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As usual, no single factor is responsible for the loss of an aircraft. Here’s the report, with some analysis on how such a minor aerodynamic blemish could have such a major impact.
As usual, no single factor is responsible for the loss of an aircraft. Here’s the report, with some analysis on how such a minor aerodynamic blemish could have such a major impact.
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The faster the airplane is, the more attention you have to pay to aerodynamic smoothing, especially at the leading edges or near a control surface. A little ridge of sealant on the flap of a Challenger will make it roll uncontrollably with the flaps down.
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After reading the MIR I conclude that the Air Force Enquirer reporters (story cited in previous post) were stoned out of their freaking minds. In other words, normal gannett journalists.
The board prez does find that the severity of the spin was caused by the radome imperfection, however, the primary cause was horking on a bucket of alpha with only 150 knots on the clock and departing the jet.
The MIR seems to say that nose imperfections are well known in the F-15 community (as attested to by dash 1 cautions) to increase and exacerbate susceptibility to extreme yaw development in the high alpha departure regime.
I’ve read a lot of MIRs (and helped write my share) and this one reads to me as if the board is saying “why is this $#!+ still happening?”
The prez seems to have concerns here regarding a lack of emphasis on maintenance and inspection of radomes regarding a known threat; flying BFM sets in the two-seaters, and on departing the jets in high alpha/low smack regimes.
OBTW, look at currency. Nice to see the MP getting up to 20 hrs/month, which may be the high end of the curve when you see that lead had logged only 12 hrs/month.
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XBradTC 
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