CRASH: Harrier down (video included)

Hope I can say this without an eruption but, "interesting film"

I was particularly fascinated by the way the ejection and parachute sequence
resulted in the pilot hitting the downed aircraft, despite the apparent
wind. Assuming the Harrier ejects straight up (I have no idea) it appears
that a lesson I learned from model rocketry seemed to apply, i.e. an
unguided rocket will track upwind while underpower and drift downwind when
not underpower. So much so that a typical model rocket should be aimed
somewhat downwind if the recovery is intended to take place near the launch.
Kind of counterintuitive.

It appears that upon ejection, the seat/pilot assembly quickly turns and
tracks upwind. Then when the chute deploys it drifts right back into the
aircraft which essentially went straight down. Damn!

A more obvious situation but unexpected situation involved a glider middair
around 4,000agl where the pilot ejected and the damaged glider descended in
a sort of falling leaf mode. Once the jump experienced pilot landed, his
main liability was in being hit by the descending glider which landed within
a 100 feet. From 4,000 feet, it's just not obvious that a damaged glider
and a pilot on a chute are likely to land in the same place.

....back to work.
"Iwan Bogels" wrote in message
...
Harriers have the unique capabilitiy of hovering with a jet aircraft. In
fact they can do this by balancing the aircraft on four columns of exhaust
gasses. Obviously this 'trick' is highly appreciated at airshows. But one
day the demonstration pilot mistook the throttle for the exhaust lever and
dropped like a brick. As this mishap occured during an airshow, we can
offer
you a details video of the crash: http://www.dappa.nl/crash.htm

The pilot ejected safely, but as he landed on top of the crashed aircraft
he
broke his ankle. Nevertheless he is up and running again these days, so no
permanent damage done (except for a dented ego).

Iwan
DAPPA