aggiehawg said:
TexasAggie_02 said:
this article has video of the "crash" site.
https://apnews.com/article/missing-marine-f35-jet-south-carolina-mishap-b60ed0eb50791778b982be0c40a796a1
I say "crash" b/c there are a bunch of damaged trees, but no visible signs of debris. Its soo stealthy, you can't even see it.
Those are pretty small pieces. Of course we don't know the air speed nor the angle of the crash. Doesn't appear to be that much fire damage either. Curious and raises even more questions.
Well, it's looking more and likely that my initial assessment of a fuel issue is the possible culprit. I could be wrong though......the FLCS (flight control system control system) appears to work properly, don't know if the motor was windmilling or frozen on impact......the data box should give us a lot of info..
So, IMHO, the pilot either almost ran it out of fuel, had a fuel gauge malfunction (not displaying the proper level of fuel) or thought he could get back to the base and land safely at his current fuel state......If he was aware of his fuel status, I'm surprised he didn't declare an emergency with ATC or Approach Control and enter High Key over the base, or a high altitude straight-in approach for a possible flame-out landing.
Anyway, when he engaged the automatic flight control system (autopilot?), pointed it to a low populated area, he probably thought the jet would coast into a remote area to minimize the destruction of people and property.
He probably had more fuel than he thought he had, or was indicated on the fuel gauge and that is the reason the jet continued on northwest until ground impact. The initial video shows an area that was burned, but nothing like it would have been with a lot of fuel on board.
It will be interesting reading the accident report......hope the pilot made all the right decisions.....
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