ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 191760
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| Date: | Monday 28 November 2016 |
| Time: | 11:03 LT |
| Type: |  McDonnell Douglas CF-188 Hornet |
| Owner/operator: | Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) |
| Registration: | 188747 |
| MSN: | 333/A277 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, AB -
 Canada
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Cold Lake Airport, AB (YOD/CYOD) |
| Cold Lake Airport, AB (YOD/CYOD) | |
| Investigating agency: | TSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
A single-seat CF-18 Hornet from 401 Sqn (City of Westmount), 4 Wing Cold Lake crashed inside the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range.
The RCAF reported that the pilot has been killed in the accident.
Flight Safety Investigation Report:
The pilot of aircraft CF188747, using the call sign “Swift 32”, was part of a two-ship formation led by “Swift 31” for an air-to-ground training mission. The mission objective was to practice level deliveries of two Mark 83 inert bombs followed by two laser guided training rounds, simulating laser guided bombs, in the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range. The plan was to ingress to the target and drop weapons from 600 feet above ground level. To avoid simulated bomb fragmentation after dropping their bombs each pilot would fly a “breakaway manoeuver” comprising a steep turn through 90 degrees of heading change.
Following his Mark 83 drop, Swift 32 manoeuvred his aircraft in a manner that was suggestive of a pilot attempting to visually spot his weapon impact, losing over 200 ft of altitude in the process. Swift 32 then assumed tactical lead, with Swift 31 flying about 2 miles in trail of Swift 32 and lasing the target for Swift 32, who then dropped his laser guided training round. The ingress to the target was flown at approximately 500 feet above ground level.
Immediately after dropping his laser guided training round Swift 32 initiated a steep left turn, reaching a maximum left bank angle of 118 degrees while pulling approximately 5g. The aircraft nose began to pitch towards and then below the horizon, eventually reaching a nose-down pitch angle of minus 17 degrees and concurrently generating a large descent rate.
About 1.5 seconds before impact the aircraft began rolling right. The bank angle had reduced to approximately 30 degrees left and the pitch angle increased to approximately minus 10 degrees when ground impact occurred. Swift 32 made no radio calls during the turn, did not eject and was fatally injured when the aircraft struck the ground in a descending left turn.
The available evidence did not support a mechanical failure, bird strike or pilot incapacitation scenario. Therefore, it appears that the pilot was capable of controlling the aircraft but did not adequately monitor the aircraft’s flight path while manoeuvring in the low level environment, and allowed the aircraft to enter an overbank situation and the nose to drop well below the horizon. A recovery may have been attempted at the last second but there was not enough altitude available to safely recover the aircraft. While the reason for this lack of flight path monitoring is not knowable with any certainty, circumstantial evidence suggests that the pilot may have been distracted from the critical task of terrain clearance while attempting to spot his weapon impact.
The investigation concluded that following the LGTR drop, Swift 32’s attention was distracted from the time-critical task of monitoring the aircraft’s flight path during the turn and he did not notice that the aircraft had entered an overbank situation while maintaining approximately 5g, inducing a very rapid descent.
Safety recommendations include the re-enforcement of low level awareness training principles and improved training on Terrain Awareness Warning System reactions.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://twitter.com/RCAF_ARC
https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/politics/pilot-killed-as-cf-18-crashes-near-cold-lake-1.3180360
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-distracted-pilot-blamed-in-fatal-cf-18-crash-in-cold-lake-alta-in/
http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/flight-safety/article-template-flight-safety.page?doc=cf188747-hornet-epilogue-flight-safety-investigation-report/izkjob7m
http://www.forces.gc.ca/assets/AIRFORCE_Internet/docs/en/flight-safety/cf188747-fsir-28nov2016.pdf
https://www.canada.ca/en/air-force/corporate/reports-publications/flight-safety-investigation-reports/cf188747-hornet-epilogue-flight-safety-investigation-report.html
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Nov-2016 20:25 | harro | Added |
| 28-Nov-2016 20:26 | harro | Updated [Location] |
| 28-Nov-2016 20:27 | harro | Updated [Operator] |
| 28-Nov-2016 21:33 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, Damage] |
| 30-Nov-2016 15:55 | Tom A | Updated [Operator] |
| 28-Jan-2017 09:46 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Operator, Narrative] |
| 22-Apr-2017 13:28 | El_serj | Updated [Registration, Cn, Source] |
| 06-Apr-2018 21:54 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Time, Phase, Source, Narrative] |
| 08-Apr-2018 14:46 | Aerossurance | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 30-Aug-2018 09:18 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 02-Dec-2018 17:37 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 27-Feb-2021 11:11 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 10-Sep-2023 08:12 | Anon. | Updated [[Operator, Operator]] |
| 10-Sep-2023 08:13 | harro | Updated [[[Operator, Operator]]] |
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