How One Sensor Destroyed a Super Plane

This is the story of a perfect storm; how a sensor failure resulted in complete destruction of a successful experimental aircraft; the X-31. #NotWhatYouThink
Music:
TBD
Footage:
NASA Public Domain Film "Breaking the Chain"

[@phdtobe]

The pilot responding “I like that… That’s good”, when learning that the pitot heat wasn’t working was pure disgusted sarcasm.

[@MeepMeep88]

Someones not in the mood.

[@Tehn00bA]

​​@@MeepMeep88nyone would be put off mood when learning that the thing preventing you from crashing and is the object of the test "might not work".

[@greghaffley1346]

Seeing the SR-71 outside the hanger when it was still in service gives a feeling to go back in time and watch it fly.

[@The_Mimewar]

I completely feel you man. That plane along with the F14 were iconic jets of my childhood. the SR71 is still the most amazing looking aircraft.

[@shashashashadowbannedbud4371]

She's the Baddest Bird ever to fly..... Period Mark.

[@ajaxsakaraplayz4070]

@@shashashashadowbannedbud4371 queen of the sky as i should say

[@shashashashadowbannedbud4371]

@@ajaxsakaraplayz4070 indeed💪

[@17Scumdog]

When I was a boy my grandpa took me to the air Force museum in Utah. We spent hours there, but the thing I remember the best from that day was walking under the sr71, touching it, sitting on the landing gear tire. It was amazing. That particular plane was in a temporary place while they prepared it's exhibit. I don't think we were actual supposed to be where we were but man it was cool

[@tinnyle2719]

Flight crew: "How much money was that again?"

[@Otzkar]

I think the flight crew was more devasted about the thousands of hours that went into the build rather than some irrelevant number

[@breadboi1248]

The price: yes

[@mrapple6164]

super crashes* te people who built the super plane:whyyyyyy the owner:oh no anyways

[@Zeta-The-Axiosa-Of-Kardonia]

Ouch my wallet hurts

[@SvenTviking]

It was literally a parts bin special, but could out manoeuvre anything.

[@1Longranger]

I have found that the secret to flying safely in general aviation is to match the number of landings to the number of take offs.

[@rogueldr642smiythe9]

Well technically, it did “land”. They have not left a plane in the air, not once.

[@sketchpad7116]

True true, but I don't think crash equals landing lol

[@j100j]

@@sketchpad7116 "A landing you walk away from is a good landing. A landing after wich you can fly the aircraft again is a great landing."

[@Demonic_Tang]

​@@sketchpad7116 called a crash landing for a reason

[@DraconBerry2740]

It landed and then did fast unsceduled disassembly

[@Hey_Koda]

As WarThunder Player : SERVER IS NOT RESPONDING

[@NotDrunkPilot]

Ping 999

[@slycer876]

@FreeBirb thanks me yesterday

[@derrickstorm6976]

PL:3%

[@oxbaki5839]

@@derrickstorm6976 PL:1%

[@lordgammadonkaargon2830]

PACKAGE LOSS AAAAARGH

[@chazarkansas1366]

Boss walks into ground support team: "You are all fired."

[@silicalnz]

Firing people for making a mistake isnt smart. What youve gained as an employer is a more cautious and sensitive team that has experience to prevent these mistakes in the future.

[@chazarkansas1366]

@@silicalnz Its a joke bro.

[@hunterace9176]

@@silicalnz Their mistake could have cost many lives, look at where the plane crashed down. Saying this is just a mistake is underplaying it by a massive margin.

[@daisybeagle6259]

Ah no, boss walks into pilots hospital room and asked him why he didn’t check the standby ASI!

[@ScubaShark--8964]

@@hunterace9176 True...

[@southern_merican]

Im pretty sure the ground destroyed it, lol.

[@NotWhatYouThink]

You are one of them “out of the box” thinkers. I like it!

[@Royallz15]

@@NotWhatYouThink lost to gravity

[@Shad0wBoxxer]

No! It was the sudden stop that destroyed it!

[@cupofjoen]

@@NotWhatYouThink it's not what you think 😉

[@delarosapaulo7236]

Everybody gangsta until the plane got hypothermia

[@art_nt_nk8353]

Boeing Engineer's while making the 737 max : "time to skip this chapter"

[@Shellcool]

Ooof

[@Zeb-nh6hj]

Yeah it was just one simple sensor prone to malfunctions. There wasn't a back up sensor or even a way to turn it off I think. So basically it detects if the plane is stalling and points the nose down. So the pilots are basically going up and down fighting the electronics until it dive bombs into the ground

[@Alex-np3ps]

@@Zeb-nh6hj there was a way to turn it off

[@Zeb-nh6hj]

@@Alex-np3ps indeed there was a way. But the pilots had no idea what was happening in the first place or how to turn it off.

[@aniruddhxie2k215]

@@Alex-np3ps There was not a way to turn it off Overriding it was added after two accidents

[@_Pyroon_]

There's two occasions when people are prone to errors. When they're beginners and when they're experts.

[@Charlie-Oooooo]

So glad you covered this story. Such an important "lessons learned" contribution to engineering. Fortunately no one died.

[@Jarascurse]

Wait. Your “testing” an aircraft with a test pilot in a test program and all these warning signs were missed and/or overlooked?

[@SS-ix3cb]

Wait. It’s you’re! Nimrod!

[@Logarithm906]

@@SS-ix3cb At least his statement parsed without me having to think about it for more than 5 seconds. I had to take 5 just to realise you were trying to correct his spelling instead of trying to adding anything to his point. I mean what's wrong with just saying "It's 'you're', nimrod". I mean, "Wait. It's you're! Nimrod!" you sound like a caveman. Ugg wants GRAMMAR!" Maybe you should take a leaf out of Ronan Keating's book because you say it best, when you say nothing at all.

[@SS-ix3cb]

@@Logarithm906 Why don't u pound sand!

[@Dont_Gnaw_on_the_Kitty_1]

@@SS-ix3cb Hey! Its you! Nimrod!

[@SS-ix3cb]

@@Dont_Gnaw_on_the_Kitty_1 How original! 🤣

[@thomasbrown6970]

“How’d you fix the icing problem?” -Ironman

[@sebbekartellen6493]

classic

[@Bhavesh_g20]

(Plane crashed) Junkyard owner : ah yes finally I will get the final piece for my spaceship and return back home

[@VKSgtSLaughter]

4:07 "hot mic" pronounced Hot "Mike" means the microphone is turned on and the operator can't hear any transmissions coming in. Great video 👍

[@1_n_only_vic]

I always thought it was like toxic 12 yrs olds dollar store mics.

[@NotWhatYouThink]

Thank you Sgt. Noted sir!

[@VKSgtSLaughter]

@@1_n_only_vic 😆😂🤣

[@heyidiot4191]

...or he's just _such_ an avid Mick Jagger fan that nobody likes to talk to him... or even make eye contact with him around the base. 'Cause, you know... that's just weird.

[@tonymorris4335]

His accent sounds kind of russian, they would say microphone as "meekrafone" so maybe he just defaulted to a more native saying even if not Russian?

[@COOLGAMER-pi2hd]

there were soo many ways this could've been avoided, like there were soo many signs.bruh moment

[@COOLGAMER-pi2hd]

Well atleast this can be used as a lesson.

[@TheMiaExperience]

Yes

[@humanhuman5024]

They don’t learn lessons they are just like oh it’s the sensors fault not our fault they do this shit all the time

[@cranklabexplosion-labcentr8245]

Larger wing area

[@NLTops]

Occam's Razor. Heard of it?

[@justinblin]

At least it was the last flight, so it wasn’t going to do anything afterwards anyway

[@nottelling8129]

Talk about going out with a bang...

[@huey-fan8335]

@A L P H A _ W A V E you can, there were 2 X31 built and the reminding one is now in a Museum in Germany

[@rushthezeppelin]

It belongs in a museum!!!

[@seandillon3340]

I feel the airplane free falling... Poor little thing

[@LittleMacscorner]

If you look at most disasters (of anything not just air craft testing), they happen during 'routine' events. Complacency kills and feeling like things are 'routine' brings complacency. Everybody brings their 'A' game to the "risky" days and relaxes on the "routine" days. It is human nature. Crazy how the plane practically 'danced' before crashing.

[@AmericanRomanEmpire]

This is a beautifully made plane. I remember flying this aircraft in Jane’s military simulation game back in the 90’s.

[@johnberry6077]

I once had a 400 cu. inch Snowmobile that had a similar problem. To vastly improve the speed of the Snowmobile, I removed all of the plastic panels that were in front of the intake to the carburetor (which sat, in full view, right in front of my bellybutton.) Eventually, if not regularly wiped off, the intake would fill-up with Ice and Snow. When this would happen, the entire Snowmobile would come to an instant STOP (resulting in ME smashing my chest into the metal handlebars.)

[@wonkothesane8691]

Complacency is blood-brother to stupidity and stupidity is always dangerous, painful and expensive.

[@ronliebermann]

A “sensor” didn’t destroy anything. That’s an old trick designed to direct attention away from the engineers who made the mistake. Machines don’t make mistakes.

[@chas1878]

The sensor and computer was actually working as intended haha. The ice build up is totally human error

[@ThePikeywayne]

@@chas1878 if the heater wasn't tested/working before flight it could be human error lol

[@Logarithm906]

@@ThePikeywayne I mean it was definitely human error. The question is whoms? If the pitot had just failed (whether because the heater failed or it just failed for other reasons) then it's a sensor failure. Maybe it's quality control's fault. If the heater wasn't plugged in and the pilot wasn't informed. Then it's the person who failed to tell the pilot's fault. If the pilot was told and they just didn't do anything in response. It's the pilots fault. So it's either everyone's fault or the pilot's fault. Depends on if you want to play pass the buck.

[@gae_wead_dad_6914]

I mean - machines are designed and made by humans dude You're acting like no machine ever fucked up it's intended job. That absolutely depends on the humans who made/assembled/programmed it. I could as easily say that it's the machine's fault for not knowing it got bad readings from being iced over. Or at least - not informing the pilot that it's blocked.

[@ThatXCRider]

For those wondering there were 2 aircraft made. The number 1 is the one that crashed. The number 2 was in operation until its decommissioning, where it is now held in the Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim in Germany, where it is still on display.

[@mhauser9457]

Wait a second, I always thought it was a bayonet

[@skeelo22]

@bruh the swordfish II

[@ryanschumacher3448]

I know nothing about plans or ships but here I am the last couple binge watching my new favorite channel. You make me care about stuff I don't think twice about and that's awesome.

[@gmsniperx3623]

Experimental Fighter plane: falls US military: Why would such an accident happen? Pilot to his friend: I think I F O R G O T to change to R3.

[@pieter-bashoogsteen2283]

What’s R3? BTW a surprise to see you here. You’re the same GM SniperX that watches Darthdesigner right?

[@ommsterlitz1805]

Yep pure american genius right there especially it's pilots, can't even look a speed indicator...

[@pieter-bashoogsteen2283]

@@ommsterlitz1805 it’s a bit unnecessary to insult that test pilot’ ability to fly. The cause of the incident had many people to partially blame. I notice that your name refers to a usn ship that burned down.

[@ommsterlitz1805]

@@pieter-bashoogsteen2283 Wow it's a coincidence what is the name of the ship ?

[@pieter-bashoogsteen2283]

@@ommsterlitz1805 Your name reminds me of the USS Bonhomme, which was amphibious assault ship that burned down and had to be scrapped.

[@L7Mcmacdaddy]

Pilot: "Hey control, the thing turned on?" Control: "What thing?" Pilot: "... "

[@practicalshooter6517]

That's what yellow note pads are for "Pitot heat not working" should have been placed on pitot switch, among all the other notes on the control panel.

[@Logarithm906]

... but they told the pilot and he acknowledged the message by saying "i'll leave it on anyway". Leave what on? Nothing's on, they've just told you that. I mean if he ignored a person telling him it, what's the chance he'd have ignored a sticker saying the same thing?

[@cupofjoen]

The engineers wanted paycheck from the insurance company, that's why they ended up the project with a blast.

[@Bullhead_JW]

Just from a pilot's perspective, I'm going to challenge your statement of NASA and the crew ignoring warning signs. Yes, they should have responded earlier, but at the first indication of the airspeed being off, the pilot reported it. This being a test flight, and a seasoned test pilot, that's fairly tame for things being out of normal, so I can understand the lack of immediate response to the issue. To further this point, when the pilot was told about the probe heat not being hooked up, he is very sarcastic with his response, it's just another day in the office of flight testing. When the next test failed, you claim NASA continued ignoring warning signs, yet requested the jet return to base. There is really nothing else the test team could do at that point as the jet was not in an apparent emergency, and even then, most emergencies just call for a return to base, ejection is a last resort to save the pilot if the aircraft is unrecoverable. All in all, yes, this probably could have been avoided, but after the takeoff, I don't really see how the team could have done much better given the circumstances.

[@NotWhatYouThink]

Thanks for your comment. A good chuck of the comments that we made in the video is based on the investigation results and interviews done with the people who were working that day, not merely our interpretation of the situation. But we are not pilots, so your opinion is very much appreciated 😊👍🏼

[@NotWhatYouThink]

Yes, the chase aircraft being out of the loop certainly didn’t help.

[@mayankbadola23]

7:00 rightly said

[@Iceman-hb3uk]

Viewing that amazing piece of engineering just going down without control till the impact break my heart

[@roadkill18]

really sad how overconfidence and laziness can lead to such a horrible accident.

[@blakecampbell6549]

Arrogant engineers seem to be the ones always leading to the bigger crashes.

[@Logarithm906]

Well it's pretty easy to accuse engineers of being arrogant after the accident happened, it always is. I mean the pilot flipped the pitot heater on and was told by the engineers it didn't work. His response? "Ah, i'll leave it on anyway". Doesn't even flip that alternative mode switch just in case, or descend to an altitude where icing isn't a problem, or check the back up airspeed indicator. Two thirds of which are back up solutions provided to the pilot by... Guess who? The arrogant engineers. Instead he just kept going like normal, despite the icing problem. I mean can you imagine a drag racer being told by their mechanic that the brakes don't work and driver just goes "ah well, gotta race". I'm not saying it isn't the engineers fault, I'm just saying there's plenty of blame to spread around and the main thing they seem to be guilty of was not going "OH SHIT YOU'RE GOING TO DIE IF YOU DON'T DEAL WITH THAT ICING PROBLEM!!!!1!!!!!11111" which isn't their job anyway, their job is to make the thing and inform the user of its limitations, which they did.

[@XMysticHerox]

Nothing about arrogance. Things are going to go wrong during such test flights. Has always happened. It´s why test flights are done in the first place after all. People make mistakes, miss things or they might be entirely new problems. If anything it is arrogant to assume this is just down to mindset and you´d do better.

[@StrikerV3]

Suddenly those crazy maneuvers in ace combat are looking manageable

[@kmmediafactory]

Oof. How can there be so many inconsistencies! Jeez I just hope they don't do tests today like they did back in '95.

[@MrCaiobrz]

737 Max entered the chat

[@goatface6602]

Might be worse now.

[@cupofjoen]

Marketing team: well, as long as we made profit, these so called features are not necessary

[@glike2]

The X-31 VECTOR program was really fun to work on and I heard some great stories

[@prashanthb6521]

This plane looks beautiful.

[@-Muhammad_Ali-]

Looks like Eurofighter took many things from it

[@EK-gr9gd]

@@-Muhammad_Ali- Not really most parts were taken from US planes.

[@denkbrein]

I wish all KZbin video’s were as perfect as this one, thank you very much! 👍

[@supertruckertom]

How many engineers left, and took critical knowledge with them, because of BS from HR departments?

[@francisyeungcambodia]

The Japanese Mitsubishi X-2 Shinshin also adopted the same principle on their vector thrust test model. If the problem was sensors only, simply restart this project might create the king of dogfight easily nowadays.

[@JBBrickFanatic]

What a sick airplane!!! The Navy should totally go back to this design. The aerial control is nuts!

[@dmeemd7787]

Talk about needing some specialized training and seat time to get used to the bizarre characteristics that the (extreme) thrust vectoring would create! It had to have felt amazing to fly this thing! (...ya know, other than the whole ejecting and crashing part, lol)

[@thepolishtech1552]

0:51 Ace combat fans: hey ive seen that obe

[@fortunatebum]

I love going through flight school and understanding the majority of this

[@MrCaiobrz]

"How One Sensor Destroyed a Super Plane"? ... Try "How One Sensor killed 228 people" (AF 447 - Pitot tube freeze) ... oh wait, 737 Max entered the chat (AoA malfunction + bad software)

[@Ihaveseenthings577]

siiiii, señor...

[@sunny71169]

+ No warnings given to the end user of flight critical modifications and intentional concealment of the modification to expedite FAA certification.

[@cupofjoen]

Even Xiaomi's software are better than Boeing

[@foxtailedcritter]

Still that's amazing it didn't crash into a building or hit someone below or killed the pilot. Could always be worse.

[@Otzkar]

very true

[@jr2904]

True, but to be fair there isn't much around Edwards

[@timbermonson]

"Not supposed to fly in icing conditions"-- One of the first things they teach in flight school is that ice can form in *all* conditions.

[@tihspidtherekciltilc5469]

When the plane went splat I really felt that. Rest in pieces.

[@charlesmullenax4448]

For all future Nasa pilots... if you tell ground control there is a problem and they take two minutes to respond just go ahead and eject.

[@dominiccase6846]

I was at Edwards with Rockwell on the B-1 flight test program. Then assigned to the early days of the X-31. The cameras were set up for continual recording so the European engineers could see the progress. I was then promoted and moved on to a different flight test program at Ames.

[@MuraliKrishnagoogle]

There was so much time before the crash, where pilot should try to control, but he just looked at his safety rather than jet's one

[@soup5344]

I enjoy seeing a plane do an imaginary wallrun.

[@o-zone1217]

When the plane enters operational US: so, where will we start war to test it?

[@jeynarl]

Chad pitot tube: How’d you solve the icing problem? Virgin kiel probe: Icing problem? *Might wanna look into it.*

[@thedove4145]

It tumbled like my papers planes do when I throw them

[@oneeco]

Pilots sarcasm during testing is just a terrible idea.

[@dinbee4611]

Engineers: "Ok how do we fix this." Reply: "Anybody heard of SpaceX?"

[@ThomasFarquhar2]

This makes a lot of SENSE, haha see what I did there?

[@lemir04]

Clever

[@Jeff-zf6zz]

Did the pilot SENSED something bout to happen?

[@ThomasFarquhar2]

@@Jeff-zf6zz the real question is, did the engineers SENSE it too?

[@Jeff-zf6zz]

@@ThomasFarquhar2 oh good question. But why didn't the test team SENSED the danger?

[@kshitijbhagwat1978]

I like ur commentary and videos. Those are very much informative. Thanks

[@NotWhatYouThink]

Glad to hear 😊👍🏼

[@samaelsandalphon5600]

Jesus, I hope some people got canned over this unacceptable negligence.

[@greasemonkey189]

I would have never thought that a experimental plane could crash.

[@Bhavesh_g20]

So basically reject modernization and return back to monke which just climb out of plane during failures

[@jozefkovac6858]

No planes, only horses now.

[@n.rinaaa]

No horses only boats now

[@Dani-it5sy]

I work with modern heavy equipment and I actually get sick of the word sensor nowadays. 99% of all the problems we face are just faulty sensors. And every year the amount of sensors on these machines double. Give it a decade or 2 and all our lives are in the hands of a couple of sensors. O how lucky we are with all our clever engineers.

[@akirayuu7318]

F 31 will be one of hell fighter if she did not crash

[@PriyangshuGoswamiIN]

Mom : What are you watching on your phone? Son: IT'S 'NOT WHAT YOU THINK' 😐

[@temosofthecommunistrepubli2637]

Did he say say PEDO tube . The tube must be arrested.

[@NotWhatYouThink]

Hehe I knew someone would ask. It’s spelled “Pitot”, named after a French engineer, Henri Pitot. He would have had a rough upbringing in an English speaking country 😣

[@temosofthecommunistrepubli2637]

@@NotWhatYouThink yeah

[@animationmaster4]

Government: Yeah yeah looks great but how did you fix the icing problem? Scientists: Icing problem?

[@guyforlogos]

Seems as if that plane “flew” for quite along time after the pilot ejected. Looked like a lot of time could have been spent to try and regain control before being in danger of actually crashing.

[@Ihaveseenthings577]

SSOOOOO, You was paying attention....very good....👽🤙

[@reitairue2073]

Yea and as it starts spinning wildly ejecting becomes deadly... you would definitely eject sooner rather than later. Stfu lol.

[@Ihaveseenthings577]

@@reitairue2073 welllll, with that reply, all I can detect from you is that you would also be at the unemployment line, why you ask? ...1. The engine did not Flame out, 2. No Structural Damage and 3. That Aircraft was above mmmmm 7000' agl. and I still go with pilot ejected too soon, any Test Pilot from wherever in the world of Aviation go thru a very rigorous training of spatial disorientation programs...and Please don't be such an uneducated human and finish your comments with what you posted " stfu ".... don't say anything good about you....

[@guyforlogos]

@@reitairue2073 and you see, after the pilot ejected, the plane didn’t spin wildly for quite some time, it actually almost looked as if it was a leaf being blown by a slight breeze, as if it was waiting for pilot input to correct itself…. Just watch it over and look. It was quite some time before it got very low and started to “spin wildly” so…. There’s that.

[@youdoyouplayer8529]

So strange to see a jet tumble the way it did. It didn’t look like it had any forward airspeed whatsoever.

[@washablejunk281]

Thrust vectoring is now on F-22 Raptors. Only took 25 year old technology.

[@Rollingzoku89]

You know they were testing the F-22 during this time....

[@Nicks62999]

F22 was presented in 1997 and entered the usaf in '05 so it's quite old now

[@MrSchwabentier]

However the F-22 has only 2D thrust vectoring, while this was 3D

[@Drag0nmaster]

I'm glad that the pilot managed to eject! I'm confused how it ejected whilst it was so messed up

[@PaulNat360]

it was a cool-looking jet too =(

[@franken0702]

yeah :(

[@jamesholt7340]

Why did eject so fast?? He could have taken a few seconds and try and regain control

[@AfricanSunProductions]

Interesting how very small mistakes can cause such big results.

[@Logarithm906]

That's what she said. I'm sorry, I... just couldn't resist.

[@sugunavishal8965]

IT IS LOOK LIKE EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON🧐🧐AND I SEE THE JET TAIL GERMANY AND AMERICA FLAG.

[@Wakabatan]

Man it seems like complacency and negligence got to them, it's kinda aggravating to watch this.

[@Williamb612]

There should always be redundancy on any single sensor…otherwise that sensor becomes an achilles heal which can bring down a mighty giant. Remember a single O RING brought down the space shuttle Challenger

[@enginerikli5895]

5:10 ... Apparently there was one but at knee level. Halfwitted test pilot irregardless.

[@dananorth895]

It was a similar sensor that iced up and brought down that French comercial flight from S. America to Europe a number yrs back. Lost in middle of Atlantic Ocean with all crew and passengers during thunderstorm.

[@Williamb612]

@@dananorth895 DN I studied that in detail and it was…an iced pitot tube which when clogged shut down air speed, pitch and altitude indicators …literally there was 0 wrong with the plane, when the instrument panel failed to give them reading of speed pitch and altitude…the pilot reacted in a way no pilot should do ever, he pulled back the stick, and placed that gigantic plane into a stall, and it could not be recovered Redundancy in any extreme circumstance must be built in

[@Huevito847]

This was just a cover up. In reality, the cause was *Shingo.*

[@Kelanich]

Who

[@itswift]

Excellent video, thank you!

[@theunkownboss8052]

I’m glad your not one of those really bad shorts yt channel I really enjoy all of your content ❤️

[@youtdadi2632]

This is the most advanced height we have reached in the sky, but the rest is all just science fiction

[@randolfaquino9998]

Complacency KILLS

[@a-10warthog72]

Man that thing flying is one helluva sight to see.

[@Tadesan]

What a harrowing tale of pilot error!

[@CharlieTheAstronaut]

4:07 a "Hotmik issue" I have only heard of hot mic(rophone)s before this :D

[@kevinyoung3499]

The pilot ejected very early in the loss of control, I thought he'd at least try to recover the aircraft.

[@michaelvansise4887]

This plane was heavily dependent on the computer fly by wire systems to maintain basic stability. One common aspect of jet fighter designs these days is "Relaxed Stability" making the aircraft aerodynamically unstable on purpose enhance manuverability, the F-22, F-35, Eurofighter Typhoon, JAS-39 Gripen, and Dassault Rafale all have "Relaxed Stability."

[@cupofjoen]

@@michaelvansise4887 so fighter jets are actually kind of aerodynamically flawed? What's the least flawed fighter jets available I wonder?

[@michaelvansise4887]

@@cupofjoen Relaxed Stability is common in most newer fighter designs and it also goes as far back as the F-16 and Mirage 2000. Even Russian planes like the Su-35 have it. The B-2 bomber even has it, flying wings with no vertical tail surfaces are inherently unstable. The F/A-18 Hornet and F-15 don't have relaxed stability, but they are also among the older aircraft still flying.

[@StudleyDuderight]

This is what happens when you ignore Murphy.

[@randytolle6706]

I believe an oversight in writing the control laws. A Zero Air speed input should have triggered a controllable fixed gain for the "Fly by Wire" control surfaces.

[@tculig]

That pilot ejected at the first sign of trouble..

[@tingveson]

This was also the first x plane to violate the standing rule at North American Rockwell: "All instrumentation, component, and connector access shall be accomplised withinin the first layer..."

[@trumanhw]

@7:45 - anyone notice how GOOD the airframe looked AFTER crashing ??

[@koori3085]

Almost as bad as the A-12 test where they didn't check the tire pressure and lost the aircraft because the tire exploded! Most crashes are a string of events, but it usually seems like a small "oops," moment does the damage. Glad the pilot punched out okay.

[@ScottNguyenRCAC]

Ah, Belkan tech

[@slimpkl1809]

Complacency kills!

[@anti-shipmissile583]

Damn, The X-31 got some sick moves

[@ktl4539]

Pilot definitely didn't have the "Right Stuff". Bailed way to early.

[@alm5992]

This is why many people are afraid of technology. When you only depend on computers to do everything, these things happen. It was even mentioned he had an analog speedometer but just "didn't look at it"...

[@daminox]

Pilot: "I'm turning on pitot heat." (Translation: I need to heat the pitot! You know, the instrument I need for the aircraft to work!) Ground technicians: "pitot heat kind of doesn't work... idk... probably no biggie... don't worry about it." Why the heck didn't they say "Pitot heat doesn't work, decrease altitude immediately"??? Communication!! Also: Ground technicians: "We're testing a new pitot tube that doesn't have heat." Pilot: "I'm taking this baby way up in the cold, cold and humid clouds, waaaaaay up there! Where it's reaaaaal cold!" Ground technicians:

[@starflyxxl8600]

Looks like an offbrand eurofighter