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Air Combat Command News Service



For more ACC news and information, log on to our Web site at http://www2.acc.af.mil/.



Today's stories include:

F/A-22 accident report released

http://www2.acc.af.mil/accnews/News05/0069.html



F/A-22 accident report released



LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (ACCNS) - A flight control system problem caused an F/A-22 Raptor to crash on the runway at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Dec. 20, according to an Air Force report released today.



The pilot ejected and sustained minor injuries. The $133.3 million aircraft, assigned to Nellis AFB's 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron, was destroyed on impact. Additional damage was limited to an arresting cable, runway guide sign, runway light, and the runway itself.



The flight control system malfunction was caused by a brief power interruption to the aircraft's three Rate Sensor Assemblies, which caused them to fail. The RSAs measure angular acceleration in all three

axes: pitch, roll and yaw. With three failed RSAs, the F/A-22 is unflyable. When the pilot shut down engines for maintenance servicing, he left the auxiliary power unit running. Based on technical order guidance, he believed the power unit would supply continuous power to the flight control system. However, there was a less-than-one second power interruption to the RSAs during engine shutdown. There is no automatic warning of this condition. To discover it, the pilot would have to have performed a diagnostic test called an "Initiate Built in Test". The pilot accomplished a successful IBIT prior to engine shutdown, and because the power unit was on, he believed a second IBIT was unnecessary.



For more information, contact the Air Combat Command Public Affairs office at (757) 764-5007 or e-mail acc.pam@langley.af.mil.


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so the RSAs were damaged during some sort of servicing. Shouldent there be a BIG blinking light telling the pilot that if he gets off the ground he's on his own for rate control and in a pitch unstable aircraft he's dead meat? Looks like they need a few more lines of code.

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<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
so the RSAs were damaged during some sort of servicing. Shouldent there be a BIG blinking light telling the pilot that if he gets off the ground he's on his own for rate control and in a pitch unstable aircraft he's dead meat? Looks like they need a few more lines of code.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

They weren't damaged, they went kind of "off line" because of the power surge. Even if the aircraft were stable, the flight control computers need input from the rate gyros to control the airplane, no rate gyros...no control, pilot be damned. I guess you could add code to idiot proof it (and they probably will), but my understanding is that the proceedures are clear to perform the IBIT whenever engines are shut down. The pilot thought it was unnecessary. He was wrong.

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"Who cares if it works? Does it look good on the ramp?"

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????

lesson learned, hopefully.

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A big RED blinking idiot light is clearly in order, lol.

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Snipers...and targets.</b>
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ok lets see pilot did not think. 133 million dollar aircraft. Docking pay at 400 per week. Lets see the taxpayors should recoup investment in 332500 weeks.

Is this guys still flying the raptor or was this a career ender.

This is a classic example of how warnings, cautions and notes end up in the tech orders and checklists.

<img src="http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/457/bgnrjsiiw81q1gc.jpg" border=0>

[Dow Jones Newswires, June 8, 2005]

By REBECCA CHRISTIE
June 8, 2005 3:05 p.m.
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Air Force found that pilot error, a faulty part and insufficient technical guidance were to blame in a December crash of a $133 million F/A-22 stealth fighter, according to an accident report released Wednesday.

The accident report said Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), which makes the fighter, already is aware of problems with the aircraft's Rate Sensor Assemblies, which can fail after a power interruption. The company is in the process of retrofitting aircraft to address this issue in connection with its supplier BAE Systems PLC (BA.LN), Air Combat Command said.

The pilot in question was unaware of the problem and so didn't run all of the necessary tests that would have alerted him to the problem, the report said. The pilot otherwise acted appropriately and made the right decision to eject from the plane, the report said. Had he not ejected, he probably would have been killed.

"In June 2004, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics incorporated a fix," wrote Col. Stanley Kresge in an opinion accompanying the accident report. "Based on the information available at the time, the retrofit plan was reasonable."

Lockheed Martin didn't have immediate comment when contacted Wednesday.

<i>Lockheed says this about the above article: "The Air Force conducted a comprehensive initial investigation and determined within days of the accident that all F/A-22 Raptors are safe to fly. The return to flight decision by the Air Force indicated strong confidence in the design, production and performance of the Lockheed Martin built aircraft and the part in question did not constitute a safety of flight risk. Lockheed Martin assisted the USAF with its accident investigation into the December 2004 crash at Nellis Air Force Base, and both Lockheed Martin and the AF have full confidence that the Rate Sensor Assemblies (RSAs) installed in all aircraft do not constitute a safety of flight risk. F/A-22 Raptors are flying with overwhelming effectiveness and performance."</i>



THE RAMPTOR ENGINEERING TEAM <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
"Who cares if it works? Does it look good on the ramp?"

_________________
????

"ok lets see pilot did not think. 133 million dollar aircraft. Docking pay at 400 per week. Lets see the taxpayors should recoup investment in 332500 weeks."

The max any serviceman can be required to pay in restitution is 1/2 of 1 months pay for three consecutive months.

<b>There are two kinds of soldiers.
Snipers...and targets.</b>
<img src="http://www.creedmoorsports.com/images/SA9121-M21.JPG" border=0>

so the tax payor gets to eat it. lol

you have no idea the dumber things than this the taxpayer has eaten in the past. <img src=newicons/anim_shock.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle>

<img src="http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/457/bgnrjsiiw81q1gc.jpg" border=0>

M&M that sounds like a good list like the darwin awards. Government wide I am sure the EPA has some duzzies.

The Air Force Times has some good stuff on this. Nothing really new but it is the official story:

http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php? ... 901323.php

http://www.airforcetimes.com/content/ed ... 060805.pdf

THE RAMPTOR ENGINEERING TEAM <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
"Who cares if it works? Does it look good on the ramp?"

_________________
????