F16 training intercept on holding GA aircraft

DE727UPS said:
I can't believe it's okay for an F16 to approach some poor guy doing a practice hold and get close enough to see the N number. That would really piss me off.

www.military.com

F-16 Improperly Intercepted a Civilian Aircraft Before Crashing in Louisiana, New Report Says

The incident took place during a training exercise March 23 when two F-16s departed Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, Texas.
www.military.com www.military.com
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§ 91.111 Operating near other aircraft.
(a) No person may operate an aircraft so close to another aircraft as to create a collision hazard.

(b) No person may operate an aircraft in formation flight except by arrangement with the pilot in command of each aircraft in the formation.
 
Toobdrvr said:
“An F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot did an unauthorized intercept of a civilian plane before losing control of his fighter jet after hitting the wrong switch and crashing in rural Louisiana this past spring, a new report from the Air Force's Aircraft Accident Investigation Board revealed.”


Um, WUUUT!?
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Did you read the report?

Are you familiar with what you’re looking at?

Because I can tell you from both its history and the choice of how it phrased the comment, military.com is one of the last places you should be looking for definitive truth and context with regards to mil aviation.


There was absolutely nothing in that report saying non participating GA aircraft are off limit and thus the intercept is “unauthorized.” It was however improperly planned/briefed and since they didn’t do that any explicitly permitted maneuvers could be classified as “unauthorized.” The failures to follow AF training rules have to do with keeping the aircraft in defined parameters so as to leave the pilot sufficient outs to lessen likelihood of a mishap. He let the aircraft get ahead of himself and in the process went into those defined limits at which point he should have recognized and terminated. The rules however aren’t there to create some sort of protected exclusion for GA declaring them off limits. In fact to the contrary they actually define how to go up and treat “non participating” aircraft for training evolutions.


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Toobdrvr said:
And fwiw, the only issue I had with the incident was where it said he supposedly operated a single switch in the cockpit and immediately lost control of the aircraft…
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Sure, because this like so many other “OMG the military aviators…” threads don’t have an established history or anything.

You’re surprised that an aircraft like a fighter could select a switch which combined with low speed stall conditions and positive AOA associated with a climb could result in departure from controlled flight?

He didn’t “immediately lose control.” He was already outside of the prescribed control limits and this just made it way worse.


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But of course he didn't "immediately lose control of the aircraft", he dicked it up, panicked, and pressed the silk elevator button.
 
Toobdrvr said:
Some people on here should relax…
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Some people on here should stay in their lane instead of implying they have some kind of equal seat at the table just because they happen to also work in the sky.

Look back at how this thread starts with Pearl clutching and quotes of FARs that don’t actually apply… Like I said we’ve been down this road before.


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