Stars & Stripes reports that two A-10 Thunderbolts crashed in Nevada yesterday – both pilots ejected safely;
Air Force officials do not know what caused the crash that happened about 8 p.m., local time, Wednesday at the Nevada Test and Training Range, a large military reservation north of Nellis. They said an investigation into the incident would be launched.
From AVGeekery;
While it is too early to speculate, it is highly unusual for two A-10s to crash at the same time. One of the few plausible explanations is that there was contact between the two jets. We’ll update you as we learn more.
I think someone told me that any crash you can walk away from is a good crash. Not sure if that’s an accurate reference.
As long as the pilots are okay, all is well. But it does sound like someone bumped someone else. Those birds are tougher than a truffle-hunting hog.
It’s any landing you can walk away from… That being said, surviving an ejection from a jet aircraft is a small miracle in and of itself. Glad these two pilots appear to have survived.
Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Any landing where you can use the aircraft later in the same day is a great landing.
Ejecting from an airplane is tough on your body, but not ejecting is tough on your family.
I would go with the theory that the A 10’s made contact in mid air.
It seems that the only way to really knock an A10 down is to hit it with another A 10.
Glad both pilots got out alive and safe.
Hell, considering they’re A-10s, hammer out a few dents and put ’em back in the air! Obviously kidding, as I doubt even that tough of a plane will have too many usable parts left after splattering into a mountain, although there was that one time an F-106 landed safely after the pilot ejected:
http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Documents/2009/April%202009/0409gary.pdf
Another theory is the Air Force came up with an alternative process to “divest” the A-10.
Just speculatin’, and stirring pots that needs to be stirred…..
Or just frequent enough crashes to keep ’em all grounded…
Glad the pilots are okay.
I was in the weapons school in the late 90’s, the HH60 division would work with the a-10’s for CSAR Training, it was alot of fun working with those guys, but I could see how something went wrong.
While taking the Smith safety course for CDL truckers, the instructor says to us that collisions are nearly impossible between two vehicles unless they are in the same space at the same time so I imagine that the same would apply to aircraft as well. Glad the two pilots are safe.