View updated article on this incident: Thunderbird 6 Uninjured After Ejecting Following Air Force Academy Flyover, Team To Observe Safety Stand Down.
One of the USAF Thunderbirds is reportedly uninjured after ejecting today in Colorado. Photos show the aircraft came to rest in a field, largely intact. The team was performing a flyover at the United States Air Force Academy graduation today. We are working on getting more information.
BD
I’m glad to hear the pilot ejected safely. Aircraft looks damaged in the accompanied photo but amazingly intact. I am sure skill and luck had something to do with it. Any crash you walk away from is a good one. Unknown if this was a mechanical failure or some other cause. In light of the sad occurrence where the Navy Blue Angels pilot was killed yesterday, this is remarkable.
God Speed, Thunderbirds.
USAF Veteran
Nellis AFB, NV
“Home of the Thunderbirds”
1982 to ’86
Nick Micaletti Brooklyn NY
I tip my hat to this elite group of airman. Simply amazing skill and knowledge. When I can, I try to see both the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds. Today I saw the brief show of the Thunderbirds and knew something did not go as planned. Glad to hear and see the pilot was fine as he was greeted by the president after ejecting from the failed jet.
– sign me proud American
Colin
Pilot gets a new neck tie.
Almost all the ejection seats around the world, even in some Russian aircraft, are made by one company, Martin-Baker, in England. They invented ejection seats, and are by far the world leaders.
Anyway, if you eject and live using one of their seats, they send you a special tie. They have mailed out over 6,000 so far.
Bill Jeffs
An Air Force friend of mine ejected from an F-4D using a Martin-Baker seat….he was 5′ 11″….now he is 5’6″…..he’s not very happy about that…..
Scott
That can’t be true.
Troy Jollimore
Even if it is, still better than the alternative!
TSGT
Yes, it can be true…
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?cmd=&term=ejection+spinal+compression&go=Go
Mike Bates
Shorter? Definitely. Five inches shorter? No.
MVD
Yeah, after reading TSTG’s link, I didn’t find any of the articles listing a reduction in height of that severity. Worst case listed was just under two inches. To be fair, not all of the articles gave statistics regarding impact on stature. Most of them just listed injury types and areas of the body mostly affected by ejection seats.
Leslie
As it happens, the ejection seat for Thunderbird 6 was manufactured in Colorado Springs, CO.
Former Safety Manager
Mojave Flight Repair Station
Robert
From what I understand both the teams fly some of the oldest airframes in the inventory. Great maintainers do a wonderful job keeping these incidents from happening more often. Prayers for both teams.
Chris
Glad he’s safe and sound!
Just a correction for Colin.
The first ejection seats were designed by Heinkel and SAAB independently. These used compressed air. Bofors from Sweden then developed one using gunpowder cartridges. Only later did Martin Baker develop seats using solid propellants and even later, rockets
Cindy Cindy
So very sad for the Blue Angel’s pilot, family and crew. It’s tragic. My thoughts and prayers go out to them. My son is one of the crew chiefs for the Thunderbirds. So thankful when he let me know all is OK and ejected pilot is safe and sound.
A crazy proud USAF Mom ❤️