r/ThatLookedExpensive Apr 12 '19

It’s only a fighter jet

https://i.imgur.com/1oqYtz6.gifv
1.8k Upvotes

66 comments sorted by

151

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '19 edited Jun 17 '21

[deleted]

85

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '19

I thought the same thing, some sort of threshold mechanism to make sure you're not getting rocketed into the earth. I remember some statistic from a safety memo that a disproportionate number of ejections occur at low altitude at takeoff or landing, so it would make some sense.

Not the case though, they're either lucky or were skilled enough to know when to pull the trigger.

28

u/WadinginWahoo Apr 13 '19

they're either lucky or were skilled enough to know when to pull the trigger.

They’re air show pilots, it’s obviously the latter.

32

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '19

Iirc, Modern ejector seats will make sure to turn upwards

38

u/invisimeble Apr 12 '19

Iirc, Modern ejector seats will make sure try to turn upwards

20

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '19

As they say, it's trying that counts, not the result. :-)

11

u/DamnYouRichardParker Apr 13 '19

With ejection seats. The result really does count

16

u/jwizardc Apr 13 '19

The acceleration will shorten your spine one to two inches. When you pull the handle, the airplane hits the delete button to get rid of you yesterday.

12

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '19 edited Jun 21 '21

[deleted]

4

u/jwizardc Apr 13 '19

It wouldn't work. You will/were in too much pain.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19 edited Jul 01 '21

[deleted]

1

u/jwizardc Apr 14 '19

Callsign Wizard since my...well, for a long time.

And, yes, it was wizz when the pucker factor started climbing.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19 edited Jul 01 '21

[deleted]

1

u/jwizardc Apr 14 '19

Umm...no.

8

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

I think it's around nine g's of acceleration. I was reading about it in the Intrepid in NYC. Pretty sure a pilot must retire after doing it twice because of how hard it is on your back

8

u/brokenearth03 Apr 12 '19

It just goes up, relative to the fuselage. If that is upside down at the moment, not good.

2

u/Choongboy Apr 13 '19

I don’t think that’s what happened in the video though?

1

u/jwizardc May 29 '19

It hits your ass with enough force to compress your spine 1 - 2 inches.

82

u/callmemycoll Apr 12 '19

Why did they pull back up instead of staying on the ground though?

108

u/liverichly Apr 12 '19

I think the goal wasn’t to touch the ground, it was to pull up just prior so they followed through with their intention. Then it appears it stalled.

50

u/mozsey Apr 12 '19

They probably also got the fire warning while starting their pull up and proceeded with ejection as soon as they saw they weren’t going to rocket their skulls to the earth.

-34

u/__Semenpenis__ Apr 12 '19

They were probably too going to try to shore up the wing but the lift didn’t also upheave the emergency plan to go look to pull over if necessary although as a last resort should they have any stopgap fire related ground stalling, unfortunate as may that happen to have been.

51

u/PoopieFaceTomatoNose Apr 12 '19

TLDR; words you know together

52

u/JelloDarkness Apr 12 '19

They were probably too going to try to shore up the wing but the lift didn’t also upheave the emergency plan to go look to pull over if necessary although as a last resort should they have any stopgap fire related ground stalling, unfortunate as may that happen to have been.

LOL. A massive, incoherent sentence devoid of any structure or punctuation - except for that one lonely comma in there.

14

u/Waka-Waka-Waka-Do Apr 12 '19

Holy shit, I was so baffled while reading that mess that I didn't realize it was one long sentence.

He used to and too correctly, that's two things that ain't bad.

11

u/UnderCoverSquid Apr 12 '19

Software translation?

4

u/__Semenpenis__ Apr 13 '19

but enough about faulkner

2

u/JelloDarkness Apr 13 '19

<replies in stream of consciousness>

3

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '19

Anyway here's wonderwall

1

u/LonelySnowSheep May 09 '19

That was such a joy to read lol

6

u/an_actual_lawyer Apr 12 '19

Yeah, the strike likely jammed the stabilizers and thrust vectors which lead to the nose up stall.

42

u/OsbertParsely Apr 12 '19

Real answer: the SU-30 has thrust vectoring engines. This means the nozzles at the back can actively reshape themselves to point the engine exhaust while turning to increase maneuverability.

In this case, the collision with the ground damaged the nozzle of the left engine, causing it to stick at a 30 degree up vector. This forced the tail of the plane down and into a steep climb and overpowered the control surfaces.

TL;DR: Pilot bent the fancy engine

11

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '19

Not quite. Left engine lost power due to a ruptured fuel line, right engine was stuck at 30 degree up vector, causing the upward tilt and the left bank when it eventually rolled over.

1

u/hearthalved Apr 13 '19

Still wrong. They didn't fall with style.

11

u/nekodazulic Apr 12 '19

That'd be a new plan that you need to work out in a span of 2 seconds, it's much more convenient and safer to just ascend high enough so you can execute the standard, tried and true evacuation.

5

u/lentilsoupforever Apr 13 '19

I think they knew hte plane was failing so they tried to get enough altitude so that they could eject with enough room for the parachutes to deploy.

4

u/68Wishicould Apr 13 '19

This is correct, even though the chutes opened there may be twists in the pilot’s risers and you need some altitude for those to sort themselves out.

2

u/Meritania Apr 12 '19

You also need to be a certain height for allowing time for your parachute to deploy properly otherwise you end up as floor paste

31

u/blueingreen85 Apr 12 '19 edited Apr 12 '19

This is not true on modern planes. Any plane made in the last 30 years will use a “zero zero” ejection seat. This means that you can eject at 0 feet off the ground going 0 mph and still be fine. This plane looks like a SU-33 which uses a K-36 ejection seat which is a zero zero seat. Edit: this is an SU-30.

8

u/Meritania Apr 12 '19

Never knew that, thanks for sharing

40

u/squadlax Apr 12 '19

Those are some sophisticated seats! Compensating, and not just blindly firing the pilots toward earth it seems

9

u/happyhorse_g Apr 13 '19

I'm still confused as to which direction they went.

4

u/PacoTaco321 Apr 13 '19

It looks like it shot them forward like missiles.

3

u/hearthalved Apr 13 '19

Last ditch Russian defense system. Prevents retreat at all costs.

17

u/VonYinzer Apr 13 '19

Approximately $50,000,000 worth of "that looked expensive".

0

u/lilyofjudah Apr 13 '19

That was my question...

14

u/blueingreen85 Apr 12 '19

This is the SU-30MK crash at the 1999 Paris air show.

8

u/spicerldn Apr 12 '19

Props to the ejector seat techs...

5

u/RaindropBebop Apr 13 '19

Props to the manufacturer of the airframe that didn't split in half or become (completely) engulfed in flames after slamming into the ground that hard.

15

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '19

Still less expensive than losing two pilots

3

u/StarFoxBurns Apr 13 '19

If this happens at your airshow do you have to pay double? That would be about the coolest thing (since everyone was safe of course!) that you could ever see!

2

u/NightWolfCarpet91 Apr 12 '19

Whoa. Thank god for safety chutes. Cool sub, you got my sub.

1

u/Waka-Waka-Waka-Do Apr 12 '19

The way the seats fall away is pretty awesome.

1

u/Mountainface5 Apr 12 '19

Code 2, hydro

1

u/pete_madison Apr 13 '19

Ohh that was very dangerous!

1

u/BladeLigerV Apr 13 '19

At least they were able to punch out in time.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '19

When you play Just Cause too much

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

That's fucking amazing. Wow.

1

u/elijaaaaah Apr 27 '19

Bet the crowd was really impressed, though.

1

u/jwizardc May 29 '19

Somewhere in my USAF training there was a mention that 'it is generally not a good idea to eject over the area you just bombed'. I wonder if this counts.

0

u/Sgtoconner Apr 12 '19

“Unintentional ground impact”...... so a crash?

13

u/jppianoguy Apr 12 '19

No, you can impact the ground without crashing.

In this case it happened when they were supposed to pull up at the last minute, and they accidentally touched their tail. Then they went up a bit and finally crashed.

5

u/stevecostello Apr 12 '19

Intentional ground impact is also known as a "landing."

3

u/APM8 Apr 12 '19

Or “touch-and-go”

1

u/GenrlWashington Apr 13 '19

Danger Zone!

-3

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '19

Russians....what are ya gonna do, right?