F-15 Lands with One Wing

this footage shows a terrifying accident from may of 1983. it's an israeli f-15d flying above the negev desert with only one wing the aircraft's pilot ziv nadivi had just recovered the jet from a tight spiral after colliding with an a4 skyhawk and was being ordered to eject with a runway almost inside only 10 miles away however nadivi lit his afterburners and headed to attempt a most unconventional landing the aircraft the aircraft involved in the incident was a mcdonnell douglas f-15d eagle and a douglas a-4 skyhawk both owned by the israeli air force ironically the f-15 eagle was created designed and assembled in the united states a sophisticated jet it's a twin-engine tactical fighter plane designed to fly in all weather conditions in the late 60s the u.s air force reviewed several proposals for a fighter dedicated strictly to air superiority winning out the f-15 wasn't initially conceived as an air superiority aircraft in fact the design included more a secondary capability for ground attack nevertheless most operators ignored secondary abilities [Music] its maiden flight commenced in july 1972 entering service fully in 1976 it's considered one of the most successful fighter planes of the modern era since its introduction models have been exported to american allies israel and japan and seoul to saudi arabia to date the f-15 has achieved more than 100 victories collectively and without a single loss of life most successes are credited to the israeli air force however the eagle was first imagined during the early days of the vietnam war when the u.s air force and navy competed to discover the next best tactical aircraft the air force quickly adopted the f-15 thanks to its weight to wing area ratio the f-15 was highly maneuverable thanks to its high thrust to weight ratio the eagle could conduct tight turns without compromising airspeed it climbed to 30 000 feet in just under 60 seconds at some speeds the aircraft can accelerate while traveling vertically the dynamic thrust output of its engines was even higher than its combat weight and drag which allowed the aircraft to accelerate without compromising speed a key feature of the f-15 eagle is a multi-mission avionics system with a heads-up display facilitating flight use other features including internal guidance system advanced flight instruments radar high frequency communications a tactical air navigation system and several instrument landing system receivers amazingly the plane also conducts electronic warfare to identify friends or foes and implement its own electronic countermeasures in service the f-15 totaled a record-breaking 104 kills with no losses as of february 2008. over half of these were achieved by israeli air force pilots furthermore air superiority models a b c and d have never fallen into enemy hands before the accident the aircraft took down four enemy planes during the 1982 lebanon war on its second run it took down a mig-23 in syria on november 19 1985. the plane flown during the practice over the negev was an f-15d a two-seat training version of which 92 were built between 1979 and 1985. the other plane involved was a douglas a4 skyhawk a single-seater subsonic light attack plane its delta wing and use of one turbojet engine made it notably lightweight with a maximum takeoff weight of 24 500 pounds it can fly up to 670 miles per hour the incident the accident took place on may 1 1983. the israeli air force was carrying out a divergent air combat training session over the negev region an f-15d crashed into an a4 skyhawk after both planes approached each other too closely and their undersides collided the skyhawk plane caught on fire the pilot immediately ejected he was able to parachute to land safely ziv didn't even realize what had gone wrong at first he simply felt a big push and saw the fireball caused by the exploding skyhawk he heard the radio communication informing the pilot had successfully ejected the f-15 eagle began rolling uncontrollably its right wing dislocated about two feet from its root still both crew members aboard the plane were oblivious the leaking fuel streamed out of the wind vaporizing at the wing attachment which covered their view of the missing wing only after descending into a tight spiral did the pilots notice the missing key component ziv nadivi gained control of the aircraft without realizing the full extent of the damage he switched afterburners on which at least halted the spin the two crew members were ordered to eject and opted instead to save the plane by landing at the nearest airfield 10 miles away due to the lift from the fuselage stabilizers and left wing the jet remained stable nadibi diverted to ramon air base suddenly as he circled to land the tail hook lowered and descended the f-15 landed at 260 knots twice the average speed to maintain lift during the standard landing the tail hook was consequently destroyed with high precision and a bit of luck nadivi was able to stop the plane only 20 feet from the airfield barrier about his decision to land nadiva later asserted that he probably would have ejected if i knew what had happened in fact the pilots only learned of their severed wing after inspecting the aircraft upon landing a remarkable repair the f-15 eagle with the missing wing labeled as the 106th squadron's marika shakim hebrew for sky blazer was sent to telnav at the israeli air force maintenance unit it underwent two months of repairs showing the f-15s extreme strength and reliability the jet was soon restored entirely it returned to normal service you

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Keywords: f-15, f15, f 15, jet, caught on camera, footage, airplane, aicraft, air force, landing, one wing, pilot, flight, military, planes, accident, flying, fly, airplanes, fighter, wing, plane, aircraft, avgeek, flight training, aviation, afterburner, after burner, jet engine, facts

Id: wxJcEz3h4tU

Length: 6min 24sec (384 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 27 2020