FA-18 MCAS El Toro Crash

wrong setting from altitude meter ,happens even with the best !! talking from myself i was lucky nice thx friend

Taken from Wikipedia.com:

On April 24, 1988, Marine Corps Colonel Jerry Cadick, then commanding officer of MAG-11, was performing stunts at the MCAS El Toro Air Show before a crowd of 300,000 when he crashed his F/A-18 Hornet at the bottom of a loop that was too close to the ground.[20] The aircraft was in a nose-high attitude, but still carrying too much energy toward the ground when it impacted at more than 300 mph. Col. Cadick was subjected to extremely high G forces that resulted in his face making contact with the control stick and sustaining serious injury. He broke his arm, elbow and ribs, exploded a vertebra and collapsed a lung. Col. Cadick survived and retired from the Marine Corps. The F/A-18 remained largely intact but was beyond repair.

I was at this airshow sitting about where the first camera angle was taken, it was freaky seeing this in person, almost like it was part of the show, the audience got quiet after the first initial reaction, anyway, even though it was a couple hundred yards away when the jet hit the ground, the engine blew out and created a wave over us that got a little warm, all in all I am glad the Col. survived even though he was badly injured.

Also I was at another airshow in El Toro around ealy 90's when a Saber jet crashed, on that occasion the pilot did not survive, he was supposed to be in a dog fight situation with a MIG but the piolot of the MIG fell ill that day and could not fly, so this guy had to do a solo show and ended up crashing nose first 3/4 the way through his loop, is there any video of that on this site or anywhere else because I can't find anything on it?

crap

Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch!

that was not a Cuban 8, more like a messed up square loop

if the pilot couldnt erect after crash is he dead? paralyzed? or just technical failure in ejection-seat?

Stupid rely stupid piloting of this plane

looks like a crazy crash to me..

pilot21200...He didn't bail out because he couldn't eject after he hit the ground. He did nothing to prevent the aircraft from hitting the crowd because it wouldn't have anyway. He simply didn't top out at the correct altitude and didn't have enough of it to complete the maneuver.

yes the pilot lives to tell about it!! The f-18 along with moderen fighter jets are equipped with a zero ejection seat meaning they can bail out at low altitudes and low speed. The only reason he did not bail out was to contral the crash so it did not hit the crowd. They did an interview on this pilot on the TLC channel he stood 5'11 before the crash and now stand 4 inches shorter due to his spine compressed after impact

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Well, not sure about it but I suppose that zero-zero seats appeared first in the 60s.
The Hornet is equipped with this type of seat since it entered USN service in 1983 (check the F-18 Emergency Landing Video on this site too). Cheers

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That's ok for the Square Loop, I mistakenly called it a Cuban 8 which is a totally different figure.
The Hornet impacted the runaway with its engine nozzles first; the aircraft then skidded along the runaway intact though with severe damage to the underside.
Couldn't find any info on the web, especially on the pilot's fate. If anyone knows more... ;-)

in a ejection seat zero-zero you can eject after the crash... does the F/A-18C have this ejection seat type?!
great damage, i can imagine the impact inside the cockpit... another lucky pilot in this airshows that goes wrong...

Well Starfighter's comment is a little misleading. He was nearly killed. Has pins in his knees and all over his body. He suffered SEVERE trauma. He was performing a square loop. He could not eject after impact.

The pilot didn't eject but was ok, aircraft sustained great damage to the underside of the fuselage only. Great luck!!

Do anyone know if the pilot is alive after that crash?