wonder what happened here

[l921428x]

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140609/DEFREG01/306090011/Eurofighter-Jet-Crashes-Spain-Pilot-Killed?odyssey=mod_sectionstories

doesn't give much info.

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140609/DEFREG01/306090023/Eurofighter-Studying-Missiles-Give-Typhoon-Maritime-Attack-Capability

[5.56NATO]

"The Moron air base is shared by Spain and the US Air Force, but only Spain operates the Eurofighter jet."

[l921428x]

I still wonder why they have the fins on the front?

made in 2003 going to be retired in 2018 if they cannot sell it.

[5.56NATO]

I still wonder why they have the fins on the front?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canard_(aeronautics)

[l921428x]

a canard may be added to an unstable design. now I understand.

[Krupski]

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140609/DEFREG01/306090011/Eurofighter-Jet-Crashes-Spain-Pilot-Killed?odyssey=mod_sectionstories

doesn't give much info.

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140609/DEFREG01/306090023/Eurofighter-Studying-Missiles-Give-Typhoon-Maritime-Attack-Capability


Wind shear maybe? The article says he crashed as he was landing, and since he was killed, obviously he didn't eject. That points to something that happened very quickly, and very near the ground when the airplane was just above stall speed (the plane does, after all, have to slow down below stall speed to stay on the ground).

Maybe the wind changed direction abruptly and lowered his indicated airspeed below stall and he dropped to the runway from just a bit too high of an altitude to survive it.

That actually happened on an airliner that I was flying years ago. We just rotated up and left the runway, the whole airplane howled and vibrated, then dropped back down onto the runway. The pilot applied full thrust, kept the nose down for several seconds then rotated into the climb again.

I wonder how many of the passengers knew how close we had been to becoming a "breaking news story"?

[Krupski]

a canard may be added to an unstable design. now I understand.

A canard elevator may seem counter-intuitive. It looks as though it should grab the wind and either flip up or down (i.e. unstable).

But actually, a canard elevator is safer that a traditional rear elevator. Since the canard ALWAYS stalls first, it's impossible to stall the airplane intentionally by applying too much pitch. The canard stalls first and lets the nose drop back down, thereby restoring airspeed.

[imanaknut]

Glad you pointed that out Roger as I was about to tell l921428x not to tell things like that to Burt Rutan.