"giving the jet back to the taxpayers" Best phrase for ejecting I've ever heard.

As he was coming over the threshold at 275 kts, I bet he was thinking "This seemed like a better idea a few miles back".

"Give the Jet back to the Taxpayers." That one made me chuckle

If you land a fireball and climb out, you're a rockstar. The consolation prize is being the star of a what not to do training video.

"Your life begins with the checklist because it might end without it." Words I lived by.

This happened when I was a young Airman at Whiteman. Our engineers had a hell of a time digging it out of the field across the country road off the south end of the runway.

My dad joined the Caterpillar Club flying a F-100 Super Sabre over France in the early 60's. The club?; in the USAF, if you have to eject....you turn into a "butterfly". He and his backseater made it. He did the same trick again in the late 60's during Vietnam, over Laos (the secret war) in an A1-E Skyraider. At 91, he's still around and sharp.

“The encounter was a victory, but I think that we've shown it as an example of what not to do.”~Charlie

I was on the flight line that day and standing with a crew ready to leave on a B2 sortie. They had to shutdown waiting on the IFE and one of the pilots said the same thing as we were watching out of the back of the dock... "Why didn't he eject a long time ago?". And that FOD walk made for a long day, but glad he survived.

My dad (command pilot AF, flew F4s in nam) always used to tell me that what lead was expecting from his wing man (especially from groups like the thunderbirds) was if lead flew into the ground he could look back and see his wingman following him. So I’m not surprised misty was only offering suggestions

he did exactly what he said he was going to do. land it and get out quick 🙊

Thanks Mover! Almost had to a leave a T-38 on my first solo (contact) in the aircraft when I couldn't get one of the mains down but did on the way out to the controlled bailout area. Left it down, landed on the apposite traffic runway (with clearance) directly , shut down after one engine quit (after the other quit taxiing back) and went to the O Club. This shit is tough and you got to stay focused. The Commander bought me a Scotch at the O Club and informed me to go home cause I was the first bird out, solo the next day. Thank yo!

This reminds me of the only time I ever got to "fly a military jet." I was a civilian working at AFFTC, Edwards. Our HITL lab had a full cockpit F-16 simulator. As part of an orientation briefing the lab boys let me try it. When it came time to land I wasn't wasn't watching my airspeed, trying to line up my approach. I touched down at 350 KTAS, skidded off the runway, crashed the airplane, and I died. 😠

I think you hit the nail on the head. The 90's was a different time with regards to CRM. Thanks for the breakdown. Very interesting

Whew. Been there...done that, Mover. Mine was a battery fire in the nose, but just as hazardous with a large can of 20 mm in the bay. Lots of hints from #2 (Get out!), but I kept thinking, "It's still flying, stay with it". Not great presence of mind, but ejection was not my thing. Luckily, mine went out. I got lots of drinks at the club that night, but I had a strong feeling that I had done something idiotic. I still do...

I found this video a long time ago. Drove past that field every day heading to work while I was at Whiteman. Couldn't imagine seeing an F-15 hurdling over the road and smashing thru a corn field.

Great breakdown, always informative. Something I learned as Safety NCO reading all the USAF safety publications that came across my desk in the '80s was a simple but profound fact: Checklists for aviation are written in blood. We lost pilots in the early Eagles because we didn't know everything about them yet. The checklists come from those experiences. Especially in the '90s, you aren't the first guy with an engine fire in an Eagle. This guy got the best case scenario for not following that checklist, IMHO. ADDED after some reflection: The Aces 2 seat was new when the Eagle was deployed, and a lot of guys were a bit frightened of it. I remember one guy (who ejected) saying that when it was obvious he HAD to punch out, he thought of his wife and kids, he thought about not having use of his legs, he thought about his parents. Deep breath, BOOM. On top of the difficulty of military aviation, on top of having a really bad day, they have to deal with that. It effects the thought process to some degree, no doubt.

I love these breakdowns.

17:15 you can hear him breathing heavy and saying " Come on baby, come on baby"

I’ll add some facts, since there was a lot of assumptions in this presentation. I have 2000 hours in the F-15A/C. I also flew with both pilots in this video. Sadly, we lost the lead pilot last summer in a tragic car accident.

Mover: if you haven't already, check out Ward Carroll's YT channel. He seems like he could be a great guy to talk to if you got him to do an interview. Great vid btw

FYI, The F-15 has a UTIL HYD pump on both AMADs. The speed brake runs off UTIL, it will work no matter which engine is out. The UTIL also augments A/B HYD.

The F-15 has 3 hydro systems, PC1, PC2, & UTILITY. The speedbrake is operated from utility which is powered by both motors. Although you will have diminished hydro pressure with only #1 running. The speedbrake would work but all the flight controls might be sluggish at reduced pressure so he might not have used it.

There was an F-15E at mid America that overran the runway and the crew ejected. This was like last week too. At first glance I thought that's what this vud was about.

Great breakdown. I blew my drink out of my nose when you recapped the cardinal rule of wingman comms: “...Joker, Bingo, Lead, you’re on fire...”. Yep, not often that last one comes into play!

You hit the nail on the head when you talked about Crew Resource Management 'back in the day'. Being afraid to speak up was something the Air Force and Navy & Marines, Coast Guard and even the airlines worked very hard to train out of their air crews. Safety in the air had to become the topic air crews were afraid to NOT speak up about. Unfortunately, poor CRM still comes up now and then but when you are the captain or flight lead or whatever you want to call it, you must leave your pride in the locker (or civilian equivalent). Tell your pilots/crew to never worry about speaking up, especially if I seem to be in a bad mood or something, I will get over it and thank you.

as a 500 hour private pilot your presentation of information is wonderful... my grandson is Navy ATC formerly Stennis now in Texas...Keep on with your great videos...

Dear Mr. Mover, Thank you for your breakdown videos and analysis, it means a lot for us to learn and pay attention to critical situations, and appreciate well-established emergency rules written by the experts on the field. Yours sincerely, John

Ge been looking forward to Mover reviewing this. I have so many questions. Thankyou mover !!!!!!

If you haven't seen it yet, the Royal Danish Air Force published a video a few years back where they showed a controlled ejection after some issues with the landing gear of a Viper. You probably don't want to film a reaction of it since the video itself is like an hr long, but just know that it's there. Our Danish brothers are very good at what they do.

Just when I was asking myself what to watch at lunchtime. Thanks Mover!

thks !!great vid , like always !! No report can be found ,only this info : 9 November 1995, F-15A (SN 76-0061/SL) was written off 1 May 1996, plane was with 131st Fighter Wing / 110th Fighter Squadron

19:50 Here we see the jet's life flash before its eyes

Fantastic breakdown Mover. Really enjoyed this!

Although the checklist says to eject if a fire persists, pilots are expected to utilize judgement when handling emergency situations. In this case, the fire was caused by oil leaking from a bearing into the engine core. The low temperature oil fire was completely contained within the engine and was not hot enough to illuminate the engine fire sensors, which are located in the engine bay outside of the engine, and the only likely indication of a fire was the wingman's observations. Once he shut down the #2 engine, he would have lost 2 of the 7 hydraulic circuits F-15s utilize for normal operations, but all functions would have been operational via backup circuits. Because of all of the built in redundancies, F-15s do not have boldface/critical action procedures that have to be memorized and acted on immediately when confronted with an emergency situation. A good example is one of the most severe emergencies a pilot can have, which is an engine fire on takeoff above abort speed; the F-15 checklist for this EP is to climb to a safe altitude and investigate. I don't fault the pilot's decision to try for an emergency landing, but he let his wingman's prophecy about the fire propagating forward after landing affect his decision making during the approach and landing.

Amazing post. Pilots and perfectionists are close but not the same thing. You have a tenth of a second to decide which you are.

Re: "8mm tape converted to digital" - it would be great if there was a way to go back and re-scan some of this footage from the original tape. Could probably get a lot more of the detail that was in the original analog tape, by scanning to the latest 4k/8k digital standard. I wonder if the tapes are sitting in a box in some archives somewhere.

Thanks for the great and informative breakdown Mover.

Excellent case study. I look forward to more!

I remember this day well. I worked the crash recovery. Also, FOD walked the runway post crash late into the night.

Man, you can hear the pilot panting shortly before touch down ...

I like the new layout. Good breakdown, as always.

Kile the overspeed on the F15C gear is 270 to 300 kts max. I agree with you the checklist says jump you jump.being a hero is not always being a hero.

It's fascinating that the vibrations from landing impacted the write head of the tape in such a way as to show visually in the tape

I love your videos; great breakdown...however, as an F-15 engine mechanic and engine run certified, the fire extinguisher is only useful if the fire is in the engine bay, not the engine itself. Additionally, the checklist you read off said "If warning light remains on..." there was no bitching Betty telling him that he had a right engine fire warning, and no light on that I heard. Pushing the Fire Warning button does turn off all of your fuel to that engine but hitting the fire extinguisher would be as helpful as trying to piss into a bucket into the wind. Sounds like this was an oil fire because the fire never went out...then you're pretty much screwed, a windmilling engine will continue to feed oil to all the bearings...If the fire is contained within the engine, which I'm sure that's what the pilot believed, I can see why he would want to save the aircraft. I'm not sure if there is a separate checklist for engine fire contained in the engine while you're flying or not. I know when you're running an engine on the ground there is a separate checklist for external vs internal engine fire. Everything else you said was pretty spot on, he was definitely coming in too fast, if he had his speed under control and made a quick landing (without blowing the tires), blow the canopy and jump out he probably would have been ok...again, great video and breakdown...Thank you!

I remember seeing this a few years ago when I was in high school, and being really impressed that two thought of those fire dynamics while doing 300+kts to keep up with his lead. Was a good data point on what kind of minds good pilots need to have.

I am not a real pilot in any capacity, but if I'm trying to land an F18 in DCS or MFS 2020, and I'm still pulling 200+ knots right before touchdown, I think "it's time to go around".

Great breakdown, Thank you.

Thanks for explaining it all in detail.

Good video, Mover. I can understand not wanting to give up the plane but, yeah, time to leave is time to leave. Find a nice open field to let the jet come to its sudden stop then ride that ACES II.

I'm sure he was avoiding the checklist on punching out because not only do you lose the aircraft, the seat may malfunction, parachute may malfunction, you could be injured on punch out and never fly again. I can see why he wanted to bring the jet back. With the fire in the afterburner section (that section can take a lot of heat), he may have thought he'd have control long enough to get it down. The scary thing would be to have it burn through on final, you punch out and the jet ends up on someone's house. Tough decision either way.

One other thing I just noticed looking into this: Whiteman AFB was at the time (and still is today) the home base of the entire B-2 fleet. And there's only one runway there. Follow the checklist and eject over some corn field? OK, that's a bad day. Ignore the checklist and crash on the runway, shutting it down until it can be cleared/repaired? You just shut down the Stealth Bomber program for some period of time. Obviously this is all 20/20 hindsight, but it's no wonder they show this as an example of what not to do.

Very educational. I enjoy learning. Thank you for sharing.

Maybe pilot was hesitant to eject based on surface winds? That’s a spicy landing under canopy with gusts up to 31. Could this have played into his decision to land and get out?

Wonderful breakdown

Thanks Mover. But your words, "But for the grace of God go I"... I miss that understanding in people today. To quick to judge are we all. Great video in any case.

Max tire speed for Shuttle was 230 knots with usual touchdown speeds being 185-196 knots. Nose gear tires(2) used for 2 landings, MLG tires(4) used once.

Very good analysis!

"That is faster than the space shuttle would land". That really put this in perspective.

Was wondering when you were going to do this one.

Base C/O - "If you attempt to land that aircraft with an active fire, you will never fly again."

This videos are pure gold…

Mover, does the pre-flight planning include any kind of review of 'suitable' locations along the flightpath you could eject if necessary? I'm wondering if having a prior mental note of areas where the risks to the pilot & anyone underneath are lowest (therefore requiring little in-the-moment thinking by an already task-saturated pilot) might make the decision easier/quicker - perhaps derail any thoughts that they can save the aircraft before the get-there-itis tunnel vision starts? _(hope that makes sense!)_

You r spot on with the CRM piece. When you hear another pilot or crew member point out the obvious it refocuses your decision making process. I only flew 2 pilot aircraft and have been on both the receiving and giving end of that exchange. Sometimes we all try and get creative and the good idea fairy visits us ar terrible times, which is what seems like happened here. But from what I was told in flight school (way back in 2008), the 90s and 80s was before CRM really was widly accepted and checklists were not for studs, they were for staff aviators and trainees.

Usually there's a pilot on the ground radio who can help in emergencies; the SOF, Supervisor of Flying... didn't hear one here. A good SOF would read the same checklist, and when the fire is still raging, ask TWO flatly "Has he ejected yet?"

At first sign of visible fire (EJECT) I remember reading that somewhere....

Hey Mover. Thank you for your service. New subscriber here. My 2 thoughts are 1. The Pilot was ignoring the checklist and trying to save the plane. And 2. Your breakdown and professional opinion trumps everything he did beyond the point he knew the fire was not going out because the checklist is there for a reason.. I am not a pilot so both of those are my thoughts only. I have the utmost respect for pilots and especially military pilots. They are extremely professional with great integrity. I am a retired underground coal miner. That is the only profession I would critique. Thanks again for your service and for doing these videos.

Knowing how to identify that you've done everything you can do and it is time to get out is one of those paid in blood lessons. In any dangerous profession, not just flying. You just know "if fire persists, eject" wasn't part of the checklist until some poor guy rode a fireball down into the field and got himself killed. Sometimes the jet just doesn't want to come home.

My only though as a former Army Helo driver is that I was along for the ride, no matter what; and the amount of seat cushion I digested was directly proportional to the nature of the EP. FIRE and MAIN XMSN CHIP light were the two worst! That said, I'm reminded of an F-106 where the pilot ejected due to loss of control at the mandatory minimum ejection altitude and the plane regained control and proceeded to fly until it ran out of fuel and landed gear-up in a farmers field, intact with minimal damage. That plane is in the USAF Museaum in Dayton, OH! The good thing is the pilot controlled where the aircraft ended up, off the end of the runway at Whitman AFB, zero civilian exposure, and CFR was at the crash site in seconds! Checklists ARE written in blood, but pilots are thinking individuals in dynamic situations, and in this case, he always had an exit strategy

Should he have considered that he was going to foul the runway with his debris. Great break down. I love your channel.

Hey, you should do a breakdown of the B-52 crash at Fairchild. There are some great videos showing the reckless flying incidents leading up to and video of the mishap. Its a great example of knowing when to put the foot down on poor airmanship and systematic leadership issues.

At 20:04, HUD and HUD cam still working and the pilotless Eagle also achieved a complete stop upright (apparently without fireballing). Although left engine and other parts damaged too from the crash landing, it would appear the pilot managed to indeed "save" the Eagle. Comments indicate bearing oil fire that would not have burned through (perhaps before emergency vehicles extinguished all fires). What was ultimate fate of this Eagle? The pilot's behavior was interesting. The rationale to save the Eagle is obvious. In the absence of an absolute necessity to eject, reluctance and hesitancy (and fear) probably played a part too. The decision to approach and land at high speed certainly questionable (using incorrect procedures to fix bad situations usually causes greater failure).

Mover can you get the Accident report and review it for the EA6B Prowler that went down in Eastern Washington state about 10 years ago !

used to work on the arresting gear (cables) in the air force. they do engage those for certification, usually an f16 would run into it without taking off. rarely we would have navy jerks that would ram into it so hard we would have to do extra checklist and maintenance work. the cables are usually taken off the runway because they get clobbered by heavys running them over again and again, requiring us to go out and replace the suspension pieces on the cable pendant. unfortunately, they were dragged off when this eagle had an ife. if we were nearby, it'd take 15-20 min to pin them back in

I would try same size of your video, but side by side layout is best so no info is lost from the source video :)

Outstanding breakdown. There’s the natural human factor of it being exceedingly difficult to take a step back from what you get in your mind for the correct course of action. Both the checklist and wingman could have helped alleviate that.

Hey Mover! Hope you're doing well! It's hot up here in North Louisiana. I dont know about down there where ya'll are at yet! Buckle up, it's going to be a hot one this year! Hopefully you can come up this way for a meet n greet or something. I'm a veteran Viper Crew Chief from 64th Aggressor Squadron (We were the first people to get the F-16's with Russian Paint jobs after the F-5 was phased out) so we'd have some stories to swap I'm sure. :)

I guess there is that 'I am junior in rank to the lead' thing, and the more experienced lead probably knew the checklist as well as anyone but chose to do what he did. I think the wingman did the right thing by providing ongoing status updates, as ultimately he knew that the lead was going to do it his way. I wonder if the lead's superior's had something to say to him that the #2 couldn't or wouldn't say? Thanks Mover - I am happy that it ended ok for the pilot.

Hey Mover! I think you would enjoy an interview with Ward Carroll. Some great stories from the f14 Rio side. I tried to see if you had him on your channel yet but did not see it if so. Hope to see you chat with him someday.

This was an extremely good video. The fact that you give play-by-play made it even better. My question would be if in his mind he thought that losing his aircraft by ejecting way sooner would be a knock against him? I understand that the results would have been the same. I guess what I am saying, was this an ego thing with this pilot or pilots in general? Very interesting.

Stinger: "Son your ego is writing cheques your body can't cash"

The numbers on final gave me goosebumps.

I know this is a fighter pilot event, but I’m pretty sure there are some darn good life lessons here. “If fire persists….…” 😎

Points about the checklist is noteworthy. From a tech view (Former F-18 engine, fuel and secondary power (Assuming the 15 and 18 are similar - same manufacture). I wonder if pilot pushed FIRE warning light. When you push the light it shuts off main fuel to engine. (valve on F18 is in main landing gear (separated by bulkhead and AMAD). When fire warning TEST - its testing the A & B circuits. If Fire light doesn't light then circuit (similar to solder wire throughout engine bay) is compromised. If the throttle was at Idle instead of OFF and fire light not pushed, fuel would continue to feed the fire.

I'm wondering if altitude would have helped extinguish the fire. I mean probably not but just a thought. Thanks for another great video mover.

I had this same senerio happen with my great planes .40 size P-51D, engine fire, leaking fuel, wing damaged, instead of just augering it in & got it back to base, it was quite an ordeal.

This might be a dumb question, but can you slip a fighter and maintain altitude to bleed speed? Use the side of the fuselage for drag similar to aerobraking on landing?

In January of 1981 an A-7 belonging to an unnamed squadron had a total hydraulics failure while conducting operations off an unnamed Carrier on "Gonzo Station" and there was no bingo field the aircraft could make it to. The pilot wanted to attempt to recover onboard but the Ship's command directed him to point the the aircraft in a safe direction and eject. He flew around for quite awhile until he was almost out of fuel and then ejected.

MOVER can you please do a collaboration with Ward Carrol? I think it would be brilliant to hear some perspectives from pilots from slightly different eras, especially how lessons learned in Ward's era was applicable or developed in yours. Thanks for all the great vlogs!

Very interesting thanks. Wonder what the idea was continuing without ejecting. After having time to consider the problem, could someone subconsciously prefer to eject at lower altitude and slower speed?

how are pilots to determine a safe direction to point their jet to punch out? are there procedures to get lower altitudes to ensure the jet goes nose down where you want it instead of flying off into a direction for a period of time and get into a populated area?

Great job!!

Back in 1995 things are different with crew coordination. I remember because I used to read accident reports when I was on duty. I also had a good friend who I help become a pilot and he would explain some of the things that happened back then, like with a heavy landing at the wrong airport. If you were Second or First Lieutenant flying with a Colonel at the time and you're coming into the wrong airport you usually would not speak up because you assume the colonel know what he was doing. I think you said something about this before and now the Lieutenant knows today he's allowed to speak up if you see something wrong that the Colonel is doing and correct him without fear retribution.

Good break down. Would have like to have had more discussions on the likely repercussions. I would assume if you follow the check list, you cannot be faulted.... but what might happen in this situation in terms of disciplinary action? Would it be as simple as a debrief ok here’s what you did wrong don’t do it again, or would there be a legal type of proceeding, because he didn’t follow the checklist?

Great breakdown. Only thing missing I would like to have seen is a map view of the field showing what the population density was around it and how this could possibly have affect his judgment.

Question, if bold face items are memorized, are they run first and only then is a checklist opened? Or is the checklist always opened first?

Thanks for sharing Mover! Please log me in for the monthly safely brief/SEPT!

A great walk through

Interesting, the checklist you have is that the same they had in 1995? Also have you looked at the Israeli F15 emergency landing in 1983?

Fascinating stuff no matter how old.