F-15 and Sentinel R1 in near collision over Lincoln

A Sentinel spy plane was on a “collision course” with two F15 jets in the skies over Lincoln, a report has revealed.

The Sentinel R1, based at RAF Waddington and used for covert surveillance, was on a training flight from the base when it found itself on a collision course with the two jets. The report said all three aircraft were forced to take action to avoid each other. It also suggested in the report that air traffic controllers’ high workload meant they were perhaps not as alert to the danger as they should have been as it unfolded over 30 seconds.

The report added that “Given the time gap, best controlling practice suggests that the opportunity existed for a more timely warning to be given. It is possible that this missed opportunity may be grounded in reduced levels of psycho-physiological alertness caused by workload history, however, it is not possible to sustain this hypothesis.”

The F15s eventually passed 1,600ft overhead after the Sentinel pilot dropped his altitude and both jets began to climb.

The report told how the lead F15 pilot first spotted the risk.

“He realised that they were on a collision course and saw that the traffic was continuing to climb up towards their formation,” the report said. “He saw that the Sentinel was not stopping its climb and he directed the pair to climb to avoid it.”

“Class G airspace is effectively ‘free’ airspace where anyone, civilian or military, can operate and where ‘see and avoid’ is the primary means of collision avoidance with or without a radar service”, said MoD spokesman.

Source: Lincolnshire

Pilot Error Blamed for Fatal F-15 Collision

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – Two inexperienced F-15C Eagle pilots made errors that caused a fatal mid-air collision during a combat training mission over the Gulf of Mexico, Air Force investigators concluded in a report released Monday.

Both pilots misjudged how close they were to each other and had less than two seconds to react before Capt. Tucker Hamilton’s wing sliced into 1^st Lt. Ali Jivanjee’s cockpit in the Feb. 20 accident, investigators said.

“The cause of this mishap was pilot error. Both men failed to clear their flight paths and did not recognize their impending high-aspect, mid-air collision,” said Brig. Gen. Joseph Reynes, the head of the seven-member Air Force Accident Investigation Board.

Jivanjee, 26, of San Dimas, California died instantly. Hamilton, who is now assigned to a non-flying position in Germany, ejected with minor injuries. The single-seat fighter planes were destroyed – an $ 83 million loss for the Air Force.

The report said both pilots did not have enough time flying the F-15 to be experienced in the aircraft. Jivanjee had fewer than 120 hours of flight time in the aircraft and Hamilton had flown it just under the required 500 hours, the report said.

Investigators said they found no mechanical or structural problems in the two, nearly 30-year-old fighter jets, which were part of the Air Force’s aging and problem-plagued F-15 fleet. The 1979 and 1981 F-15s flown by the two Eglin Air Force Base pilots were in good condition, Reynes said.

The Air Force largely grounded its F-15 fleet from Nov. 3, 2007, to Jan. 10 after an F-15 broke apart in mid-air over Missouri. An investigation found that 160 of the Air Force’s nearly 700 F-15s had defects. Last month, another F-15 crashed and killed one pilot during a training mission over the Nevada desert.

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