Newly restored Hungarian MiG-15 crashed, Pilots walked away

[M.P.]

The MiG-15 UTI two seater HU-UTI (polish build Lim 2A), new restored by people of the Goldtimer Foundation, had its first post restoration flight on July 11. but sadly crashed on its fourth take off on July 18.

See following Link:
http://www.rchelicopter.hu/PhotoAlbum.a ... f2486cc1bd

And the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X9WH6_x8Ug

[SPANNERmkV]

Glad they got out!
My heart goes out to the people who restored her.

SPANNER

[CAPFlyer]

Sad to hear of the accident, glad to see the guys onboard walk away.

[51fixer]

WOW!
That video is an eye opener to the strength of the airframe and how fortunate the circumstances were.

[The Inspector]

Happy to see everyone got out OK, what happened? loss of power after rotation? That's one tough bird to bounce like that and not shred itself!! The second still photo is even more impressive after watching the video

[51fixer]

Happy to see everyone got out OK, what happened? loss of power after rotation? That's one tough bird to bounce like that and not shred itself!! The second still photo is even more impressive after watching the video

Kinda like NASCAR before the roof air dams.

[K5DH]

Incredible there was no post-crash fire! Those are two lucky airmen. Shame about the MiG, but the pilots are what really matters. Tough machine, no doubt.

[airnutz]

Happy to see everyone got out OK, what happened? loss of power after rotation?

From what I've been led to understand about the -15 types, they are allowed to accelerate until they fly off the ground...the video suggests the PIC might have forced the issue...Tho I generally don't speculate about A/C accidents until the reports come out. (I'm not one to talk about it, you won't hear it from me. )

[mlenoch]

That's the "quirk" about these Korean vintage and Century series jets, they fly when they want - not when you want.
VL

[Dudley Henriques]

That's the "quirk" about these Korean vintage and Century series jets, they fly when they want - not when you want.
VL

Hi Vlado; Looked to me like early rotation into deep drag rise. Common problem with the 86 as well. If you introduce too high a pitch rate too early in the run this can easily result. I'm recalling the Sabre takeoff at Sacramento some years ago. Quite similar although the 86 I don't believe ever managed to rotate off the mains. That one had tragic results if you recall.
Dudley

[Taigh Ramey]

What's up with the drop tank(s)? I wonder if this was the cause of the roll in that direction or if they were dislodged by the first impact?

[cwmc]

Hi Taigh,
I think they were knocked loose after the first impact when it went left wing low. It looks to me that the vapor behind is fuel as both seem to be holed. The UTI's I've seen always operate with them because it's got next to no internal fuel with the second seat.
Dudley's got it right, all the way.
Chris...

[Chris Brame]

This video has a lot more details, especially the post-crash recovery:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF55AJgv_mo

Can someone out there translate the Hungarian titles?

[CAPFlyer]

This video has a lot more details, especially the post-crash recovery:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF55AJgv_mo

Can someone out there translate the Hungarian titles?

If you read the full details on the upload, it's kinda telling -

Early afternoon on 18th of July 2011. The aircraft is preparing for the 4th
take off.

What nobody expected came about. The ambulance and fire men arrived in seconds. Luckily the crew survived the accident without a scratch. The official standpoint is not known yet, but most likely the crash didn't happen for the sake of technician failure.

We share this video to avoid misunderstandings and guessing.

(Emphasis added)

I think that's the closest thing to admitting pilot error without actually doing it. I chose not to comment earlier as I'm not a jet pilot, much less a MiG or any other aircraft of that era or class pilot, but it did seem to me like he rotated hard, fast, and held it much longer than any other MiG-15/17 departure I've ever seen. Having watched the new video in HQ, you can clearly see evidence of him scraping the tail just before liftoff as well. Then Dudley and Vlado pretty much confirmed my fears, and that comment by the guys involved themselves I think is the "nail in the coffin".

Hopefully they'll be able to fix the plane and it will just be another very expensive lesson for a pilot and nothing more.

[oscardeuce]

At abot 1:45 of the above video there is a small puff of vapor from the nose/intake area. Is this normal or a birdstrike/FOD?