SoloTürk F-16 Demo Nearly Hits Crowd

*The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.*
*Views presented are my own and do not represent the views of DoD or its Components.*

[robem]

Camera man never dies, he saved everyone.

[jknelhams]

Their displays are impressive, but time and again it appears poor judgement is exercised.

SoloTurk was at RIAT (Fairford Airshow) this year - and received two knock it offs from the display director for violations from their 3 displays over the 3 days. 1st for not following their pre-approved display sequence; 2nd for repeated crowd line infringements. A few years ago at the Turkish Formula Un (2021 maybe) they got far too low on a flyby of the grid. There was also the ultra-low boat pass that you and Gonky covered on an early episode of M&G show. Now this wing rock episode.

That’s all the hallmarks of a culture there - and it’s sad as their displays are already great and don’t need this shithousery along with it.

I’ve no doubt the pilot had no intention of having a near miss with the crowd. But the wing rock seems very exaggerated; gets away from him and causes this.

[Hubert]

I saw soloturk 2 weeks ago at sanicole airshow in belgium. Highly skilled pilot. Gave a great performance. What ever the case may be in this situation i’m glad that no one got hurt.

[MegaAKuRAi]

The second angle is crazy because that would be the path of destruction if the crash were to happen.

[twelveparsex]

I worked 10 years on the F-16 and can count on one hand how many uncommanded flight manevuers I've seen, even in flight test. Only one was caused by a mechanical problem.

[babygrrlpc]

Thanks, Mover. One thought about the guy potentially “filming his own death”. I think civilians have been told so often how safe flying is, how every mishap improves safety, and in the world of air shows in particular, with all the crazy acrobatics that are done, that we’re simply lulled into apathy about the danger. Personally, watching a Raptor go vertical is thrilling but I’m terrified of the small biplane acrobat stunts. I think we’ve gotten so used to seeing mil jets do some amazing things - I likely wouldn’t have realized the danger here, myself. That’s why your perspective is so appreciated.

[zambakteacher]

I was there to watch the show. He completed his show, but after that day, the other pilot went on flying for the next 4 days. It was on the second day of a six-day aviation and science festival. Normally, he is the number two pilot. The next days till the end of festival, the leader pilot flew for 4 days.

[chili_]

I’m sure there were folks in the crowd absolutely loving it.

[MACO]

I've seen the Solo Turk demo a few times and they fly really hard almost every time. In Poland almost everyone remembers their show during Radom AirShow 2013 where it was really rough. That's why in my opinion there was no fault there, only pilot error. Fortunately, no one got hurt. Best regards from Poland Mover

[w]

Insane safe, thank God the pilot managed to save it!

[greenthing]

I once stood on an earth bank at the UK Silverstone F1 Grand Prix. The red arrows did one of their displays using the old main runway as their primary sightline. One of the solo aircraft pulled out of a synchronised head-on roll a fraction nose-low. Two seconds later I was processing just how close the belly of the plane [so long ago it was a Folland Gnat] had been to the top of my head as the recovery trajectory, strikingly similar to this one, played out. In both cases it looked like pilot error followed by brilliant decision-making under pressure. I hope they let him keep flying because he is never, ever going to do that again.

[John.Diaz]

Check your shorts moment for the pilot, but “WOW that was cool” for the crowd. It’s better to not know how close they came to ending up part of the mishap report.

[NFlight]

The translation says: "The F-16, which was giving reverse control due to a malfunction in its flight control computer, was towed to the hangar for examination."...

[Maximus_Decimus_Meridius]

Hi people. I am from Adana and I was there during this Solotürk show. Including me no one thought there was something wrong. We thouht it was just part of the show.

[astrophysicistguy]

Completely agree. All my F-16 time is in block 30s and 40s and that sure looks like he got some unexpected roll coupling due to being a little too aggressive with the wing waggle at low speed/ high AOA. If he had a FCS issue the last time you ever want to do after recovery is go straight into a high bank maneuver. Declare an IFE, fly S&L and try to figure out how much control you still have ...

[GregOwens-vhse]

This is the youtube video of the year for me. Thank you. What a save. Can you image being on the ground brave enough to watch the jet come at you and save it. Best adrenaline rush ever.

[anthonymallia]

Found this on the web….. make sense to you ??

In the F-16 the way the FLCS works is it tries to keep you rolling around the longitudinal flight vector, rather than the aircraft longitudinal axis.

That means the more AoA you have when you start an aileron roll (later stick input), the more your nose will rotate off-plane and potentially make you end up pointing below the horizon.

For this reason it’s important to cancel out any significant AoA before making an aileron roll (unless of course you want to make a loaded roll).

I think his mistake was that he was pulling out of a loop and still had significant AoA in when he started to roll, ended up with the nose pointing at the ground and was cold blooded enough to save it.

[DirtyD]

Even if it comes to be pilot error, the fact he recognized it and corrected so quickly to get throttle up and pull out is still impressive

[warizonaZ]

Crazy how barely anyone realized just how dead they could have been. WHEW

[alidigitaly]

This was close to being like back in 88. It has been a long time but what a tragedy that was.