the major surfaces are still intact...the largest part near the actual impact sight was the cannon and a big chunk of the fuselage with it. All the surfaces seem to have been composite and melted off more than ripped off.
All in all, it went as well as it could have, pilot minor injuries, and the ac didn't hit any of the dozens of objects that would have made this a truly horrible catastrophy-I had visions of it ripping into the Delta 737 that was full of people waiting to take off. It landed in the one clearing we have in that area of the airport, the nearest structure is an uninhabited operations building. The fire came to within 10 feet of the fuel farm, but CFR did wonders keeping it under control.
The pilots name and information is out at this point, but if you want that info, you can look it up. I just wanted to let everyone know about the most amazing thing that I have ever witnessed. It was awesome and horrifying at the same time, and I'm glad that things didn't get worse than they did.
ps-the AC if facing approx 170 degrees from intended heading...he is pointing almost back the way he came from. Notice also how close it is to the commercial ramp, 300 feet?, it missed a BAE146 and a 737 on his way to that resting place
