F-14 explodes?
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtExU...p;feature=fvst

Anyone knows what went wrong at 6:53?

RE: F-14 explodes?
 

Easy the Turbine came apart.

RE: F-14 explodes?
 

hmmm, even if it did I wouldn't think that the whole air frame would disintegrate in an instant, do you know if there's a report to that?

RE: F-14 explodes?
 

Actually that was documented in a PBS special a number of years ago. The pilot was given permission to do his first low-level supersonic flyby for the cameras. The whole ship (and the escort ship crews) was watching. I believe they said it was a compressor stall that resulted in the engine disintegrating. Both the pilot and RIO ejected safely and were rescued. The were interviewed for the program after the accident.

I found this quote on the accident posted elsewhere:


You can see the whole video with sound here (filmed from an escort ship):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1lJRMYd8kc

Bob

RE: F-14 explodes?
 

Compressor stall, which the suffered from a compressor failure, which then ruptured fuel and hydraulic lines.

RE: F-14 explodes?
 

Yes it would.

The turbine blades came apart - it acts like a granade. Thye tore through the fuel cells which are around the engines (as well as everywhere else) and BOOM! This was a common problem with the A model Tomcats and the early engines.

RE: F-14 explodes?
 

Turbine blades coming apart is not a full catastrophic engine failure. We had Pratt's blow turbine blades through the fuselage on occassion on our Vipers. Big bang and loss of thrust, return to base.

No grenade, just a hole in arcraft and a whole lot of maintenance to get the aircraft fying again.

Compressor failure is a totally different animal failure wise. Results of that is good bye everything!

RE: F-14 explodes?
 

That's a fine distinction for practical purposes in a forum where one stage is the norm ;-)

Perhaps one could say that yes, when blades start coming apart in the engine, it can and sometimes does look like that video.......

RE: F-14 explodes?
 

This was one of many catastrophic engine failures we had in the F-14 A community with the Pratt and Whitney TF-30 engine. I think someone in DoD made a drug deal early on that forced the Navy to use the TF-30 in the F-14A to keep costs down. Took a turbofan engine, put an afterburner on it and put it in a fighter - big mistake. We had lots of compressor stall problems. We had something called midcompression bypass in the TF-30, in which air was bled off the compressor section to increase stall margin, but it reduced thrust. Not good. Midcompression bypass was activated with gear down, above a certain angle of attack (can't remember the exact number) and at negative angle of attack. The video is an example of the engine throwing turbine blades into fuel tank, cutting hydraulic lines, etc., etc. The A models had a 'shield' installed around the turbine section to contain catastrophic engine failures, but it didn't always work.
Regards,
Gus