Looks like the low pressure compressor shed a blade. There are fuel tanks in that area of the airframe and they can get punctured in that scenario. We had one at Yeovilton in the UK in the late 90s, a year or so before I started work there. Went down the runway like the Delorean in Back to the Future apparently.
@@jcn115 Also happened to an R.A.F two seat T10 ( AV-8B ) on the Harrier OCU at Wittering back in the late 90's, IIRC. A Low Pressure fan blade failed during a "roller" Take Off run, punctured the engine casing & came out the fuselage on the lower L/H side at approximately the 4/5 o'clock position.( Looking towards the nose of the aircraft ). Mercifully in this incident, the failed blade missed the forward fuel tanks so no fire. This next incident was more serious, though. In the early Nineties, one of the four GR3's ( AV-8A ) that had returned to the UK when the R.A.F.'s Belize Flight was wound down/disbanded & were with the Harrier OCU, had a Low Pressure Fan blade fail while in the hover at approx. 80 - 100 feet up & "lunched" the engine. Now, with next to no thrust, the aircraft smashed into the ground ! I missed it as I was visiting Wittering's Station H.Q. at the time, but heard the Crash Alarm going off. On returning to work, some of my Liney mates said it was the first time they'd seen a Harrier in afterburner ! The pilot was pulled out of the cockpit, thankfully still alive, by a base fireman in full flameproof rescue kit who had used an intake's "suction door" apertures as a ladder to get to him, all while a raging inferno was blazing away behind him. ( The wing fuel tanks had ruptured releasing fuel ). The wreckage, still pointing into wind, helped keep the smoke & flames away from the cockpit area during the rescue. As a result of the hard impact, the pilot was paralysed from the waist down & never recovered to fly again. On a happier note, his rescuer was awarded a VERY well deserved bravery commendation from the R.A.F. From an Ex. 233 OCU / 20 (R) Harrier OCU "Rigger" techie. ( Ooh, ah, 20 R ... Ooh, ah, 20 R. / Still bitter & twisted ).
Fire begins at 1:13 and the first foam spray begins at 1:49. That's 36 seconds. Depending on precisely when you pick for getting the 'flames down' it's at least 20 seconds after that for a total of at least 56 seconds. Definitely outstanding. Still, I find it weird that you seemed to pick your numbers out of thin air rather than just looking at the time code and doing basic arithmetic.
It was a RAF pilot with a marine corps Harrier..........he didnt ejected......he safed his ejection seat opened the canopy and exit that way unscathed.........respect........
Not sure if a ejection at zero altitude gives much chance of survival? Would he launch high enough for the parachute to deploy and descend into the ocean or, just high enough to fall back down and hit the deck or, worse yet - drop right into the inferno of his aircraft? While the jet's still on the deck - jumping out of the cockpit and running away on one's own two seems the safer option...
@@suzukirider9030the jet has a 0/0 ejection seat. Meaning you can eject at 0 speed and 0 altitude. Those seats are signed for that scenario because the jet can be at either aspects of flight. I’ve heard of several cases where the pilot ejected at near surface and hovering and survived. Happened at my base at least once, if not twice.
@@gtc1961 Even with a 0/0 seat, there is a considerable risk of injury in any ejection (though admittedly, same with sitting over a pool of burning jet fuel). In this case, the pilot would be going in the water while the boat steams away at 20+ kts, so trusting that he can make the float long enough for the SAR helo to make it. Likely, sure, but far from a given.
After the big fires on Oriskany, Forastall, and Enterprise in the '60s, the saying became "If every marine is a rifleman, every sailor is a firefighter."
My father was an A-4 pilot on Forrestal’s first cruise after the fire. I remember the officers & their wives referring to the boat as the ‘Forrest Fire’-didn’t fully realize how grim that sick humor was until I read about the tragedy a few decades later.
@@pinverarity Wasn't just the officers and their wives. It was the entire fleet. The Forrestal kept that nickname for the rest of her operational life, too bad she has been cut up for scrap metal now.
“Toasty”…”Flamer” (our CCG7 N3 in 2004…something about a house fire)…”Zippo”…yeah there is plenty to work with…but as stated, RAF…it’s probably “Dave”.
As a Navy vet DC damage control and fire fighting is constantly drilled into sailors from boot camp to the end of your enlistment or retirement. Everyone on that ship needs to be DC qualified. A carrier is a floating bomb and the flight deck is very dangerous. On some deployments there were injuries or worse some sailors didn't make it back. God bless the sailors and Marines. Stand Fast and Semper Fi.
I don't think many people realize the cockpit of a combat aircraft and a carrier flight deck are a couple of the most dangerous workplaces on Earth. One must only watch videos of what happens in some of these accidents like a breaking arrester cable, people walking into a propellor, sucked into a jet engine, or even ordinance going off on deck to recognize all those dangers. For the aviators just landing is an act of courage but doing it in bad weather or night is a whole different affair, and of course there is actual combat where they have to manage an aircraft, a battle, and do so while pulling G's.
I remember when I was in the Marines and did a cruise on the USS Forrestal. All hands had to report to Mayport Florida before the start of the cruise to learn how to work in a fire control team and handle the gear. It was a good experience to know what to do if you were needed. This was my first real experience with the Navy, and I have to admit that my respect for the blue water navy was tremendously elevated. It is a dangerous job. While most military people are just traning in peacetime, every day at see is a real day of actual duty, and it is a demanding and dangerous place to be. Nothing but respect for the sailors and officers on these ships.
This is what the Naval/ Marine Corps Brotherhood is all about. That was a Marine Pilot on a Naval vessel and aside for the natural response to clear free from the blast, that all of us in the Air Wing know you do, they all then RAN toward the danger in effort to save their Brother. A Big SEMPER FI to ALL of you on that ship and glad the Pilot made it through that blast.
I was there that day brother.. It was miraculous. I was the sailor who waited for the truck to pass. My buddies ran out before me ended up kicking my headgear in the scurry to get out and help.. But it was pretty miraculous. Bombs were close to detonation too.
Did the Marine Aviator make it out OK? What was the cause? Mishap Board finding? I guess the airframe was toast. My guess, not knowing notin, is that a fuel line ruptured, or APU fuel dewar exploded. Looked like something under high pressure detonated.
I was deployed on this ship when it happened a turbine blew on the right side and pilot couldn't eject due to injection seat not working if I'm not mistaken this was right off the coast of syeria, 100% a day where we couldve lost the ship if it wasn't for the badasses on flying squad and crash and salvage, I was on DC Central when it happened
The pilot knew that his aircraft was on the deck and static. And that the fire would be well suppressed at about the one minute mark or less. His chances for survival were better on the deck.
Honestly (and I say this having worked a Navy Flight Deck) that was a little on the slow side. I know that sounds like the usual ill informed "Internet Expert Comment", but we used to drill for these kinds of emergencies and it should be all set up to just pull a hose and turn a valve. 36 seconds feels like half a lifetime in a situation like this. I saw water splash on the deck at 17 seconds after the "pop", but then it shut off, don't know if they didn't have the foam on or had a hose problem, but they could have and should have been faster.
I went through the week long fire school in San Diego in 1970. Best training I ever got. The reaction by these fire crews to get that fire under control and then out was outstanding. Well Done to all of them.
I was incredibly impressed at the speed the fire was extinguished. Absolutely top notch performance. Almost like it was "no big deal". It was a big deal. Evidence of excellent and frequent training. It looked like a reflex response. No delays to get permission or instructions ftom anyone. 👍🏻🇺🇸
All the flightdecks drills we did and never had to really put them to work for real but, saying that I know our people are ready for such things. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the Forrestal Fire video. It pays off. Bravo Zulu sailors.
These on-deck carrier incidents can get very scary, especially when there’s ordnance involved. Good on the marines for solving the issue that quick and following safety guidelines. There was an incident aboard a US Forrestal in 1967 during Vietnam where a F-4 Phantoms Zuni rocket shot off while on deck due to a power surge. The rocket cut off an arm of a deck crewman, and then ruptured and ignited a wing mounted external fuel tank of an A-4 Skyhawk. Immediately, 2 Skyhawks ignited (including future senator and 2008 presidential candidate John McCains). Then either 1 or 2 1000lb bombs fell off a Skyhawk. Their casings cracked, the explosives began burning, and soon detonated, instantly killing 2 entire hose teams, and all but 3 men on that entire damage control team were killed. The bombs blew a hole in the deck, and burning fuel started pouring down into occupied compartments. Additionally, all 7 F-4 Phantoms on deck ignited. What followed was a catastrophic chain reaction of aircraft ordnance detonating and fires spreading. 2 nearby ships had to put the fires out with their hoses. Ultimately the tragedy left 134 sailors dead, 161 injured, and 21 aircraft destroyed. RIP.
Nice to see the video finally, I had to pull the audio tapes for the incident package. Tower was telling the pilot to eject, but apparently he didn't hear it.
@PhantomMark What I heard was that he didn't hear the call from the tower, and saw all the emergency crews coming and didn't want to hurt them by punching out. Not sure if that's the actual case since I heard it about 4th or 5th hand.
Damn. He just sat there, knowing the firefighting crew was coming with the foam. It's a wonder that Marine aircraft can take off with those big brass cojones up front.
You do realise that some carriers are far more advanced RN of course and would be a far quicker response. Try watching it on RUclips before making a Yeehaa flag waving statement.😊
No it was 1:12 timecode from the explosion to the first foam at 1:.5x timecode, which is about 45 seconds or so. impressive damage control and crew reaction.. I see some posts claiming 25 seconds. Go watch it again.. Explosion occurred at about 1:12. First foam about 1:5x or so. But impressive reaction by a well trained crew. Would have been nice to know the situation of this incident however...
That was me lol my buddys and i were in the fly hole and upon hearing the explosion kicked my head gear into a corner.. But i onew my training.. Look both ways before crossing lol.. If you also notice i jumped back up from the catwalks and cleared the hose that wasnt pushing out enough agent.. Check out portside elevator
Starting at Boot Camp, Fire Fighting School was not a "one time" thing. Returning to sea duty after a stint at shore, the school was mandatory during my time, the USNavy didnt mess around with that.
@@Rack-Ops wow, well done. I was a Blue shirt/ crash rescue aboard Australia's last carrier HMAS Melbourne back in the day, never seen anything like it.
Well, that's definitely missing in DCS.... :p Glad the pilot made it without much harm, this was very impressive ! Kudos to you guys, that was a quick response time. I'm curious to know what caused the explosion, if any investigation could be done on the wreck ? Also curious to know why the pilot didn't eject (unconscious after the explosion, or did he feel like it was more dangerous than anything to eject in this situation ? Or maybe that things looked under control for him ? Standard procedure maybe ?)
@Dmitri Kozlowsky Well, the digital flight controls don't even prevent stalls, so I don't see it preventing over Gs :p Maybe you over stressed the airframe and it just fails. The grim reapers actually did a great video about the F-14 airframe fatigue to point out why wings come off so "easily" during dogfights. Don't know if this feature is also implemented in the harrier since they are developped by different third-parties, but you might still have a hard cap on how many Gs you can pull before a structural failure.
@@AwesomeAngryBiker he wasn't. stop being a p4th3t1c human lmao how sad. who pissed in your cereal this morning? must be a miserable life being so miserable everyday.
I remember it like it was yesterday, I was below decks on the shitter straining and howling in agony whilst suffering with piles , I heard the crash alarms and assumed help was on the way but alas no one came to save me .
I'm assuming that the Pilot was relatively safe in the Cockpit for a limited amount of time before he/she would have had to eject ? I think ejection would be the first thing you might think of doing but the last thing you really want to do, especially if you are relatively safe for at least 1 minute or so which might be enough time for the fire to be extinguished. I'll bet it was warm in the cockpit though ! The pilot likely never took his hands off the ejection lever throughout this ordeal.
I was the one selling hotdogs and backscratchers, just finished my shift when this happened. Could've been real messy had I dropped the tray, that was a big boom.
imagine being on one of the escorts and you see this.. and you have no clue what actually happened.. you just see the aft end of the carrier you are tasked with escorting burst into flames for a few seconds
The aircraft wasn't even done exploding yet and you could see deck crew already rushing to get to fire equipment. Thats why you train for damage control so much, those extra seconds saved are literally life and death of not just crew but the ship.
Does anyone know which squadron it was? BuNo of the aircraft? Pilot's name? The Kearsarge ARG embarked with the 26th MEU in 2015-2016. I think it was 6 Harriers from VMA-223 Bulldogs that were assigned to VMM-162 (REIN). Can anyone confirm?
From initial explosion to final extinguish of visible flame, it was around 54 seconds. Dunno if a pilot trapped in the cockpit could have survived that situation.
@@MrJAT4 Thanks for the question! We don’t launch harriers off catapults. However, for the sake of discussion, we would suspend the launch, and send the catapult forward and the crash team and flight deck crew would fight the fire the same way. After we would clear the deck and resume flight ops.
Was the forward located fire tender driven by a member of the SF airport fire dept? Didn't see the pilot eject, was he disabled by the initial explosion??
See how fast the fire was extinguished by the crash crew and the rest of the flight deck. This is why they are always training for this, so it becomes a normal thing without panic. BZ to all.
RAF pilot sat there saying to himself, shall I pull and probably end up in the drink...... or sit it out and let them change my call sign to "toast" from today onwards..... he chose toast.. bravo!
The absolute worst place for such. The entire ship can be endangered as in Forrestal. Stunning that the pilot was able to sit it out without the danger of ejection. He must have felt useful in shutting down feeder circuits and knowing in 2 -5 seconds the fuel had already burned. Then there are the munitions, if any, and if this had been an active run, everyone you saw on the screen could have been killed in a short period of time, as they did what was required to save the ship and that is fight into the fire. As Bill Plumley would have told them, "That is a good day."
Enterprise too... Forrestal's was due to cutting corners and not having safety pins in during shifting the electrical load from the huffer (a vehicle that provides air and electrical power to an aircraft during start up) to the aircraft. IIRC Enterprise was a result of a huffer sitting too close to a loaded aircraft and the exhaust from the huffer impinged on ordnance, igniting it. In both cases big holes were blown in the flight deck, allowing burning fuel into the ship below decks. After the Forrestal fire a specialty fire fighting school was formed, teaching ALL sailors to be firefighters. On the Forrestal, the initial responding fire fighting teams were decimated when the first bomb went off leaving untrained sailors in most cases to fight the fire.
@@waynecoulter6761 My brother went through Navy OCS (he was later attached to Marines at LeJune) and told of the Forrestal Film, that the fire crew was wiped out as the Lead was applying something call PurpleC. Horror really. Not surprised that John McCain was involved. Things blow up. My baby sister was on take off as 1st Officer on an MD80 at DFW and had her second Engine failure in Rotation (making her the only person in the world at that time to have had to do it 2x) and this time it exploded. No parts went into the passenger compartment. It is best that these things not happen around high numbers of people and ships. If the Harrier has the Zero/Zero Ejection seat I am not sure, but this pilot stayed probably long enough to hit fire suppression, and that was probably long enough to eliminate an ejection possibility whether mechanical, electrical, or consciousness.
@@waynecoulter6761 And YES! Teaching people to run at Fire is a definite daunting requirement. Once I saw the title on this, like seeing 1911's at the beginning of Pulp Fiction and knowing that someone was going to get shot accidentally, I knew I was going to be seeing a lot of Men springing into action and defeating fear rushing a fire.
@@miguellogistics984 I spent 10 years as a civilian firefighter before joining the Army. Running into a fire takes a lot of bravery... especially where heavy ordnance is concerned. The issue on the Forrestal was that the 1000 lb bombs involved were thin cased, WWII era M65 bombs, not the more modern Mk 80 series which were designed to be fire resistant for roughly 10 minutes in direct contact with flames before detonating. The M65s went off in less than two minutes.
Is this type of failure common with the harriers with the blades coming apart like that? ( I assume it was a blade cause a lot of people sayin that so I wanna sound smart also)
@ ahhhh I see, is it somewhat common tho for harriers and crews are aware and just may have overlooked it type deal or something that doesn’t really ever happen? Appreciate letting me kno homie 🙏🤙🙏
No it isn't common, and when it has happened the result is not usually an explosion. We had one at Wittering while I was there in the 90s and there was no fire, just a complete loss of thrust which meant the aircraft in a hover came down very quickly. If it was common something would be done about it!
@@HighSideHustlerr81 This is something that can happen to all jet engines. It's more prevalent on high bypass turbo fan engines, likew hat the Harrier has, and what all the airlines run. Something similar happened to that Southwest 737 where the woman was sucked out of the window about 5 years ago. It's not common, and usually these blades are checked every X amount of hours for cracks using ultrasound. Still, if there's a defect from the factory, this can happen.
did you have the P-25 or P-25A? I retired in 2010, and that SEC was just rolling out to the fleet... Nice work: It's rare to have to intentionally refill the Fire Trucks from an actual event...
A first stage compressor blade broke off and shot through the engine casing, the internal fuel cell, the aircraft skin, and the left external fuel tank. The sudden release of the blade caused the entire compressor to go off-balance and blast out of the top of the aircraft. I was one of the harrier engine mechanics on the flight deck that day. It's a scary thing seeing something like that, then being able to stand at the intake and look up through the top of the aircraft with what's left of the engine still in the aircraft.
@@Stoobs82 Crazy. I wonder if something had changed since the last flight. If not, the last pilot is lucky it didn't happen to him mid-air or as he was trying to land. Same for this pilot. At least it happened I'm a "safe" area and somehow he managed to escape with no harm. Didn't even have to ride the ejection seat, which have caused injuries, themselves
Surprised the decks don't have embedded sprinkler systems like old people have in their lawns. Flip switch and they'd all pop and saturate. I'm sure somebody much smarter and better paid than me already thought of it and figured out why it wouldn't work...
I was actually about too ask that very same question, I assume they may do that at times if they are in a certain area on the deck were the most water is getting blasted from those sprinklers and if not, then they don’t but that’s just a guess
They do. It's controlled from primary flight control. It would be activated if things got worse or ordnance was involved. Hose teams and fire fighting vehicle made quick work of this.
People in the comments are saying that the high bypass compressor failed and shot a blade through the fuel tank. This explanation makes sense to me, but I wasn't there.
The plane had actually started its takeoff roll but an engine failure ruptured a fuel tank causing a fire. The pilot stopped the plane and waited while the fire crews put it out.
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Looks like the low pressure compressor shed a blade. There are fuel tanks in that area of the airframe and they can get punctured in that scenario. We had one at Yeovilton in the UK in the late 90s, a year or so before I started work there. Went down the runway like the Delorean in Back to the Future apparently.
You are correct, it was a LPC1 blade
I always appreciate comments like these. Thank you for sharing some of your knowledge.
Was that the one in 1997 ?
@@jcn115 Also happened to an R.A.F two seat T10 ( AV-8B ) on the Harrier OCU at Wittering back in the late 90's, IIRC. A Low Pressure fan blade failed during a "roller" Take Off run, punctured the engine casing & came out the fuselage on the lower L/H side at approximately the 4/5 o'clock position.( Looking towards the nose of the aircraft ).
Mercifully in this incident, the failed blade missed the forward fuel tanks so no fire. This next incident was more serious, though. In the early Nineties, one of the four GR3's
( AV-8A ) that had returned to the UK when the R.A.F.'s Belize Flight was wound down/disbanded & were with the Harrier OCU, had a Low Pressure Fan blade fail while in the hover at approx. 80 - 100 feet up & "lunched" the engine. Now, with next to no thrust, the aircraft smashed into the ground ! I missed it as I was visiting Wittering's Station H.Q. at the time, but heard the Crash Alarm going off. On returning to work, some of my Liney mates said it was the first time they'd seen a Harrier in afterburner ! The pilot was pulled out of the cockpit, thankfully still alive, by a base fireman in full flameproof rescue kit who had used an intake's "suction door" apertures as a ladder to get to him, all while a raging inferno was blazing away behind him. ( The wing fuel tanks had ruptured releasing fuel ). The wreckage, still pointing into wind, helped keep the smoke & flames away from the cockpit area during the rescue. As a result of the hard impact, the pilot was paralysed from the waist down & never recovered to fly again. On a happier note, his rescuer was awarded a VERY well deserved bravery commendation from the R.A.F.
From an Ex. 233 OCU / 20 (R) Harrier OCU "Rigger" techie. ( Ooh, ah, 20 R ... Ooh, ah, 20 R. / Still bitter & twisted ).
Did the flux capacitor produce 1.21 gigawatts at 88 mph?
25 seconds and Foam hitting the plane, about 45 seconds and flames down and airframe cooling. Outstanding.
Things move extremely quickly and you can lose the ship if fire gets out of control. We practice it until it becomes a natural instinct
Formula 1 levels of competency here. Respect to the damage control crew.
Fire begins at 1:13 and the first foam spray begins at 1:49. That's 36 seconds. Depending on precisely when you pick for getting the 'flames down' it's at least 20 seconds after that for a total of at least 56 seconds.
Definitely outstanding.
Still, I find it weird that you seemed to pick your numbers out of thin air rather than just looking at the time code and doing basic arithmetic.
You're one of those mother fuckers that's gotta be right all the time ain't you? @@they-call-me-mister-trash847
First thing I checked! That's amazing.
It was a RAF pilot with a marine corps Harrier..........he didnt ejected......he safed his ejection seat opened the canopy and exit that way unscathed.........respect........
Not sure if a ejection at zero altitude gives much chance of survival? Would he launch high enough for the parachute to deploy and descend into the ocean or, just high enough to fall back down and hit the deck or, worse yet - drop right into the inferno of his aircraft? While the jet's still on the deck - jumping out of the cockpit and running away on one's own two seems the safer option...
@@suzukirider9030the jet has a 0/0 ejection seat. Meaning you can eject at 0 speed and 0 altitude. Those seats are signed for that scenario because the jet can be at either aspects of flight. I’ve heard of several cases where the pilot ejected at near surface and hovering and survived. Happened at my base at least once, if not twice.
Not sure that was such a smart idea...an ejection seat is cheap compared to the cost of a trained fighter pilot.
@@gtc1961 Even with a 0/0 seat, there is a considerable risk of injury in any ejection (though admittedly, same with sitting over a pool of burning jet fuel). In this case, the pilot would be going in the water while the boat steams away at 20+ kts, so trusting that he can make the float long enough for the SAR helo to make it. Likely, sure, but far from a given.
Yeah but landing in the water or in the ships super structure isnt a bright idea either. Crap shoot either way.
After the big fires on Oriskany, Forastall, and Enterprise in the '60s, the saying became "If every marine is a rifleman, every sailor is a firefighter."
My father was an A-4 pilot on Forrestal’s first cruise after the fire. I remember the officers & their wives referring to the boat as the ‘Forrest Fire’-didn’t fully realize how grim that sick humor was until I read about the tragedy a few decades later.
@@pinverarity Wasn't just the officers and their wives. It was the entire fleet. The Forrestal kept that nickname for the rest of her operational life, too bad she has been cut up for scrap metal now.
@ Oof. I guess laughing in the face of ever-present calamity is as old as war.
I'd guess half the folks on the flight deck in this video were Marines pulling double duty as rifleman and fire fighters
@@pinverarity Yep, just like war, it never changes.
That was impressive. Bravo Zulu on the fire response. Extra round of rations for all hands!
What is this? The old pirate days??? Lol
Bravo Zulu = well done in naval language
@@liammitchell9900 I was talking about the extra round of rations. 🤣
@@rm4po4 😂😂😂 extra round of rations 😂
@@liammitchell9900 also-Sierra Hotel.
wow. If he made it, his new callsign should be BBQ
or just "Barbie." Ha.
He did make it. He was even unharmed. Said he saved his ejection seat, waited and climbed out after the fire was out.
He was an RAF pilot, so his callsign is probably still "Dave"
“Toasty”…”Flamer” (our CCG7 N3 in 2004…something about a house fire)…”Zippo”…yeah there is plenty to work with…but as stated, RAF…it’s probably “Dave”.
As a Navy vet DC damage control and fire fighting is constantly drilled into sailors from boot camp to the end of your enlistment or retirement. Everyone on that ship needs to be DC qualified. A carrier is a floating bomb and the flight deck is very dangerous. On some deployments there were injuries or worse some sailors didn't make it back. God bless the sailors and Marines. Stand Fast and Semper Fi.
The FORRESTAL disaster changed all that.
I don't think many people realize the cockpit of a combat aircraft and a carrier flight deck are a couple of the most dangerous workplaces on Earth. One must only watch videos of what happens in some of these accidents like a breaking arrester cable, people walking into a propellor, sucked into a jet engine, or even ordinance going off on deck to recognize all those dangers. For the aviators just landing is an act of courage but doing it in bad weather or night is a whole different affair, and of course there is actual combat where they have to manage an aircraft, a battle, and do so while pulling G's.
I remember when I was in the Marines and did a cruise on the USS Forrestal. All hands had to report to Mayport Florida before the start of the cruise to learn how to work in a fire control team and handle the gear. It was a good experience to know what to do if you were needed. This was my first real experience with the Navy, and I have to admit that my respect for the blue water navy was tremendously elevated. It is a dangerous job. While most military people are just traning in peacetime, every day at see is a real day of actual duty, and it is a demanding and dangerous place to be. Nothing but respect for the sailors and officers on these ships.
This is what the Naval/ Marine Corps Brotherhood is all about. That was a Marine Pilot on a Naval vessel and aside for the natural response to clear free from the blast, that all of us in the Air Wing know you do, they all then RAN toward the danger in effort to save their Brother. A Big SEMPER FI to ALL of you on that ship and glad the Pilot made it through that blast.
It was an RAF pilot on an exchange.
I was there that day brother.. It was miraculous. I was the sailor who waited for the truck to pass. My buddies ran out before me ended up kicking my headgear in the scurry to get out and help.. But it was pretty miraculous. Bombs were close to detonation too.
Did the Marine Aviator make it out OK? What was the cause? Mishap Board finding? I guess the airframe was toast. My guess, not knowing notin, is that a fuel line ruptured, or APU fuel dewar exploded. Looked like something under high pressure detonated.
I was deployed on this ship when it happened a turbine blew on the right side and pilot couldn't eject due to injection seat not working if I'm not mistaken this was right off the coast of syeria, 100% a day where we couldve lost the ship if it wasn't for the badasses on flying squad and crash and salvage, I was on DC Central when it happened
@@Themanwiththepitcherofwaterhey don't forget about flying squad not us HT, DC, & MRs were in that bitch as well
Amazing damage control response .... almost instantaneous. I hope the pilot was saved!
He was saw him get out myself
Ever since a kamikaze killed loads of people on a carrier in WW2, everybody in the US Navy is a "firefighter first".
@@Themanwiththepitcherofwater Thank You for your service AND Your courage in helping w this disaster.👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
@centralplains7608 💙
34 seconds before it’s being doused with foam from the fire trucks
The pilot knew that his aircraft was on the deck and static. And that the fire would be well suppressed at about the one minute mark or less. His chances for survival were better on the deck.
Fkin brilliant job by that deck crew, pat on the back all round.
They had foam on it in 36 seconds and it was out 58 seconds.
Honestly (and I say this having worked a Navy Flight Deck) that was a little on the slow side. I know that sounds like the usual ill informed "Internet Expert Comment", but we used to drill for these kinds of emergencies and it should be all set up to just pull a hose and turn a valve. 36 seconds feels like half a lifetime in a situation like this.
I saw water splash on the deck at 17 seconds after the "pop", but then it shut off, don't know if they didn't have the foam on or had a hose problem, but they could have and should have been faster.
@@nickmaclachlan5178 They had a cart rolling in 7 seconds after the fire, that means the driver was on it in less than 5 seconds.
I went through the week long fire school in San Diego in 1970. Best training I ever got. The reaction by these fire crews to get that fire under control and then out was outstanding. Well Done to all of them.
I was incredibly impressed at the speed the fire was extinguished.
Absolutely top notch performance. Almost like it was "no big deal". It was a big deal.
Evidence of excellent and frequent training. It looked like a reflex response.
No delays to get permission or instructions ftom anyone. 👍🏻🇺🇸
All the flightdecks drills we did and never had to really put them to work for real but, saying that I know our people are ready for such things. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the Forrestal Fire video. It pays off. Bravo Zulu sailors.
not surprised at the response speed, aside from being shot at by an enemy, its fire that is the greatest hazard to a ship at sea.
Fire team was the SHT!!!! Outstanding!!!
These on-deck carrier incidents can get very scary, especially when there’s ordnance involved. Good on the marines for solving the issue that quick and following safety guidelines.
There was an incident aboard a US Forrestal in 1967 during Vietnam where a F-4 Phantoms Zuni rocket shot off while on deck due to a power surge. The rocket cut off an arm of a deck crewman, and then ruptured and ignited a wing mounted external fuel tank of an A-4 Skyhawk.
Immediately, 2 Skyhawks ignited (including future senator and 2008 presidential candidate John McCains). Then either 1 or 2 1000lb bombs fell off a Skyhawk.
Their casings cracked, the explosives began burning, and soon detonated, instantly killing 2 entire hose teams, and all but 3 men on that entire damage control team were killed.
The bombs blew a hole in the deck, and burning fuel started pouring down into occupied compartments. Additionally, all 7 F-4 Phantoms on deck ignited.
What followed was a catastrophic chain reaction of aircraft ordnance detonating and fires spreading. 2 nearby ships had to put the fires out with their hoses. Ultimately the tragedy left 134 sailors dead, 161 injured, and 21 aircraft destroyed. RIP.
Outstanding fire suppression. That was quick!
I was on watch when this happened we heard the explosion from the bridge we were lik "that doesnt sound good wtf just happened"
Did the Pilot Make it???
@@gunzelloharris3348 the pilot survived he wasn't even hurt that bad
@@garrettsilva5025 Cpy tht Gd 2 hear & thnx Buddy!! ;)
@Dmitri Kozlowsky I was told the apu malfunctioned as to why that happened tho I dont have an answer
@Dmitri Kozlowsky The APU on the AV8B uses the standard fuel supply. It is started by a small DC motor.
Nice to see the video finally, I had to pull the audio tapes for the incident package. Tower was telling the pilot to eject, but apparently he didn't hear it.
What happened to the pilot
@@alonzocruz671 He got wet from the fire fighting, but was fine other than that.
I was really surprised to not see him punch out given then size of the fire and impact of the explosion......
@PhantomMark What I heard was that he didn't hear the call from the tower, and saw all the emergency crews coming and didn't want to hurt them by punching out. Not sure if that's the actual case since I heard it about 4th or 5th hand.
Team work makes the dream work. First class.
Damn. He just sat there, knowing the firefighting crew was coming with the foam. It's a wonder that Marine aircraft can take off with those big brass cojones up front.
40 seconds to get water/foam on the fire. Best trained military on Earth.
What I was going to say… from fire start to fire out… in 60 seconds.
Next to the Royal Navy of course!😉🇬🇧🇺🇸
@@clivenewton7609IN THE NAVY 😅
You do realise that some carriers are far more advanced RN of course and would be a far quicker response. Try watching it on RUclips before making a Yeehaa flag waving statement.😊
British Armed Forces the best, always have been
EVERY sailor on deck jumped to action , i thought one guy was slacking until i saw him giving orders, that was damn impressive,
No it was 1:12 timecode from the explosion to the first foam at 1:.5x timecode, which is about 45 seconds or so. impressive damage control and crew reaction.. I see some posts claiming 25 seconds. Go watch it again.. Explosion occurred at about 1:12. First foam about 1:5x or so. But impressive reaction by a well trained crew. Would have been nice to know the situation of this incident however...
12:12:21 explosion 12:12:57 first foam per the timestamp in the original footage. Elapsed time 00:00:36 Not the uploaded user video time stamp
Fire was out in exactly one hot minute...
Can't see it but I was the one who was in the crash basket making sure the pilot Safetied the seat .
Yeah Yeah bragger and I was the one who checked the tyre pressure 🙄🙄
@AwesomeAngryBiker just stating a fact
@@peacefulrelaxation7885He’s just a sad, miserable Brit that has never contributed to anything worthwhile.
I can confirm this cause I was also there and my face was the seat and that’s exactly what happened.
I was there too and I just lit my last cigarette.
GREAT response time from the crew to the fire.
Much Love to all my firefighters and sailors on the deck who saved our brother-pilot-in-arms. SEMPER FI to my NAVAL Brothers & Sisters.
See that guy almost get run over by the crash vehicle? Boy that could have been serious.
That was me lol my buddys and i were in the fly hole and upon hearing the explosion kicked my head gear into a corner.. But i onew my training.. Look both ways before crossing lol.. If you also notice i jumped back up from the catwalks and cleared the hose that wasnt pushing out enough agent.. Check out portside elevator
Lol bridges
Fire was out Within one minute. Damn, these guys are good!
crazy love how every one jumped in to help immediately
It's hard to tell from this perspective but it seems like there's a few of these guys that should be running in the Olympic games
Starting at Boot Camp, Fire Fighting School was not a "one time" thing. Returning to sea duty after a stint at shore, the school was mandatory during my time, the USNavy didnt mess around with that.
Wow Wow Wow....What a responce. I didn't see any ejection. What was the result for the pilot?
I was told the pilot was able to get out safely with no issues.
@@Rack-Ops wow, well done. I was a Blue shirt/ crash rescue aboard Australia's last carrier HMAS Melbourne back in the day, never seen anything like it.
@@Rack-Ops The guy who uploaded this video to RUclips was the pilot. He confirmed with me that he did in fact walk away without any issues.
jkaposi what squadron was this? Not the ACE, but the actual Harrier squadron they were from?
And when was this? Looks like it’s the USS Kersarge.
@@hydguy yes kearsarge
Well, that's definitely missing in DCS.... :p
Glad the pilot made it without much harm, this was very impressive ! Kudos to you guys, that was a quick response time.
I'm curious to know what caused the explosion, if any investigation could be done on the wreck ? Also curious to know why the pilot didn't eject (unconscious after the explosion, or did he feel like it was more dangerous than anything to eject in this situation ? Or maybe that things looked under control for him ? Standard procedure maybe ?)
@Dmitri Kozlowsky Well, the digital flight controls don't even prevent stalls, so I don't see it preventing over Gs :p
Maybe you over stressed the airframe and it just fails. The grim reapers actually did a great video about the F-14 airframe fatigue to point out why wings come off so "easily" during dogfights. Don't know if this feature is also implemented in the harrier since they are developped by different third-parties, but you might still have a hard cap on how many Gs you can pull before a structural failure.
Airplane just exploded in a fireball? I think I’ll just set here and see what happens.
It should never be forgotten that training for the real thing is usually just as dangerous, if not more so given the repetition.
Incredible examples
Amazing work
I wonder why
No theory is obvious enough
hey i was in the cabin of that sierra taking a little nap when that happened. scared the shit outta me
Stop bragging 🙄🙄
@@AwesomeAngryBiker he wasn't. stop being a p4th3t1c human lmao how sad. who pissed in your cereal this morning? must be a miserable life being so miserable everyday.
I remember it like it was yesterday, I was below decks on the shitter straining and howling in agony whilst suffering with piles , I heard the crash alarms and assumed help was on the way but alas no one came to save me .
I'm assuming that the Pilot was relatively safe in the Cockpit for a limited amount of time before he/she would have had to eject ? I think ejection would be the first thing you might think of doing but the last thing you really want to do, especially if you are relatively safe for at least 1 minute or so which might be enough time for the fire to be extinguished.
I'll bet it was warm in the cockpit though ! The pilot likely never took his hands off the ejection lever throughout this ordeal.
Blade failed & hit the fuel tanks? No idea myself, just curious.
A few Harriers ended this way. We had to check the 1st stage fan blades after every flight for this reason in the UK.
I was the one selling hotdogs and backscratchers, just finished my shift when this happened. Could've been real messy had I dropped the tray, that was a big boom.
This is true, I was the hot part of the dog and I can confirm this statement 100%
34 seconds from the explosion to when the fire trucks start dousing it with foam. Not bad I would think!
imagine being on one of the escorts and you see this.. and you have no clue what actually happened.. you just see the aft end of the carrier you are tasked with escorting burst into flames for a few seconds
The aircraft wasn't even done exploding yet and you could see deck crew already rushing to get to fire equipment. Thats why you train for damage control so much, those extra seconds saved are literally life and death of not just crew but the ship.
Does anyone know which squadron it was? BuNo of the aircraft? Pilot's name?
The Kearsarge ARG embarked with the 26th MEU in 2015-2016.
I think it was 6 Harriers from VMA-223 Bulldogs that were assigned to VMM-162 (REIN).
Can anyone confirm?
Yes.
That little truck was scootin' over there to douse the flames.
From initial explosion to final extinguish of visible flame, it was around 54 seconds. Dunno if a pilot trapped in the cockpit could have survived that situation.
The pilot didn't eject. Apparently he was fine.
This was actually 4 years from today. It seems to be just happened yesterday. I still remember everyone was talking about harrier fire in chow line.
@@ADSiedem Yes, he escaped, without ejection.
I was on ras 3
@@andyscandys31silverman51 damn shipmate! what's your name and rate?
@@davidjin8147 lydick I was a brand new bmsn at that time
@@andyscandys31silverman51 nice bro. Are you on shore duty now
OMG!!! Are Herriers made by Boing or what???!!?!?
Not everybody can be a Marine is what I say. Promotions and decorations for all!
They wouldn't take me. They said my heart sounds funny. I ended up needing a heart transplant so they were probably right.
How would this have played out on an actual cat launch?
Same, or does the burning craft still shoot?
@@MrJAT4 Thanks for the question! We don’t launch harriers off catapults. However, for the sake of discussion, we would suspend the launch, and send the catapult forward and the crash team and flight deck crew would fight the fire the same way. After we would clear the deck and resume flight ops.
Was the forward located fire tender driven by a member of the SF airport fire dept? Didn't see the pilot eject, was he disabled by the initial explosion??
RAF pilot on exchange who trusted the US Navy and didn't want to risk ejecting. He opened the canopy and jumped out unaided after the fire was out.
One VERY lucky Sailor at 1:43.
See how fast the fire was extinguished by the crash crew and the rest of the flight deck. This is why they are always training for this, so it becomes a normal thing without panic. BZ to all.
RAF pilot sat there saying to himself, shall I pull and probably end up in the drink...... or sit it out and let them change my call sign to "toast" from today onwards..... he chose toast.. bravo!
The absolute worst place for such. The entire ship can be endangered as in Forrestal.
Stunning that the pilot was able to sit it out without the danger of ejection. He must have felt useful in shutting down feeder circuits and knowing in 2 -5 seconds the fuel had already burned.
Then there are the munitions, if any, and if this had been an active run, everyone you saw on the screen could have been killed in a short period of time, as they did what was required to save the ship and that is fight into the fire.
As Bill Plumley would have told them, "That is a good day."
Enterprise too... Forrestal's was due to cutting corners and not having safety pins in during shifting the electrical load from the huffer (a vehicle that provides air and electrical power to an aircraft during start up) to the aircraft. IIRC Enterprise was a result of a huffer sitting too close to a loaded aircraft and the exhaust from the huffer impinged on ordnance, igniting it. In both cases big holes were blown in the flight deck, allowing burning fuel into the ship below decks. After the Forrestal fire a specialty fire fighting school was formed, teaching ALL sailors to be firefighters. On the Forrestal, the initial responding fire fighting teams were decimated when the first bomb went off leaving untrained sailors in most cases to fight the fire.
@@waynecoulter6761 My brother went through Navy OCS (he was later attached to Marines at LeJune) and told of the Forrestal Film, that the fire crew was wiped out as the Lead was applying something call PurpleC. Horror really. Not surprised that John McCain was involved. Things blow up. My baby sister was on take off as 1st Officer on an MD80 at DFW and had her second Engine failure in Rotation (making her the only person in the world at that time to have had to do it 2x) and this time it exploded. No parts went into the passenger compartment.
It is best that these things not happen around high numbers of people and ships. If the Harrier has the Zero/Zero Ejection seat I am not sure, but this pilot stayed probably long enough to hit fire suppression, and that was probably long enough to eliminate an ejection possibility whether mechanical, electrical, or consciousness.
@@waynecoulter6761 And YES! Teaching people to run at Fire is a definite daunting requirement. Once I saw the title on this, like seeing 1911's at the beginning of Pulp Fiction and knowing that someone was going to get shot accidentally, I knew I was going to be seeing a lot of Men springing into action and defeating fear rushing a fire.
@@miguellogistics984 I spent 10 years as a civilian firefighter before joining the Army. Running into a fire takes a lot of bravery... especially where heavy ordnance is concerned. The issue on the Forrestal was that the 1000 lb bombs involved were thin cased, WWII era M65 bombs, not the more modern Mk 80 series which were designed to be fire resistant for roughly 10 minutes in direct contact with flames before detonating. The M65s went off in less than two minutes.
@@waynecoulter6761 Yes sir. In Civilian Life there is generally a place to run. On a Ship, every action is taken to save everyone.
Those sailors are some fire fighting sunsa bishes. 🫡
Is this type of failure common with the harriers with the blades coming apart like that? ( I assume it was a blade cause a lot of people sayin that so I wanna sound smart also)
Blade separation puncturing fuel tank/lines = explosive result.
@ ahhhh I see, is it somewhat common tho for harriers and crews are aware and just may have overlooked it type deal or something that doesn’t really ever happen? Appreciate letting me kno homie 🙏🤙🙏
No it isn't common, and when it has happened the result is not usually an explosion. We had one at Wittering while I was there in the 90s and there was no fire, just a complete loss of thrust which meant the aircraft in a hover came down very quickly. If it was common something would be done about it!
@@HighSideHustlerr81 This is something that can happen to all jet engines. It's more prevalent on high bypass turbo fan engines, likew hat the Harrier has, and what all the airlines run. Something similar happened to that Southwest 737 where the woman was sucked out of the window about 5 years ago.
It's not common, and usually these blades are checked every X amount of hours for cracks using ultrasound. Still, if there's a defect from the factory, this can happen.
The guys with the fire truck was what I did
did you have the P-25 or P-25A? I retired in 2010, and that SEC was just rolling out to the fleet... Nice work: It's rare to have to intentionally refill the Fire Trucks from an actual event...
Very cool. I often think any job on a carrier would be great. The way everyone works together to get planes in the air always amazes me.
@@tehpw7574 I worked with the P-25 and the P-25A. To show my age I also worked with the P-16 when it still had a halon 1211 tank.
nice p-16 driving
P-25 now. You really dated yourself
What caused it to explode?
Powerplants (engine shop) told us one of the compressor fans collapsed and basically got ingested by the engine, I worked in the avi shop
A first stage compressor blade broke off and shot through the engine casing, the internal fuel cell, the aircraft skin, and the left external fuel tank. The sudden release of the blade caused the entire compressor to go off-balance and blast out of the top of the aircraft. I was one of the harrier engine mechanics on the flight deck that day. It's a scary thing seeing something like that, then being able to stand at the intake and look up through the top of the aircraft with what's left of the engine still in the aircraft.
@@Stoobs82 Crazy. I wonder if something had changed since the last flight. If not, the last pilot is lucky it didn't happen to him mid-air or as he was trying to land.
Same for this pilot. At least it happened I'm a "safe" area and somehow he managed to escape with no harm. Didn't even have to ride the ejection seat, which have caused injuries, themselves
Concur, I was there.@@Stoobs82
THE ABSOLUTE BEST FIGHTING FORCE!!!!!!!!!!!
FYI: It's not supposed to do that.
1:40 The pilot was not the only lucky one.
The explosion is at 1:13.
Did the pilot eject? Live? Any status on the pilot?
Semper Fi
The British pilot survived.
Surprised the decks don't have embedded sprinkler systems like old people have in their lawns. Flip switch and they'd all pop and saturate. I'm sure somebody much smarter and better paid than me already thought of it and figured out why it wouldn't work...
I was actually about too ask that very same question, I assume they may do that at times if they are in a certain area on the deck were the most water is getting blasted from those sprinklers and if not, then they don’t but that’s just a guess
They do. It's controlled from primary flight control. It would be activated if things got worse or ordnance was involved. Hose teams and fire fighting vehicle made quick work of this.
Well then. I thought the title was an exaggeration. It is indeed not an exaggeration.
Damage control - It's our time to shine boys
Did the pilot get out?
From fire start… to fire out… 60 seconds.
What was the cause of that explosion?
Another commenter said a low pressure compressor blade broke off and punctured a fuel tank.
@ that would do it!!!
How did the pilot do?
He was able to climb out unharmed.
Someone needs to clean the camera lens on 2 of those cameras.
Shit happens
Amazing team work
36 seconds from explosion to first hose on the fire.
somebody please care to elaborate on what actually happened & why . . .
On launch, compressor blade separation into fuel tank
no
the british ACTUALLY having color deck cameras in 2016
Not a British Harrier or Royal Navy Warship!!!
@@richardvernon317 But a British pilot. (Royal Air Force)
Train, Train, Train, and then Train some more, muscle memory
Makes you proud of our military
Nice work
Suddenly? Why?
Fan blade separation puncturing fuel tank/lines with explosive result.
Can somebody tell me what was the cause of the explosion?
People in the comments are saying that the high bypass compressor failed and shot a blade through the fuel tank. This explanation makes sense to me, but I wasn't there.
@@operator0👍🏻
You are about the only person in the comments who wasn’t there 😂
36 seconds to get foam on that fire.
*Did he died?*
The guy running across the deck at 1:44 was lucky the fire truck driver was on the ball or he would have been hamburger.
@@tedsmith6137 you’re absolutely correct! We train like we fight. However, people react differently when the S hits the fan.
Old technology
Note to ship designers: Add cameras that can pan, tilt and zoom to all ships. These are horrible.
Do we really need need the Harrier
Being replaced by F-35B. Valuable for close air support.
Literally, all hands on deck😊
This shouldn't happen, what went wrong?
It blew up.
Fracking AMAZING. I am SO proud!
This is why you don't mess with the United States Navy!
Kids these days, look at all of them just running towards it to film it for instagram.
this looks to be from 2008 dude
actually nvm 2016, the date is arranged weirdly
Not the harrier!
Does somebody here cares about the pilot ? Did he survive ? Was he burnt ?
He got out fine. no injuries, just wet from the foam.
Can someone explain why the plane lurched forward and how it stopped? Thank you
The plane had actually started its takeoff roll but an engine failure ruptured a fuel tank causing a fire. The pilot stopped the plane and waited while the fire crews put it out.
@ thank you for the time and explanation.
@@nocalsteve waited wow ,how did he not pull that get me the fuck out of here cord ,brave pilot and crew who went straght into saving him .
Sempre fi
Wow
1:14