Caught on video: an RNoAF F-16 ingests a bird during take off.
Birds ingested in aircraft engines can have devastating effects. The video below, shared on Twitter by Stephen Trimble, Aviation reporter and editor for Flightglobal’s Americas bureau (@FG_STrim), was reportedly filmed on May 7 at Kjeller airport. It shows a Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16 taking off for a test flight following maintenance activity.
At 00:19 you can clearly see the aircraft’s engine emanating flames (generating a loud bang) in what seems to be the typical behaviour of a compressor stall. Without retracting the landing gear, the F-16 continues to climb to perform an emergency landing a few minutes later at Oslo Gardemoen.
We have often commented videos of photographs of jets suffering compressor stalls. Here’s the explanation we published last time:
Compressor stalls (sometimes referred to as afterburner stalls in aircraft with reheat) are not too rare among military aircraft. They can be caused by several factors, including birdstrikes, FOD (Foreign Object Damage), ingestion of turbulent or hot airflow into the air intake etc.
A compressor stall is a local disruption of the airflow in the compressor whose severity may vary from a momentary power drop to a complete loss of compression.
A particular kind of compressor stall is the compression surge that occurs when the hot vapour generated by the aircraft carrier’s catapult is ingested by the aircraft air intake thus creating a breakdown in compression resulting in a the compressor’s inability to absorb the momentary disturbance and to continue pushing the air against the already-compressed air behind it. As a consequence, there’s a momentary reversal of air flow and a violent expulsion of previously compressed air out through the engine intake producing some loud bangs from the engine and “back fires”.
As already explained on The Aviationist in the past, in most of the cases even after suffering a “surge” the compressor will usually recover to normal flow once the engine pressure ratio reduces to a level at which the compressor is capable of sustaining stable airflow.
Some engines have automatic recover functions even if pilots experiencing the surge can be compelled to act on the throttle or, in some cases, relight the engine.
According to the reports issued later by the RoNAF, the aircraft suffered a “birdstrike”: the bird(s) got sucked into the F-16’s air intake causing the compressor stall and the consequent distinct long flame.
Here’s the May 7 incident, filmed from distance at two different locations:
We have received an email from Pierric Joseph, an associated professor in a engineer school) that provides more accurate explanation of what a compressor surge is. Here’s an excerpt from PJ’s message:
“You state that compressor surge is a particular case when engine ingests hot vapour generated by launch catapult, this is not totally true.
The general phenomenon is compressor stall. It can be divided into two categories:
– Compressor surge : all the rotor blade blades “lose” (i.e. the airfoil stalls like an airplane wing) the airflow at the same time, then get it again, then lose it again, etc. Due to this particular motion, we call it “pumping” in my language.
– Rotating stall : only a few blades on the annulus “lose” the airflow, and you get some kind of stalled pockets (you can have several of them) which rotates with a different velocity than the rotor (and in the opposite direction).
Usually, you go to rotating stall then to full stall (or surge). So the actual challenge is to detect early warning of the rotating stall and to take the appropriate measures.
Another cause of compressor stall, if you want to be more exhaustive: you can add smoke ingestion due to missile shot (some particular engines go to special mode when firing missile – not a secret thing, it is even written on some wikipedia page for some particular engine).”
The chute, housed under a small fairing on the upper rear fuselage between the vertical tails, is unique to the Norwegian aircraft.
On Feb. 16, the Royal Norwegian Air Force completed a successful verification of the F-35A drag chute system at Ørland Air Force Base.
The system, housed under a small fairing on the upper rear fuselage between the vertical tails, can be used to rapidly decelerate Norwegian F-35s after landing on the country’s icy runways under windy conditions.
Although the chute is unique to the Norwegian aircraft, other nations flying the F-35A may adopt it, if needed.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force is completing another round of cold-weather testing of the F-35A at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska.
The RoNAF F-35 during the drag chute test (credit: RoNAF)
“Receiving the first three aircraft in November 2017 was a major milestone for Norway. The program delivers on all key criteria: Time, cost and performance. Through the verification of the production version of the drag chute on our production model of the F-35, the weapons system is expected to fully qualify for arctic conditions this spring,” says Major General Morten Klever, Program Director for the F-35 program in Norway’s Ministry of Defence.
The first three RoNAF F-35s have landed in Norway in November 2017. According to the Norwegian MoD, from 2018, Norway will receive six aircraft annually up until, and including, 2024.
Norway plans to procure up to 52 F-35A to replace its fleet of ageing F-16s, that will be replaced in 2021. The first two aircraft were delivered in 2015 followed by another two in 2016 and three more ones earlier in 2017, but these aircraft were based at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, where they are used for Norwegian and partner country pilot training.
Top image credit: Royal Norwegian Air Force
The first three 5th Generation stealth aircraft have arrived in Norway.
On Nov. 3, at about 15.57 local time, the first three F-35A jets (AM-8, AM-9 and AM-10) destined to the RNoAF (Royal Norwegian Air Force) and delivered directly to Norway have landed at Ørland Air Force Station, in central Norway.
Norway plans to procure up to 52 F-35A, at an estimated cost of about NOK 70 billion (+7.3B USD), including weapons and support, to replace its fleet of ageing F-16s, that will be replaced in 2021. The first two aircraft were delivered in 2015 followed by another two in 2016 and three more ones earlier in 2017, but these aircraft were based at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, where they are used for Norwegian and partner country pilot training.
The first three RNoAF F-35s on the ground at Orland Air Force Station, Norway. (RNoAF)
The landing of the three F-35 at their new homebase at Ørland Air Force Station marks the first direct delivery from Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility to Norway, where all the remaining planes will be delivered, at a rate of six new jets per year from 2018 onward.
The arrival will be officially celebrated on Nov. 10, 2017, on the day of the Royal Norwegian Air Force’s 73rd anniversary.
The BAP mission serves to protect the Baltic states airspace. The activity of the Russian Air Force in the area remains one of the main reasons for which the mission has been established, however the NATO assets in the region are also scrambled to intercept civilian aircraft that do not use proper flight plans, transponder codes or which have lost communication with the ATC. And most of the aforesaid procedures were trained during the Ramstein Alloy 4 training event.
A Dutch F-16 escorts the C-27J Spartan.
According to NATO, “participants practiced air intercepts, air to air refueling, search and rescue operations as well as practice diversions, the approaches to different Baltic airfields. Furthermore, involved aircraft also trained intercept procedures for COMLOSS situations, a scenario in which a civilian aircraft loses contact with ground controls and requires midair identification by Air Policing alert jets.”
The RNlAF F-16s involved in the Ramstein Alloy 4 mission that included the escort to the C-27J
Foto Poork’s Filip Modrzejewski took part in the exercise and provided us some stunning air-to-air images taken during Ramstein Alloy.
The photo-shoot took place at the altitudes between 22 and 24,000 feet, with the C-27 Spartan playing the role of a photoship. Due to the scarcity of oxygen available in the air, all of the photos were taken through the Spartan’s windows which, nonetheless remain photographer-friendly, as the images prove.
Dutch F-16s and one of two Typhoons closing on the camera ship’s left wing.
Moreover, taking photos as high also has its advantages, being less dependent on the weather. The shoot involved three formations: 2x F-16s, 2x F-16s + 2x Eurofighters, and, finally, a pair of Eurofighters. The aircraft also performed some breaks, to make the photos even more interesting.
The operation is a sequel to the Baltic Region Training Event (BRTE) series, 20 editions of which preceded the Ramstein Alloy exercise.
A civilian-owned CF-104D Starfighter flew for its first time in 33 years in Norway. And here are some of the coolest clips filmed during the historical “first flight.”
On Sept. 28, CF-104D Starfighter “637” / LN-STF in the colors of the Royal Norwegian Air Force flew again in Bodø, Norway, 33 years after its first flight.
Chased by a dual seater F-16B of the RNoAF, the aircraft, brought back to airworthy conditions in 13 years by the Norwegian Foreningen Starfighterens Venner (Friends of the Starfighter Association) flew for about 50 minutes becoming the first “Zipper” (or “Missile with a man in it” in accordance to one of the several nicknames the legendary plane has had during its long career) to fly in Europe in more than 11 years: the last flight of an F-104 in the Old Continent took place in Italy, on Jul. 27, 2005, when the Italian Air Force retired its last aircraft (a two-seater TF-104, the same type of aircraft this Author had the opportunity to fly in November 2000) after more than 40 years of service.
Eskil Amdal, a Norwegian test pilot, flew the Starfighter “637” during its newest “first flight” that was broadcast live on Facebook.
The following video shows the takeoff of the chase F-16B that performed an airborne pickup of the F-104 and the later approach and landing:
Here’s an interesting clip with footage from inside the cockpit:
The following footage shows the CF-104D from the backseat of the F-16B (taken by Helge Andreassen):
There are rumors that the Norwegian association will some day bring the F-104 back to airshows around Europe. However it looks like there are no plans (and possibly clearances) at the moment to fly this magnificient aircraft outside of Norway.
H/T to Giulio Cristante, Bjørnar Bolsøy and all the readers who sent us links and comments!
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