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Scramble 468
Wanaka International Airshow, New Zealand. He was shaken
but not injured, the air show general manager says. The
Yakovlev landed on a grass runway at Wanaka Airport but
clipped one of two cherry pickers, parked between the grass
and sealed runways. He signalled to the crowd he was okay
when he emerged from the mangled plane and walked away
from the wreck uninjured.
Videos of the crash can be found here:
01apr18 Hawk Mk166 w/o
A fighter of the RAFO (Royal Air Force of Oman or al-Quw-
wat al-Jawwiya al-Sultanat Oman in the local lingo) crashed
during a training flight, killing the pilot onboard.
The Mk166 is a version that is specific to the RAFO. The main
mechanical changes are the nose wheel steering, onboard
oxygen generator (no more oxygen cylinders are needed)
and an APU (Auxiliary Power Unit).
02apr18 N511AC Ce525C 525C-0081 dam
A Citation CJ4 of Avis International was badly damaged after
private Cessna 150 N5614E (17114) hit the CJ4’s tail during
a failed take-off attempt at Marion Municipal Airport’s (IN)
runway 04. At the time the Citation had just landed at runway
04. The Cessna 150 was partially consumed by the post-impact
fire and the two occupants were fatally injured, while the
CJ4’s tail was severed and the five occupants onboard were
apparently not injured. What did not help was the fact that
Marion Municipal Airport is listed as an uncontrolled airport,
meaning air traffic can come and go without having to notify
any air traffic control agency. Usually this is done by using a
CTAF (Common Traffic Advisory Frequency).
03apr18 ....../YS-.. AV-8B w/o
A US Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier was taking off from Dji-
bouti Ambouli International Airport around 4pm local time,
when the nose of the aircraft rose too quickly, causing the
pilot to lose control of the aircraft and forcing him to eject.
Luckily he was able to walk to the ambulance after his suc-
cessful ejection, but is being treated at Camp Lemonnier’s
expeditionary medical facility in Djibouti.
The Harrier is assigned to VMM-162 Golden Eagles as part of
the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), based on the USS
Iwo Jima (LHD-7).
03apr18 Mi-17-V5 w/o
The Indian Air Force once again made this section of Scram-
ble, as a Mi-17, carrying construction material, crashed on
landing after colliding with an iron girder during landing
at a helipad near Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand. All six
occupants received minor injuries. The chopper, which came
from Guptakashi, caught fire and was declared written off.
The Kadernath Temple is not accessible by road, the only
option is a climb of eighteen kilometres by horse. The temple
is at a height of 3,583m and only accessible between April and
October due to severe weather conditions.
03apr18 1648 F-7M w/o
A Myanmar Air Force F-7M crashed near Kone Kyun
village,Taungoo, Bago region, Myanmar, after a technical
failure. It came down in a paddy field, five kilometres west
of its Air Force base. The pilot managed to eject but was later
found dead, attached to his parachute near the wreckage.
03apr18 164358/YJ-... CH-53E 65-582 w/o
All four crew members onboard a CH-53E Super Stallion of
the USMC, were killed after it crashed in southern California.
It happened during a routine training mission in the vicinity
of NAF El Centro (CA), near California’s border with Mexico.
It is unclear whether all were Marines. It is not a good day for
the United States Marines Corps, as they also lost an AV-8B
Harrier when it crashed at Djibouti.
03apr18 CH-53E dam
Another Sea Stallion mishap for the USMC, as this one expe-
rienced a hard landing and sustained substantial damage
during training at the Combat Training Center at Arta Beach,
Arta Beach, Djibouti.
04apr18 N618CW Lj45XR 45-430 dam
During a thunder storm a hangar partially collapsed at Hou-
ston-Hobby Airport (TX). A Lear 45 operated by ERG Holdings,
sustained substantial damage. Next to this Lear Challenger
604 N249TX 5577 (although that was a reservation at the
time, the FAA currently (as of April 2018) has it as N875BA) of
Runway Express, Learjet 40XR N626FX 45-2120 of Union Gas
Air Ventures and Falcon 2000LX XA-CDT 020 of Aero Personal
were involved, with N249TX and XA-CDT seemingly escaping
largely unscathed.
04apr18 92-3880/4 F-16CM CC-122 w/o
The United States Air Force’s demo team Thunderbirds lost
an F-16 Fighting Falcon after it crashed during a training
mission at the Nevada Test and Training Range, not long after
it had departed Nellis AFB (NV). Unfortunately, the pilot was
killed during the mishap that happened at approximately
10:30 a.m. during a routine aerial demonstration training
flight. The usual training area is close to Creech AFB (NV),
On 24 April 2018 the United States Air Force lost Viper 90-0706/WA of 310th FS Top Hats, after it crashed at Lake Havasu City Municipal Airport
(AZ). It diverted to the airport during a routine training mission for as of yet unknown reasons. During landing on runway 14 the fighter suffered
a runway excursion and the pilot ejected safely. (Luke AFB (AZ), 18 March 2016, Martin Uleman)
