The US Air Force has scrapped a brand new Lockheed Martin AC-130J Ghostrider Gunship after a flight-test crew lost control of the aircraft, resulting in more than $115 million in damages.
The expensive mishap occurred during a test mission by personnel from the 413th Flight Test Squadron based out of Eglin Air Force Base. The flight took place over the Gulf of Mexico on April 21, approximately 40 miles south of Pensacola.
While the crew was performing maneuvers at approximately 15,000 feet, the aircraft “exceeded the targeted angle of sideslip until it departed controlled flight,” an Accident Investigation Board report released earlier this month states. The aircraft“momentarily inverted, before being recovered after losing approximately 5,000 feet of altitude.”
An officer in charge of the investigation found the cause of the accident to be the pilot’s “excessive rudder input during the test point followed by inadequate rudder input to initiate a timely recovery from high angle of sideslip due to overcontrolled/undercontrolled aircraft and wrong choice of action during an operation.”
According to the report, other contributing factors included instrumentation and warning system issues; spatial disorientation; confusion; and inadequate provision of procedural guidance or publications to the team.
The aircraft sustained damages of more than $115 million and was rendered a “total loss.”
Once AC-130J aircraft are used on the frontline, they will be equipped with weapons including a 30mm cannon, 105mm cannon and a variety of precision-guided air-to-surface munitions. The Air Force plans to have an operational fleet of 32 aircraft by 2021, with initial capability scheduled for fiscal year 2017, according to The Pulse.
https://www.rt.com/usa/322565-ghostrider-gunship-test-damage/
A sideslip is when you have full left aileron and full right rudder or just the opposite. In other words they’re slipping the airplane to get a different angle of shot from the cannons to the target, problem is, the pilot had his foot into the rudder too much compared to how much aleron he used.
On top of that he had the airplane at too high of an angle of attack and all those factors together equaled doom. Plane inverted and lost altitude, pilot regained situational awareness and control of the airplane but still the damage was done apparently, it’s too bad because this airplane is easy to fly.
probably one of those politically correct pilots