f14 tomcat fatal flat spin.

[@markosborne9558]

I was an F-14 mechanic at NAS Dallas during the 90s. We had an ACM flat spin crash into open prairie around 100 miles south of Dallas.around 1992-93 a few days before Christmas. The pilot ejected, but there are shielded detonating cables inside a tube to the rear that trigger the rear seat to eject. They are right below the canopy sill. The canopy twisted off in a flat spin tearing these cables and the rear seat failed to eject. After we arrived at the site after dark, we had not been told there was a fatality. I stood watch over him through the night. He was a Navy reservist, a schoolteacher. We were there about a week,

[@peters972]

Thank you

[@rickandrew6397]

Tragedy 😢

[@williamsoutherland9087]

Thank you.

[@daveinseattle]

Thank you Mark 🙏

[@martinmoffitt4702]

Fellow crew chief here, Air Force...Thank you for your service and your loss

[@EKneller]

This looks like footage from a test flight at NAS Patuxent River in 1976 or 1977. The flight was planned to test post-stall characteristics of the F-14 and had tracking cameras for post-flight analysis. Prior to this test flight the aircraft manufacturer, Grumman, believed the F-14 could not be put into a spin (obviously proved wrong here). Both the pilot and RIO survived the ejection (at 1:54). Read DD Smith's 'Above Average' for his excellent first-hand account of this flight and his fight to survive the 7.5 eyeballs-out g-forces for 55 spin rotations.

[@FarmerDrew]

Would really clear the sinuses out, wouldn't it

[@JoelLessing]

A CNN reporter actually flew on this mission or a related one and the tape is on You-Tube.

[@FS2K4Pilot]

I’m given to understand that Hoser Satrapa developed a spin recovery technique wherein you could simply sweep the wings full aft, moving the Tomcat’s center of dynamic pressure aft and causing the plane to nose down and recover. You needed at least 10,000 feet to recover, though.

[@FS2K4Pilot]

@@JoelLessingCNN didn’t exist back then.

[@douglasdixon524]

​@@JoelLessingNot this one, if this film is from 1976. CNN didn't even exist, so definitely later on. It would be cool to find it.

[@jimbower9268]

Something similar happened with an F-106 years ago. The ejection forced its nose down just enough to allow it to recover. Lowering the nose is one step in spin recovery, but the controls are ineffective in a flat spin. That plane actually landed with minimal damage in a field when the fuel ran out, and flew again.

[@edruic4493]

The “cornfield bomber”, it’s on display at the Air Force museum

[@andnowi]

Cool

[@markoldreive]

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

[@markmaki4460]

There is even a Leftypedia page dedicated to the event and plane. *I mean Wikipedia.

[@gwilymselwood]

facts matter

[@thomasmartin7425]

It was like a horse that wanted riders of it's back. Once they were bucked off, the horse went back to its routine.

[@Andrew-13579]

@@thomasmartin7425 😄. Yeah, it straightened out and started heading back to the barn.

[@jimbopaw]

It is possible that pilot inputs made it worse

[@jeffer1101]

@@jimbopaw don't fight a flat spin, you'll make it worse. it's almost best to let go of the controls and "let the plane fall". it will likely settle down and you can then regain control. near the end of the video, after the pilot ejects, you can see the aircraft does settle down and basically hits the water like a dart. if the pilot just let it go and waited a few seconds, he would have likely been able to save it (unless ditching it was part of the test).

[@sandorrabe5745]

Yes exactly right after ejection it came out of the spin 😂

[@Mdnightsoldier]

You should watch Ward Carrol's Interview with Nasty talking about his flat spin. He says exactly the same thing. His F-14 was trying to fly, but his inputs wouldn't allow it.

[@kewkabe]

Retired F-14 pilot with over 200 sorties, Xbox squadron: just hold down the forward button for about 5 seconds and you'll straighten right out.

[@willbracken2367]

😂

[@FlightLevel36zero]

😂😂😂😂 👍

[@MegaSunspark]

@@kewkabe ...or reset sim. 😁

[@ytzpilot]

Thank you for your service

[@Csetnikke]

Were you in Xbox One or Xbox 360th?

[@LODIECHODIE]

To see it recover on its own is just epic...

[@canyonblue737-8]

the loss of the weight of the seats and pilots likely changed the CG, along with different airflow characteristics without the canopy in place...

[@BallisticAviation_YT]

“nah i ain’t dying today” -the f14 probably

[@NYUArchaeology]

​@@canyonblue737-8I was going to disagree heavily but erased the comment and rewatched how yes the canopy coming off would had effected some wind current. And weight of those seats itself for each man. 300lb seats probably. But still for us to see it straighten out so perfectly at the end is 'paper airplane' thoughts we had as a kid.lol.

[@trentejames9773]

that was the longest falling object ive ever seen 🤣 my brain was about to combust

[@dustycups]

Check out the Atlas-Centaur 1 rocket explosion footage, shown in the finale of the Koyaanisqatsi film. It follows free falling rocket debris for several minutes in close detail.

[@seadub1791]

watch the moon for a while

[@cab6273]

For everyone giving suggestions for how to possibly recover the F-14 from a flat spin, the answer is, No. Test pilots spent years and a few lives trying to work that out and never found a successful procedure.

[@Lemontage1337]

Full throttle?

[@codyking4848]

@@Lemontage1337 If it was an A model, the most numerous, then it had the TF-30 engines. The TF-30's would have flamed out long ago. (probably the source of the spin in the first place in a real life situation)

[@folderwin6197]

Самолёт же сам вышел из штопора под конец

[@DoubleMonoLR]

@@Lemontage1337 Clearly not. If it was that basic, they would've worked it out very quickly.

[@h.a.9880]

@@codyking4848 That's what I thought. With full thrust, you might be able to simply muscle your way out of that spin by thrust vectoring alone, but when your engines flame out, cause not enough air goes through the intakes, you're stuck in the spin. AFAIK from reading about this type of stuff, getting the nose to point down does help to recover the plane... but that's way easier said than done.

[@mikebell2112]

If you stare at it long enough it will spin in the opposite direction.

[@Twobarpsi]

I can't unsee that!

[@mfsmgame]

@@Twobarpsithat is because when he ejects, it does move the direction

[@KumaBean]

Since I was a kid I’ve enjoyed looking at spinning objects changing the direction of spin with my mind, sometimes I can’t flip it back the other way, lol

[@gordrilla]

I noticed that too...I did a double take

[@shane99ca]

Do they spin in the opposite direction south of the Equator due to the Coriolis effect?

[@davidshaw5973]

Why didnt someone teach Maverick this? Goose would still be with us!! Amazing video

[@cab6273]

Goose screwed up by not jettisoning the canopy before ejecting.

[@rtbell2806]

Goose and Rooster could have been flying partners!!

[@KlyosXA]

​@@cab6273 I thought it was because the Aircraft was falling flat that Goose's eject trajectory caused him to collide into the Canopy since it couldn't clear the vicinity of the Tailspin.

[@cab6273]

@@KlyosXA my understanding is that the IRL procedure is to jettison the canopy first, wait a couple of seconds for the canopy to move away from the cockpit, then eject. That’s why you hear Maverick say, “Goose, jettison the canopy.” Apparently, the real pilots insisted on that line of dialog being included.

[@richardmorgan3974]

Dual compressor stall at rotation number two and a half.. unless they closed the fuel valves which I doubt they would do in a simulation. Looks like it got out of the spin (but remained in a stall) on its own just prior to impact despite the increased aft CG incurred by the ejection. What a fascinating piece of footage. Hats (helmets?) off to test pilots who go out and do this stuff to collect data so that others may live.

[@willthacker5182]

it could be that the ejection rockets created enough thrust along with the thicker air at the lower altitude started to arrest the spin rate. Even if they stayed with it and recovered it, both engines were probably compressor stalled (F-14a) and there wouldnt have been enough altitude to get them started.

[@jesflynn4048]

thrust from the seat rocket pack would have only a small effect on the aircraft, as the efflux momentum is only briefly and partially absorbed by the airframe. The initial 'gun' -part of the ejection, though, imparts om 100m/s^2 acceleration to the jockey + seat (a combined mass of say 200kg) over a distance of around 2 metres before the rocket-pack provides any thrust; it's this momentum exchange that pitched the nose down, not the 'rocket'.

[@rhargee4014]

It seems the weight of the pilots threw the plane off kilter

[@Stan_Vitkovsky]

@@jesflynn4048 общая масса авиаторов и кресел около 450 кг (1000 pounds) это могло повлиять. Кроме того изменилась аэродинамика из за отстрела фонаря кабины. также импульс РДТТ поглощенный кабиной в течение 0,5 секунд пока кресло покидает кокпит оказал какое то влияние. Все это заставило самолет раскачиваться по крену с соскальзыванием в пике. The total mass of the pilots and seats is about 450 kg (1000 pounds), this could have affected it. In addition, the aerodynamics changed due to the canopy being shot off. Also, the impulse of the solid propellant rocket motor absorbed by the cabin for 0.5 seconds while the seat leaves the cockpit had some effect. All this caused the aircraft to swing in a roll with a slip in a dive.

[@terranovarain6570]

Problem recovering from a spin with early jet aircraft is the first step of pare technique Power off Why they created avionics to try and prevent them from even stalling It's not a problem with newer aircraft because of thrust vectoring and leading edge slats

[@terranovarain6570]

The pare technique can be counter intuitive because you have to rudder into the spin

[@natecloe8535]

The F-22s came along and WRECKED a Navy buddy of mine one day. Well, scared the hell outta him at least. He had been in for about 10 years already when I had first gotten in. And he worked at 2 different squadrons a Tomcat squadron when he began and he had just left an F18 Hornet squadron to come to our base and do security. They brought the still relatively new F22 raptor to an air show. The F22 along with every fighter jet made after. Is powerful enough to actually purposefully put itself into a flat spin that would be fatal for any other aircraft. And pull out of the flat spin as easy as it would take off from the runway. I was working security with a guy who looked up and saw the raptor go into a flat spin during the air show. Before I had any clue what was happening he was on his radio freaking out about a plane crash at the air show. He made that call fully expecting that that thing was going to hit the ground but it never did. We made fun of him for 4 solid years over that.

[@motorcyclestig8539]

😂 that's pretty funny

[@shane99ca]

I do not believe the F-35 can pull off that stunt; unlike the F-22 it does not have thrust vectoring (except straight down in the case of the F-35B, and I'm not sure if that can be done independently of putting the plane in VTOL mode). Speaking of the F-35B, I wonder if its vertical lift-abilities could in themselves help it recover from a flat spin? Could it just arrest its fall until it's in a hover?

[@castlebravocrypto1615]

"I've flown over 180 combat missions, been shot down single every time. Come to think of it, I don't I've ever landed a plane in my life." Llyod Bridges, Hotshots

[@codymoe4986]

*think Maybe you should too, considering that it is the obvious missing word.

[@castlebravocrypto1615]

@@codymoe4986 did your parents have any kids that lived?

[@codymoe4986]

@@castlebravocrypto1615 Obviously. Check out your other reply and try to figure out who I was actually talking to... Nevermind...congratulations on being too lazy and stupid to proofread your post without checking it for errors... Like entire missing words... Better?

[@jamesdellaneve9005]

I’ll never get over Macho Grande.

[@davidmcmanus9022]

Do you have a jamming frammus?

[@mikesmith-wk7vy]

They trained the pilots on how to recover from that one, unlike the f104 it wasn’t impossible to recover. Something like throttle back wings straight nose down then full power to the engine counter to the spin or something like that

[@berryreading4809]

I think this flight test recording was part of the genesis for that further recovery testing and training ...

[@tyejames]

there were a few ways to get out of it depending on which pilot you ask. lower flaps and drop landing gear according to bob hoover and another way is to idle one engine and throttle up the engine on the side you are spinning to counteract the spin until you stabilize. i think there’s a few other ways but i’m not sure where to find it.

[@willharmatuk4723]

Idle engines, full engine thrust on engine opposite to spin (if you’re spinning right, full thrust to right engine, rudder in the direction opposite the spin, aileron into the direction of the spin. From what I’ve read. I’m 80% sure about the aileron/the last part.

[@mebeingU2]

@@willharmatuk4723…well, are you 100% sure of just 80%?? Don’t get me up there using your method if you’re only 80% sure!!!! 🛩️

[@helpful5539]

How in the world could a 104 flat spin, it has no wings to spin on !!!

[@terrymeadows2384]

We found that the F-14 flat spin was induced by the disruption of airflow into the starboard engine. This disruption stalled the engine, which produced enough yaw rate to induce a spin which was unrecoverable. There was no way Lieutenant Mitchell could either see or avoid the jet wash which produced the engine stall. Therefore, the board of inquiry found that Lieutenant Pete Mitchell was not at fault in the accident of 29 July. Lieutenant Mitchell's record was cleared of this incident. Lieutenant Mitchell was restored to flight status without further delay. These proceedings were closed. According to sources, he was up flying soon after.

[@rodmunch7278]

Okay.

[@user-qq9zx1zu9z]

Top gun 😂

[@benjaminc8789]

And went on to shoot down Mig 28s

[@scott.c9587]

Stupid reply

[@jamesp13152]

That's great news, thank you. 😁

[@skyserf]

Ejection at 1:54 for those who don’t want to wait.

[@jonathanparle8429]

No one can say he didn't try for a long time to try and recover it!!

[@JRPetruk]

I'm blown away that he stuck with it so long...

[@Bogeyatyour6YT]

3 Words: Center of Gravity. That and the denser air down low caused the plane to stabilize on its own. The loss of 300-400kgs shifted the CG back and made the plane tumble out of the spin. Usually, it would be tried to move the cg forward. I heard it's the reason why many Tomcats flew with at least 2 Sparrows below the nose, to keep always the CG a bit on the forward side. A quick change of GG, like demonstrated here will also help immensely, even if it'd not forward. I tried to demonstrate this in DCS on my channel, take a look if you want.

[@CR055FIRE]

"holy shit" "this is not good" "engine one is out" "engine two is out" "goose i'm losing control, i'm losing control, i, i can't, i can't control it"

[@thomasmartin7425]

@@CR055FIRE the plane had "lost that loving feeling, whoa-o that loving feeling, now it's gone, gone, and, and it can't go on whoa-o-o."

[@barrettcarl3009]

Was looking for this comment...

[@ΒασιληςΚαραγιάννης-μ1ζ]

Eject, eject, eject!!!!!

[@turdferguson2]

Watch the canopy

[@christhesmith]

God level camera work

[@kingtutt61]

By a camera controlled and operated thru a radar.

[@briantaylor9285]

"You have to let him go, sir."

[@willbracken2367]

There will be others.

[@robertlackey7212]

"These aren't the droids your looking for"

[@LAV-25A2]

"Watch the canopy!"

[@susanin5249]

After the crew ejected, the plane came out of the spin on its own. Bravo!

[@tomperock1615]

Why was the T-30 Engine used on The F-14 TF -30 Pratt and Whitney engines were Terrible . Compressor Stalls .,GE Is a much Better Engine .

[@BrianMorrison]

@@tomperock1615 It was used because that was what was available given that it was the engine from the cancelled F-111B and it was decided not to risk a new airframe and engine together. Of course later on the better GE engines were fitted to various F-14 models, the really bad TF30-P412 was updated to the P414A which was used for the first decade or more of the F-14's service life.

[@foxwhiskey]

After ejection of the crew the massive lost of weight (pilot/ wso/seats...) pushes the center of gravity in tail-direction. So the jet can stabilize.

[@ssenbruns]

@@foxwhiskey Are you sure about that? Its nose would be lighter pushing the CofG to the rear further

[@foxwhiskey]

@@ssenbruns sorry, my fault. CG in tail-direction, of course. Comment corrected.

[@Andrew-13579]

So, why did it exit the spin after the canopy, pilots and seats left the aircraft? Here’s some thoughts. I don’t know if any are valid. CG: With the canopy, pilots and seats gone, that moved the CG aft some amount. Perhaps enough for the drag of forward fuselage to slow the rotation? Engine thrust: Did the pilot bring the throttles to cut-off before ejecting? Was idle thrust enough to keep it in the flat spin? Did the recoil from ejection seats ( is there any?) push the nose down just enough? Was it going to recover, regardless of ejections? Maybe once into denser air? However, if the pilots had waited for that, maybe it might not have left enough altitude to pull out of the dive, nor to safely eject.

[@schwantzrossi1266]

ill answer all your questions...."I have no fecking idea.".

[@nealstarling5422]

I think it’s important to remember jets are fast because the have less aerodynamic lift than a small two seat prop plane, (lift is drag) basically they are lawn darts when not under power, so yes, nose down to gain speed to gain lift put they really need to get moving fast for that to happen, at those speeds the ground comes up quickly. I can only imagine the amount of centrifugal force they were under.

[@bronco5334]

"lift is drag" is a pretty gross oversimplification. It is true that, for any given airfoil section, increasing lift means also increasing drag, but it is NOT true that two different airfoil sections necessarily increase drag in order to increase lift a proportionate amount. Some airfoils are simply more efficient (and/or more efficient in certain airspeed ranges) than other airfoils. The airfoil designs used on common general aviation aircraft like Cessna 150, 152, or 172s are quite drag-inefficient. Which doesn't matter a whole lot, because those aircraft aren't intended to fly much more than 100 knots anyway.

[@georgecharleston8532]

Being tail heavy allowed the wings to go slightly vertical stopping the spin it looks like.

[@TexasNEV]

Lt. Pete Mitchell was eventually cleared of this accident but unfortunately lost his WSO. He was eventually returned to flight status and shot down several MiG-28's.

[@maths1az]

There's no such plane as MiG-28

[@TexasNEV]

@@maths1az LOL.. Do some googling and then you'll laugh later..

[@DutchCedarConsulting]

RIP Goose

[@TexasNEV]

@@maths1az Do some googling, you'll laugh later.. :)

[@krzysztofjasinski5007]

@@maths1azthere is! They made picture if it.

[@TeddyCavachon]

Given the way the force of the ejection caused it to recover from the flat spin it would seem possible to have a system of emergency rocket thrusters in the nose, deployed by the pilot if in an unrecoverable flat spin and then controlled by computer to arrest the circular spinning and push the nose down to get air moving over the control surfaces.

[@reason6835]

That’s not why it recovered. When the pilots ejected the center of gravity shifted more to the rear due to less weight in the front.

[@thunderboltlightning6010]

I think they didn’t plan it. Spin recovery chute is a thing you know, if they plan to test flat spin,it would be installed.

[@bronco5334]

Why would you add the extra weight of rocket thrusters (and the extra pyrotechnic hazard) to get out a situation that is rarely encountered, and much better managed by just having the pilot stay out of the flight regime where a flat spin can initiate in the first place? Adding weight to the aircraft reduces it's overall performance and safety in every other situation that *isn't* a flat spin.

[@sunnyjim1355]

@@reason6835 lmao, of course the nose went down due to the ejection; 'every action has an equal and opposite reaction'. Also, if the plane was now more 'back heavy' then the nose would have gone up instead! You sir, don't have the faintest idea as to what you're talking about. 😂

[@reason6835]

@@sunnyjim1355: I’m a pilot. After ejection, the center of gravity does indeed shift to the rear, which causes better airflow over the elevator, which in turn causes the aircraft to stabilize. The aircraft doesn’t naturally want to fly with the tail pointed down. So after stabilizing, the natural flight characteristics will be to point the nose toward the ground and recover the stall.

[@erichiller4144]

I had some close calls. and I'll tell you what I couldn't find my seat for. a day and a half. The pucker factor was so hard. Thank God for training.

[@jimwhite9483]

What kind of training? Certainly not in grammar or basic sentence composition.

[@erichiller4144]

@@jimwhite9483 Thank you very much have a good day Sir.

[@happycanayjian1582]

“This is not good, this is not good!”

[@bill7575]

Curious if retracting the wings would shift the CG forward enough to allow conventional flat spin break procedure to work

[@FS2K4Pilot]

Hoser Satrapa actually developed such a procedure. It doesn’t move the cg forward. Rather it moves the center of pressure aft. It did require 10,000 feet of altitude at least, however.

[@helpful5539]

I would sure have tried that and anything else I could

[@douglascooper1987]

I thought that, or Retract One Wing, and try to Induce a Roll to help point the nose down, assuming you had enough altitude left.🤔

[@HughGard]

Had an f14 tomcat go down about 300 yards behind my house near moyock va from oceana air base..both pilots ejected but were driven ten feet into a muddy bog still in their seats but each hole was about the size of a basketball.. the suction force after such a violent impact actually contracted the openings from about 3 ft x3 ft down to a 12 inch hole..nothing but debris for almost a mile..1982..

[@travistolbert2647]

Man, hats off to the test pilots who fly these sorties! The absolute iron willed fortitude it must take to deliberately fly aircraft past the edge of the envelope to see a specification valid or invalidated is gut wrenching to watch. I always wondered since the Tomcat has swing wings and if sufficient altitude was available would manually sweeping the wings aft provide enough center of gravity change to break out of the flat spin. It's crazy to watch the Tomcat break out of the spin and almost recover itself after the ejection.

[@petermariner6323]

Not fatal. Also note self-correction in the final stages. It's the old "hands off" remedy, which only works if you have sufficient altitude.

[@jsldj]

Goose! You have to punch us out!

[@rtbell2806]

Watch the canopy!!!

[@Weeaboo_AF]

How it recovered itself without the pilot 💀😭

[@martynjones7354]

The change to the centre of gravity from the crew ejecting.

[@michaelrabie1833]

The crew ejecting would move the CG aft, making it even more difficult to recover. The F14 recover ed after the crew ejected, being there was no control inputs. Most aircraft would recover from spins, and flat spins with hands and feet off the controls.

[@EvMstein]

I think the air just get denser

[@sidb9540]

As far as I know only wing stalls can be recovered by applying opposite rudder and neutral to nose down attitude.. a flat spin does not create air flow necessary over the elevators for pitch control, therefore needs an external source of force( thrust) to pull it out of the spin. Flat spins are almost unrecoverable..@@michaelrabie1833

[@wife-emailer467]

​@@EvMsteinyou have a point

[@sunshinecloudy]

What if they had dropped the landing gear? Maybe some extra drag would slow the spin?

[@NickolaiVolkov]

"Altitude 8,000... 7,000!! Six! We're at six, Mav!"

[@russoley8995]

Wonder if putting the wings back with no power would of helped

[@Jon.......]

Was wondering that myself! Kill the power (idle), sweep the wings back, apply full rudder opposite the direction of rotation, maybe try adding power to same side as direction of rotation ... as a last ditch effort have the RIO eject.

[@teerollings6919]

Wing configuration won’t have any effect in a flat spin, it’s the horizontal stabilizers that will stop the spinning. In most planes you would apply full opposite rudder but for a plane with twin tails like f 14 and f 15 you apply the rudder in the same direction as the spin - this increases the airflow over the horizontal stabilizers. …also cut power to the engine that’s opposite the spin and apply power to the other. …that’s assuming what I learned flying sims is correct lol.

[@Jon.......]

@@teerollings6919 Cool! I was also thinking in terms of center of pressure and center of gravity moving as the wings are swept back.

[@driftertank]

​@@teerollings6919 I feel like, in a fully developed flat spin, increasing sweep would move the center of pressure to the rear, helping to reduce the "flat" part of the flat spin and increasing airflow over the rudders and stabs. I don't know though...just what seems intuitive to me.

[@teerollings6919]

@@driftertank OK well like I said I'm repeating what I learned from flying flight sims., but those sims replicate real flight characteristics. I don't know what flight experience you have but starting your reply with "I feel like......" doesn't give a lot of confidence that you have any at all.

[@hhout9242]

One of my first flight instructors was a P-51 pilot during the war, he said if the Mustang was still spinning by 10,000, bail out.

[@frapell]

Looks like it recovered almost at the end by itself

[@tonyennis1787]

The "Cornfield Bomber" did too, and was recovered and repaired. It still exists.

[@zoltantoth4717]

Pilots probably missed the promotion...

[@EVE101Patt]

looks like the added drag of the two missing canopies was enough to finally get it out of that flat spin. interestingly with both canopies and ejectionseats missing the COM would've been even more to the back than before (and therefor support a flat spin and hinder a nose-down attitude)

[@shannonchurchill4556]

The Tomcat only has one canopy, not 2

[@ky7299]

Since the engines of the F-14 are so far apart I wonder if differential thrust could be used to stop or slow down the rotation, then either the nose or a wing would drop turning it into a regular spin and perhaps get some authority over some control surface.

[@SplashJohn]

The most common cause of flat spins in the F-14 was compressor stall, so once the spin started, the TF30's weren't producing enough thrust to be useful. That's why flat spins were considered unrecoverable in the 'Cat.

[@Fauxbra]

Recovered by itself just in time to lawn dart. Sweeping the wings back has no effect?

[@misarthim6538]

It would make things worse as it would move the center of gravity aft

[@markosborne9558]

wing sweep angles automatically by computer. have to lift a lexan hinged cover over the manual handle left of pilot seat for manual wing sweep, Not a whole lot of time for this in a spinning airplane.

[@silverdrillpickle7596]

Relight Push forward Opposite rudder kick And don’t be afraid of that handle!!

[@billgarrity6720]

When I was a kid in 5th grade, the smartest kid in my grade told me about this phenomenon. That was about 55 years ago and this is the first time I've actually seen it.

[@Black_Hole_HQ]

Would folding the wings have helped?

[@elpelicanojiji]

Thats what I thought but I dont think it would make a difference. My guess is because the folding system weight is all on the center of mass of the plane thats what doesnt let the plane take a direction, its pivoting against the folding wings, that system is complex.. and massive in weight

[@Mxsmanic]

It has occurred to me in the past at a sudden force applied to an aircraft-such as pilot ejection-might break a flat spin. This appears to support that idea. Perhaps some sort of thrust device could be incorporated into an aircraft for this purpose, allowing a pilot to recover without ejecting. However, I suppose flat spins are too rare to justify special recovery device on most aircraft.

[@astrobeno]

spin recovery parachute

[@Mxsmanic]

@@astrobeno That stops the spin but also aborts the flight.

[@astrobeno]

@@Mxsmanic nope, it can be dropped so plane can fly again, google it

[@jimcameron9848]

Retired MS Flight Simulator pilot here: flat spins are 100 percent recoverable! Move your right index finger to the round "on/off" power switch and click it once for 3 seconds. Problem solved. Happy flying.

[@markleviner2540]

What a hoot. Turn it off. Love it when BugsBunny say it ran out of gas at three feet and stoped. Pilots have to have a good since of humor! 😂 You have to admite danger is a rush!!!! MMLZZZ

[@Delaunay73]

Why didn't they try changing the wings position backwards? That would have made a huge difference in CG and aerodynamics and almost certainly taking it out of the flat spin. Am I wrong?

[@AlbertSlov]

Пилотам стоило дать самолету самому выйти из плокого штопора, а не мешать ему. Как только самолет избавился от этих пилотов, он смог остановить вращение и перейти в режим нормального планирования.

[@originalfallinggirl]

Can someone explain what causes this? I’ve always loved the F-14. Is it still flown today?

[@hhout9242]

Only Iran flies them.

[@華生-t6r]

Can I start a single engine and reverse it?

[@donaldbadowski6048]

At 1:54 isn't that an ejection? How was this fatal?

[@berryreading4809]

I think the video is just titled poorly, unless it's clickbait... This is an actual spin test video that ended up unintentionally in a total flat spin perfectly showing what a F-14 flat spin looks like and why it caused fatalities without immediate proper recovery procedures... I'm not sure if any of the flat spin fatalities were ever eveb captured on camera... Pretty unlikely because a wingman couldn't really record the entire event (assuming he even had one at the time). Also it would require a lower level camera setup, most likely with specialty lenses and stabilization (like this specialty camera rig) or another slow film aircraft circling below with a long range stabilized camera 🤷‍♂️ I'm just wondering if this is the spin where the test pilot hit the canopy after ejecting and sustained minor injuries? (I think possibly a broken leg?)

[@cyprezz]

It was probably meant that the flat spin is fatal for the plane, which didn't survive.

[@ImNotQualifiedToSayThisBut]

I mean, an ejection can be fatal

[@James-oo1yq]

@@cyprezzIt’s click bait, nothing more

[@n085fs]

I'm curious to know how it would handle if he swept the wings back. Would it make the nose drop the way I assume it would?

[@jonathanday6692]

Hmmm. I've seen a lot of posts saying a flat spin is unrecoverable, and the reasons they give all make perfect sense. Found some interesting articles on the nature of flat spins, too. But it seems the Tomcat was notorious for it. Was there a design flaw?

[@sauls1168]

I’m amazed how balanced the plane was on its way down continuously righting its self during its tumble.

[@SuperAgentman007]

At the end part, why didn’t he stay with the aircraft because I’ve heard in a flat spin you’re supposed to reverse Rutter and pointy aircraft down and then once it starts going straight down, you slowly pull back, which you will experience a lot of g and he probably might have been able to save the aircraft. I’ve seen these kind of tests before in the past, especially early in the program where they used to fly them to the extreme purposely put them in a flat spin to see how fast they can pull out of the flat spin.

[@einherz]

after eject ac still spinning. however start go left and right banking, and that stop the spin. that's was looks like spin become falling leaf by latitude axis, and that's mean after ejection, aircraft become from statically unstable to very much statically unstable so, when static stability moves from negative to even more negative that's move dynamic stability to even more negative than was and that did the waving on banking, and that stop the rotation and that move aircraft out of critical aoa to nose down. so everybody in the comments was right, all that factors was moves aircraft from the spin to the normal flight. p.s. when cg moves closer to cp, aircraft had more tend to change the pattern and shortened shoulder of rotation make it possible to add the banking instability, that stop the spin in result

[@pizzaparty-r1c]

Not just the ejection, but the removal of the seats and pilots moved the CG far aft, which enabled the plane to recover.

[@pyme495]

Moving the CG aft is just the opposite of what you want for a stall recovery.

[@pizzaparty-r1c]

@@pyme495 No, clown. When already in a spin, removing weight in the front will reduce the centripetal force, moving the CG aft where the fulcrum is shorter from the giant rudders.

[@elpelicanojiji]

@@pizzaparty-r1c Wouldnt help, the plane has two massive spots, 1 in the middle (the folding wings system) 2 the engines. Thats the centripetal force core. The pilot weight+the ejecction system are not a determinant factor compared to those 2.

[@TLH442]

The plane recovered naturally about 1 sec after the pilot bailed. Its likely the aircraft could have been saved still leaving some safety margin on the clock/altimeter.

[@kathyevans8013]

Recovery can be made. First action is to swing wings back, which will get the nose pointed down to pick up speed.

[@valmelendez7064]

May I ask how you know this? I'm wondering if you're a pilot or have experience.

[@sand.4520]

DCS is probably enough for you to be atleast 70% correct in real life also.@@valmelendez7064

[@niuniuhhh]

Wings back would only cause even more angle of attack, which are even worst for the TF30s...

[@ignitoracing]

Did you learn this in roblox? 😂

[@kathyevans8013]

every pilot knows that to get out of a stall, you must push the nose down. Comic Book Guy was too busy LARPing to know this.

[@maseratifittipaldi]

I suppose installing small rockets for spin recovery would add too much weight?

[@SimSimon87]

didn't the aircraft self-stabilize there at the end?

[@semperfidelis8386]

I'm not a pilot........but....couldn't they recover by dropping the nose and getting some wind over the wings and glide it down?

[@EvilXtianity]

How would the nose drop without airflow over the elevator?

[@richardteale8203]

Question; can the wings be swept back to encourage the nose to drop & get the jet back on track as well as encourage the engines to restart if flamed out?

[@misarthim6538]

no, sweeping wings back moves the center of gravity aft, making the plane even harder to recover.

[@Lifeandblessings888]

The CofG of fighters is further back compared to other types of aircraft. The reason is for more pitch sensitivity which is important for combat maneuverability, but that also makes them more prone to entering a spin without thrust and harder to recover. However notice the elevons all the way up as it enters the spin, and then the aircraft eventually recovers after the ejection. Clearly the pilot wasn't familiar with the spin recovery procedure.

[@dbs555]

Ejection seat rocket motors providing enough opposite action/reaction forces to lower the nose and begin the spin recovery, although too low to the ground with likely two flamed out engines.

[@philipsnudden6190]

Just a thought whilst drinking a mug of tea and eating a Digestive. Could the pilot point the nose of the F14 towards the ground to straighten the F14 in a dive and then restart the engines, or is restarting the engines simply not possible?

[@FamilyManMoving]

Not an f14 pilot...but have flown a few models of prop planes. The general issue with flat spins is that you no longer have positive control.surfaces. you need motion over the chord of the airfoil to control pitch. Lateral airflow won't do it. There is a popular modern single prop plane that has a built in parachute for the whole plane, because in a spin it is the only way to not die. Current cost is about $1.4 Million. So it is not a simple problem to solve.

[@someone-coocky]

Did pilots j out? Or they drowned?

[@felixx321]

Had he swept his wings back in the very beginning and turned into a heavy dart to get speed could he then have pulled them out again and had the right velocity and and altitude to recover? Falling for quite awhile there..

[@elpelicanojiji]

swept wings system weight wouldnt help. Its too heavy in the middle plus there are two big rockets behind, the plane doesnt want to be a dart by itself. Not when there is no power

[@cavini225]

02:22 O avião se recuperou sozinho do parafuso chato, mesmo após os pilotos se ejetarem?

[@rah5931]

Legend has it that the pilot is still dizzy to this day.

[@JamesBaker-q1h]

The crew ejected successfully but it was a fatal spin? Did it hit a shrimp boat?

[@AkulaSpawn]

I wonder if the changing cg helped it recover after they left?

[@eddiemunster8634]

What if they mounted a small rocket in the tail that they could ignite to get some forward momentum?

[@heinz-dietersindhoff7344]

After bailout the poor F14 was straighten itself nicely, what did the pilot do wrong? I really like to know if it was pilot induced

[@heinz-dietersindhoff7344]

Found the answer in the other comments, pretty interesting so

[@rm25088]

What was the elevation? That sucker was up there, probably falling a good rate of speed.

[@senosab]

I remember this. Miramar,1987. During training one F-14 flew into the another F-14's jet wash and it caused a flameout in the second plane. That jet went into a flat spin over the sea (ocean) and crashed. Both pilots ejected but the RIO was killed in the ejection. Very sad.

[@petertwiss356]

Maverick: "GOOSE EJECT EJECT WATCH THE CANOPY"

[@brittanytaz1282]

Low power vertical tail thruster would change the attitude from a flat spin with altitude to correct before the decision to punch out.

[@AB7F9]

Anything that changes the COP would help. The ejection provided the force. Wonder if putting the wings in would've changed the COP?

[@Marco-gx7ok]

And finally it became stable with the seats ejected. The forces are the main problem because that is a bad rollercoaster ride. If one would have been able too, a change of the wingangle often changes the flat spin to a steeper one with more wing speed and fewer aerodynamical turn surface - so this might be a solution out in some situations if the mechanics/hydraulics can handle it!

[@warped-sliderule]

Preflight briefing - spin risk discussion: We won't need a spin chute. If the plane spins, all we need to do is eject and the plane will recover on it's own. CHECK, no chute needed...

[@acb9896]

Ok. Who died? The fish it hit in the water? Both pilot and rio punched successfully Do your homework, guy.

[@masterlink2319]

God, I heaved a huge sigh of relief the moment I saw the canopy separation.

[@CountCraigula]

It recovered itself after ejection! Perhaps sweeping the wings might have aided the recovery?

[@mauricio_luque]

Of course I'm not going to compare my position, sitting here writing on social networks, with that of a pilot with hundreds (or thousands) of hours of flight time, but why do I get the feeling that pilots are rushed about ejection?

[@thatguyoverthere2288]

Do you mean in general or this instance? Because if you wait too long you die, like when a carrier landing or launch goes wrong. This time they stayed for almost 1:40 to eject. Thats a 20 ton chunk of metal falling at that point.

[@ryancrazy1]

may not have been conscious. there are a lot of G forces in strange directions.

[@jemand8462]

I was thinking the same. And I was curious about how the plane literally stabilized itself without any inputs, so this would have been the solution? I think the only possible explanation might be they ran out of fuel?

[@donaldbadowski6048]

No they didn't run out of fuel. This was a deliberate spin attempt that turned in a flat spin when the nose came up. That why the camera was on them.

[@berryreading4809]

I think the plane self stabilized because the lack of canopy and denser low altitude air changed the parameters... Although without well tested established recovery procedures this pilot definitely made the right call lol... He was definitely trying to recover, for long enough that most non test pilots would probably be too disoriented or loaded to still be able to eject after taking that long of a carnival ride! 😳 (These are not educated opinions lol)

[@jf4872]

One can counter the right rotation by applying throttle to the 'right engine' while idling the left.

[@agent_pilot6723]

Failed ejection… Flat spin. Maybe this is where they got inspiration to make that scene in Top Gun. RIP 🫡

[@cujbaion1]

Apply the brakes. 😏 Can the prototype be trimmed manually? If not pull the wings back. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@DoubleMonoLR]

Not "fatal" : "F-14a bureau number 159826 crashed at NAS Patuxent River after entering the first F-14 flat spin while conducting aileron/rudder interconnect tests. Strike Aircraft Directorate Chief Test Pilot CDR D.D. Smith and RIO LCDR Pete Angelina ejected successfully"

[@2earache]

I mean, test flight or not…..I find this footage quite bizarre - I don’t fly, so that has to be understood - but the pilot didn’t eject for a long, long time during the course of this flat spin one which, to a degree, was visibly and relatively gentle but certainly constant. It was curious also, following his ejection, that the aircraft gradually stopped rotating on its own before coming to grief at ground zero. Would someone in the know tell me why then the pilot couldn’t somehow either ‘ride it out’ until the spiral completed (or became more controllable) or indeed ease the aircraft out of that potential stall situation. I’ve seen far worse where the plane is clearly highly unstable and subsequently unrecoverable while airborne.

[@RuiLeTubo]

How come it left the spin after the crew ejected?

[@ktmdoug]

crew was putting in bad inputs. Many times spins can be recovered by simple hands off technique. The way this one was spinning I'd have went with stick forward, left rudder and right engine only.

[@sixdegrees6434]

No way of knowing but the aircraft CofG would move aft because loss of canopy, 2 GRU-7(A) seats and 2 pilots which would be around 900 lbs. This would definitely change the dynamics of the spinning aircraft.

[@bertg.6056]

Fatal? Who died? One of the crew who ejected?

[@tonyf9076]

Tomcat didn't survive, the rescue helicopter didn't get there soon enough and said Tomcat met Davy Jones near his locker 👍🏻

[@peekaboo1575]

If they had shut off the left engine, could the aircraft have been saved?

[@ScoutSniper3124]

If they developed a way to have the outboard wing spoilers pen it'd slow the spin rate to a probable recovery.

[@SteveJuA]

This inspired in TOPGUN?

[@MrNismopro]

I’m not an expert in F14’s. I am an A&P technician with lots of test flight and stall tests. But I feel that once this aircraft began to spiral, if it had still been manned, would have pulled out of the spin. Almost seems that all of the pilots inputs were possibly incorrect, because shortly after they ejected, the aircraft started to correct itself. But I could be wrong, it’s just my opinion.

[@louisvanrijn3964]

I would set the wings in max- sweepback modus.. (is that possible?) Falling flat, the vertical acting drag of the wing goes also backwards...and centre of gravity a little lesser backwards... give it a try...maybe the nose lowers... or tailchute deploy? Jumpseat can wait until 4000 ft, then the game is over.

[@larsrosing5033]

Couldn't they sweep the wings back for a breif moment, to change cg and the recover??

[@trunkmonkey9417]

Yes! But getting long enough hoses from a hydraulic mule to connect and apply hydraulic pressure to the Flight and Combo hydraulic systems and a Plane Captain willing to climb a rope, dragging the hoses, is a bit of a problem. Getting the rope connected to the aircraft in the first place might be more difficult, but there would be plenty of Marines who could be voluntold.

[@David-yy7lb]

Retired F14 pilot here a flat spin is completely recoverable depending on aircraft Recognize the spin: Take immediate action as soon as you notice the spin, as it can cause a significant loss of altitude. Reduce rotational speed: Reduce the throttle to idle. Counteract the spin: Apply full opposite rudder. Decrease the angle of attack: Push forward on the stick or yoke to break the stall. top the rotation: Once the rotation has stopped, neutralize the rudder. Apply back pressure: Apply back pressure on the elevator to gently recover from the dive. Add power: Add power to return to normal flight.👍🏿

[@athgt6630]

in a flat spin rudder and elevator are stalled and cannot help. changing the geometry of the F14 could have helped

[@TopAirspace]

It seems the ejection sequence and now also having less weight in the front of the aircraft changed the centre of gravity enough that the plane managed to correct itself 😅

[@u171098atgmail]

since you flew the turkey you'd know the immediate action for a verified flat spin was one step 1.) Eject most crews discussed getting rid of the canopy first so as not to bump into it coming out

[@guod911]

I wrote down your advice and will be sure to reference it when the situation arises. Thanks so much.

[@mizzyroro]

​@guod911 you'd be dead if you followed that advice.