Footage released this week shows a bird strike a US Navy T-45C Goshawk plane and its subsequent crash. The event, called 'Bird Strike' in the aeronautics world, left two pilots injured, one in serious condition.
The accident occurred on September 19, 2021 in the Lake Worth region, but the images and the partially censored report were only revealed by the Navy on Wednesday (14), through a request for access to information through the portal Star-Telegram.
The video shows camera footage from the HUD (Eye-Level Display) camera as the T-45 approaches to land at Naval Air Station Fort Worth, Texas. the aircraft, belonging to the Navy's VT-22 Golden Eagles squadron, is at about 240 km/h (130 knots) and 1320 feet (402 meters) when a bird appears on camera and disappears from the lower right corner.
The bird, later identified as a vulture weighing approximately 2 kg, collided with the plane. Immediately the student, who was piloting the T-45 in the front seat, yells an expletive. Then an alarm starts to sound.
The instructor pilot, in the back seat, declares an emergency and tells the traffic controller that they are trying to reach the runway; the aircraft begins to lose power. As the controller gives instructions, the instructor interrupts and says they won't make it to base. Three seconds later it says "prepare to eject". The student and instructor eject shortly thereafter, while the last frames of the video show the jet crashing into a residential area.
The instructor fell into a wooded area, sustaining minor injuries. The student was not so lucky, as his parachute got tangled in power lines. Witnesses said they saw him "on fire". Police said at the time that he had severe burns.
After about a month and a half in a Dallas-Fort Worth area hospital, he was transferred to a hospital in San Antonio. The plane crash left at least three houses damaged, but no injuries on the ground.
According to the investigation, the Rolls-Royce F405 engine of the T-45 suffered a compressor stall when it ingested the vulture, which entered through the air intake on the right side. The report also noted "bird remains, including blood on the starboard port" after inspections of the wreckage of the aircraft.
While much of the document is censored, a summary of the damage lists $250.000 in damage to civil property, $400.000 in environmental impact, $877.000 in federal injury costs and $45,4 million in damage to federal property. In total, the accident caused $46,93 million in damages.
the aircraft
The T-45 Goshawk is a training aircraft used by the US Navy to train new naval aviators, which includes aircraft carrier landing and takeoff training.
The jet was developed by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) from the UK's BAe Hawk, and replaced the T-2 Buckeye and TA-4 Skyhawk. It has been in service since 1991 and over 220 units have been produced.
