This cant be a good thing!!

[Elroy13]

Browsing the net I came across this picture of an F-4. Im guessing a possble ingestion causing the fire??

[Cking]

Looks like a Photoshop job to me. Notice that there are no unit markings on the aircraft
An engine surge can sometimes result in flames coming out of the air intake but this one does not look right . I have also witnesed many an engine surge during engine test runs but I have never seen flames out of the front. I may be wrong though

Rgds Cking

[Trey Carroll]

Hmmm, Hacker just sent that to me, it's a compressor stall.

[RickH]

We just had this discussion on another thread. We even got a very good explanation from a former J-79 engine troop who later spent 25 years as a J-79 tech rep for GE.

[skybolt2003]

BOOM! compressor stall or not, that's gotta be exciting!

[Elroy13]

Im sure there is a set of HUGE EYES underneath that sun visor!

[Randy Haskin]

Looks like a Photoshop job to me. Notice that there are no unit markings on the aircraft
An engine surge can sometimes result in flames coming out of the air intake but this one does not look right . I have also witnesed many an engine surge during engine test runs but I have never seen flames out of the front. I may be wrong though

Rgds Cking

I fully believe it is an authentic photo of a compressor stall. I have had a compressor stall with a FW100-PW-220 engine in the Eagle and a fireball popped forward out the intake just like that.

Realize that is a completely lucky photo...that fireball only lasts an instant, and to capture it on film is pretty amazing.

[skybolt2003]

well, i don't know, compressor stall or not – he looks pretty low to me. he's sure to end up upside down, on fire, in the weeds . . .

[RMAllnutt]

Looks very real to me. Frightening too. It also looks like a still from a home movie, which perhaps explains how such a fleeting event was captured. Is this a US Phantom II, or perhaps one from the RAF? The paint scheme looks similar to those worn by the RAF late in their service lives.

Cheers,
Richard

[pmahaffey]

I can tell you exactly where that photo was taken. If you look in the background, you will see the LTV (now Lockeheed Martin) plant in Grand Prairie TX. So this aircraft is flying out of Navy Dallas. The Marine squadron based there was the last ones to fly the F-4. So it's a pretty good bet it was theirs.

Patrick

B-17G "Chuckie" pilot/mechanic

[Randy Haskin]

well, i don't know, compressor stall or not – he looks pretty low to me. he's sure to end up upside down, on fire, in the weeds . . .

A compressor stall on takeoff -- in a twin-engine jet -- isn't that huge of a deal. In that photo, based on their altitude and the fact that the jet is all ready "cleaned up", they're probably at/above 300 knots. He's very likely to fall out of his formation, though, as he tries to clear the stall in the photos that would follow this one!

[Steve Nelson]

Cool pic. I just missed getting a shot of an F-14 flaming out an engine at the Cleveland airshow back in the early '90s. I snapped the shutter just after the huge plume of flame disappeared. He was doing a low-level max-G turn, and immediately rolled level and shot straight up through the overcast. The annoncer didn't say what had happened, just that the pilot decided the weather wasn't good enough to continue the show. The plane came back and landed a few minutes later..followed by every emergency vehicle on the field. No injuries, and the plane flew out later that day. Still, a pretty shocking sight.

SN