News Forum - A bird strike may have caused Royal Thai Air Force F-5 fighter jet’s recent crashing

[Thaiger]

A bird strike is thought to have caused the recent Royal Thai Air Force F-5 fighter jet crash, which saw the pilot suffering injuries after being ejected from the plane. The Air Vice Marshal, Prapas Sornchaidee, says a large bird struck the plane, confirming Wing Commander and pilot, Suthimet Ouamdee’s statement. He says he was forced to eject from the plane and told his wife that a large object had struck and broke the cockpit windshield, splashing blood all over the cockpit, making him lose control. Last Friday saw the fighter jet crashing into a rice field in Chai Badan […]

The story A bird strike may have caused Royal Thai Air Force F-5 fighter jet’s recent crashing as seen on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

[huhuarf]

Guess he was impressed with Dr. Jones too

[stuhan]

Test for any samples of blood to identify bird DNA  to be sure it wasn't the fact the plane was 40yrs old.

[Jason]

A lucky escape for this pilot. He had the good presence of mind to push the eject button. Bird strikes are more common than people think and can be catastrophic to an aircraft. In this case it appears  the strike was on the windscreen. When it's a wing or even worst an engine strike, planes can dosedive very quickly. Fortunate for the pilot it wasn't. Fortunate that the aircraft didn't injure or kill anyone when it crash landed! 

I known the aircraft are old, but in the absence of a replacement, they are better than no air defence at all. The money that was to be spent on submarines, could be more wisely directed to the purchase of more modern aircraft. Air supremacy is supremacy!

[JackMeOff]

Pilots thought maybe

"Uggggh! Bird blood.. how ugly !!... I gotta get out of this plane now!"

Exit, eject Batman!

Edited December 6, 2021 by JackMeOff
Reduce content

[Stonker]

16 minutes ago, Jason said:

A lucky escape for this pilot. He had the good presence of mind to push the eject button. Bird strikes are more common than people think and can be catastrophic to an aircraft. In this case it appears  the strike was on the windscreen. When it's a wing or even worst an engine strike, planes can dosedive very quickly. Fortunate for the pilot it wasn't. Fortunate that the aircraft didn't injure or kill anyone when it crash landed! 

I known the aircraft are old, but in the absence of a replacement, they are better than no air defence at all. The money that was to be spent on submarines, could be more wisely directed to the purchase of more modern aircraft. Air supremacy is supremacy!

Spot on.

As the pilot was a Wing Commander he would have been very experienced, particularly on F5's.

With a broken windscreen, flying at 1,000 kph, he would have had little or no chance of maintaining control.

18 minutes ago, JackMeOff said:

Thailand military just released information to any future enemy...

Do not need multimillion dollar or billions of baht expensive military fighter jets.

Just release a couple hundred birds in the direction of the Thai military fighter planes or attack helicopters.

Hit a bird in flight and that will scare the Thai fighter pilot causing him to crash.

Now it appears that this pilot is getting praise by the junta government for his injuries sustained during this heroic "battle / dogfight".

Crashed after birds blood spilled into the cockpit, leaving him without injuries until ejection. 

Pilots thought maybe

"Uggggh! Bird blood.. how ugly !!... I gotta get out of this plane now!"

Exit, eject Batman!

I'm sure "any future enemy" will give your expertise all the respect it deserves.

[RampantRabbit]

what was it an Ostrich then

[Cathat]

Was under the impression that the front windscreen of a fighter jet was heated for flexibility and armour plated for strength.unless they hit an extremely large heavy bird that windscreen should have been fine,cracked at most.

Would also like to know what altitude they were at as they were doing in excess of 500 knots If the reported speed is correct and that is really pushing on if below 10,000 feet even for a military aircraft on a training flight.