Pilot disorientation blamed for Gripen fighter crash

[A.P. Richelieu]

Pilot disorientation blamed for Gripen fighter crash

• 11 Jan 2018 at 11:44 5,195 viewed
• WRITER: WASSANA NANUAM

This photo taken from a video clip shows a ball of smoke and fire rising from the Gripen immediately after it crashed into the ground at Wing 56 in Hat Yai, Songkhla, on Jan 14, 2017.

The air force has concluded that pilot spatial disorientation led to the crash of a Gripen jet fighter in Songkhla province on Children's Day, Jan 14, last year.

Air force spokesman AM Pongsak Semachai said on Thursday the finding emerged from a standard investigation by the Royal Thai Air Force, Swedish Defence Material Administration and SAAB, the plane's manufacturer.

It took into account all the detailed evidence, including the performance of the aircraft and the health of the pilot.

"The probe found that the jet fighter had no problems and the pilot had been well trained. Regarding the incident, spatial disorientation was highly possible," said AM Pongsak.

Spatial disorientation refers to the inability of a pilot to correctly interpret aircraft attitude, altitude or airspeed in relation to the earth or other points of reference.

It could occur even to well-trained pilots and could be caused by any of many factors, including weather conditions, speed, acceleration and swift changes of aircraft orientation. It was one of the most common causes of air crashes, he said.

Sqn Ldr Dilokrit Pattavee, 34, of Surat Thani-based Wing 7, was killed when the Swedish-made Gripen JAS 39C crashed and exploded in front of children and parents near a runway.

The Gripen was one of the nine air force jet fighters taking part in an air show as part of Children's Day activities at Wing 56 in Hat Yai district of Songkhla province.

AM Pongsak said the air force would again have air shows for youngsters on Children's Day this year, which is this Saturday.


https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/ge...isorientation-blamed-for-gripen-fighter-crash

 

[Bratva]

reminds of this video. Pilot kept an excellent spatial orientation of his surroundings.

 

[MastanKhan]

Pilot disorientation blamed for Gripen fighter crash

• 11 Jan 2018 at 11:44 5,195 viewed
• WRITER: WASSANA NANUAM

View attachment 448038

This photo taken from a video clip shows a ball of smoke and fire rising from the Gripen immediately after it crashed into the ground at Wing 56 in Hat Yai, Songkhla, on Jan 14, 2017.

The air force has concluded that pilot spatial disorientation led to the crash of a Gripen jet fighter in Songkhla province on Children's Day, Jan 14, last year.

Air force spokesman AM Pongsak Semachai said on Thursday the finding emerged from a standard investigation by the Royal Thai Air Force, Swedish Defence Material Administration and SAAB, the plane's manufacturer.

It took into account all the detailed evidence, including the performance of the aircraft and the health of the pilot.

"The probe found that the jet fighter had no problems and the pilot had been well trained. Regarding the incident, spatial disorientation was highly possible," said AM Pongsak.

Spatial disorientation refers to the inability of a pilot to correctly interpret aircraft attitude, altitude or airspeed in relation to the earth or other points of reference.

It could occur even to well-trained pilots and could be caused by any of many factors, including weather conditions, speed, acceleration and swift changes of aircraft orientation. It was one of the most common causes of air crashes, he said.

Sqn Ldr Dilokrit Pattavee, 34, of Surat Thani-based Wing 7, was killed when the Swedish-made Gripen JAS 39C crashed and exploded in front of children and parents near a runway.

The Gripen was one of the nine air force jet fighters taking part in an air show as part of Children's Day activities at Wing 56 in Hat Yai district of Songkhla province.

AM Pongsak said the air force would again have air shows for youngsters on Children's Day this year, which is this Saturday.


https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/ge...isorientation-blamed-for-gripen-fighter-crash

Hi,

Air show display are perfection---one small error---you pay the ultimate price---one small glitch in the aircraft---gets you to point of no return.

 

[war&peace]

Have they conducted an unbiased investigation of this incident before blaming the poor pilot?

Hi,

Air show display are perfection---one small error---you pay the ultimate price---one small glitch in the aircraft---gets you to point of no return.

Even if it is subsonic, still the speed is so high that shortest glitch in the system can make airplane drift / travel 100's meters and when so close to the ground and installations and trees... can be fatal.

 

[CriticalThought]

@A.P. Richelieu What fail safes are built into Gripen to avoid such disasters? I thought Ground Collision Avoidance would be available in a fighter jet of Gripen's calibre. The F-16s certainly have it:

https://theaviationist.com/2016/09/...save-an-unconscious-pilot-from-certain-death/

 

[gambit]

Pilot error is a serious charge.

"The probe found that the jet fighter had no problems and the pilot had been well trained. Regarding the incident, spatial disorientation was highly possible," said AM Pongsak.

He is not saying that spatial disorientation was THE cause. He said that once investigation of aircraft records and status completed and found nothing that would be THE cause, spatial disorientation must be considered as the next likely option.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_disorientation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_leans

The leans is just one of several ways a pilot could get disoriented. Unfortunately, the leans is also the most common. The condition occurs in pilots, race car drivers, skydivers, and even underwater divers. The leans basically tells you that you are in a different state other than straight up and ahead.

I experienced the leans when I learned to fly back in high school and it was my IP who overrode my yoke input. Just because you are a passenger in a flight, you can also experience the leans. If you are in a straight and level flight when the captain turned off the seat belt sign and you see a passenger wobbling his way to the lavatory up front, do not assume that he is drunk. Not everyone respond well to flying.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-aviators-dilemma/

Gosden—coincidentally “Goose” is the call sign of Cruise’s wingman in Top Gun—continued, “We all had ‘spatial D’ or were suffering from ‘the leans.’” Spatial D is short for spatial disorientation, a catchall term to describe the summed result of the various perceptual illusions and degraded sensory perceptions that may occur on a mission. It is the total failure of situational awareness and, shockingly, the most common cause of crashes in the navy, accounting for almost 80 crashes between 1990 and 2008.

Note the highlighted. He was being honest about flying.

It is not a medical condition but a physiological one where your brain momentarily cannot reconcile what it received from the body's sensors.

Your instruments are your saviors.

All they can do is scan the instruments continually to give themselves as much factual information about the aircraft as possible, to counteract the false information from deceitful bodily senses.

We instinctively and intuitively trust ourselves but technology put us into situations where what evolution gave us could not keep up with the rapid changes in body positions. Hence, spatial disorientation.

Pray for the pilot and his family. Do not assume that the charge 'pilot error' means he was incompetent. He was in an environment alien to human and the fact that he passed the requirements means he was an exception from the rest. And even the worst can happen to the best.

 

[CriticalThought]

Pilot error is a serious charge.


He is not saying that spatial disorientation was THE cause. He said that once investigation of aircraft records and status completed and found nothing that would be THE cause, spatial disorientation must be considered as the next likely option.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_disorientation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_leans

The leans is just one of several ways a pilot could get disoriented. Unfortunately, the leans is also the most common. The condition occurs in pilots, race car drivers, skydivers, and even underwater divers. The leans basically tells you that you are in a different state other than straight up and ahead.

I experienced the leans when I learned to fly back in high school and it was my IP who overrode my yoke input. Just because you are a passenger in a flight, you can also experience the leans. If you are in a straight and level flight when the captain turned off the seat belt sign and you see a passenger wobbling his way to the lavatory up front, do not assume that he is drunk. Not everyone respond well to flying.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-aviators-dilemma/

Note the highlighted. He was being honest about flying.

It is not a medical condition but a physiological one where your brain momentarily cannot reconcile what it received from the body's sensors.

Your instruments are your saviors.

We instinctively and intuitively trust ourselves but technology put us into situations where what evolution gave us could not keep up with the rapid changes in body positions. Hence, spatial disorientation.

Pray for the pilot and his family. Do not assume that the charge 'pilot error' means he was incompetent. He was in an environment alien to human and the fact that he passed the requirements means he was an exception from the rest. And even the worst can happen to the best.

Are there technological solutions that could have averted this? Such as Ground Avoidance System?

 

[A.P. Richelieu]

Pilot error is a serious charge.


He is not saying that spatial disorientation was THE cause. He said that once investigation of aircraft records and status completed and found nothing that would be THE cause, spatial disorientation must be considered as the next likely option.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_disorientation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_leans

The leans is just one of several ways a pilot could get disoriented. Unfortunately, the leans is also the most common. The condition occurs in pilots, race car drivers, skydivers, and even underwater divers. The leans basically tells you that you are in a different state other than straight up and ahead.

I experienced the leans when I learned to fly back in high school and it was my IP who overrode my yoke input. Just because you are a passenger in a flight, you can also experience the leans. If you are in a straight and level flight when the captain turned off the seat belt sign and you see a passenger wobbling his way to the lavatory up front, do not assume that he is drunk. Not everyone respond well to flying.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-aviators-dilemma/

Note the highlighted. He was being honest about flying.

It is not a medical condition but a physiological one where your brain momentarily cannot reconcile what it received from the body's sensors.

Your instruments are your saviors.

We instinctively and intuitively trust ourselves but technology put us into situations where what evolution gave us could not keep up with the rapid changes in body positions. Hence, spatial disorientation.

Pray for the pilot and his family. Do not assume that the charge 'pilot error' means he was incompetent. He was in an environment alien to human and the fact that he passed the requirements means he was an exception from the rest. And even the worst can happen to the best.

I guess this is related to the problem.
I think that many people all over the world may have tried it out.

Are there technological solutions that could have averted this? Such as Ground Avoidance System?

The Thai Air Force has not upgraded their Gripens from MS19 to MS20 yet.
MS20 supports Ground Collision avoidance.
MS20 was released about 5-6 months before the crash.
https://saabgroup.com/Media/news-pr...-the-world-with-new-operational-capabilities/