U.S. Air Force lost one of its brand new Lockheed Martin AC-130J Ghostrider gunship worth more than $115 million., after the aircraft ac...
U.S. Air Force lost one of its brand new Lockheed Martin AC-130J Ghostrider gunship worth more than $115 million., after the aircraft accidentally exceeded its design limit load during a flight test.
U.S. Air Force Materiel Command released an accident investigation board report for the mishap that occurred on April 21, 2015, while conducting a medium risk flying qualities test sortie over the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 40 miles south of Eglin AFB, Florida.
The incident occurred while the crew from the 413th Flight Test Squadron was performing steady heading sideslips at an altitude of approximately 15,000 feet.
The aircraft exceeded the targeted angle of sideslip until it departed controlled flight and momentarily inverted before being recovered after losing approximately 5,000 feet of altitude. The aircraft returned to base and landed safely without further incident.
As a result of the mishap, the aircraft was "over G'd," and exceeded its design limit load, thereby nullifying the airworthiness of the aircraft and rendering it a total loss.
The board president found the cause of the accident to be the AC-130J pilot's "excessive rudder input during the test point followed by inadequate rudder input to initiate a timely recovery from high angle of sideslip due to overcontrolled/undercontrolled aircraft and wrong choice of action during an operation."
Contributing factors included instrumentation and warning system issues, spatial disorientation, confusion, and inadequate provision of procedural guidance or publications to the team.
The AC-130J is a modified gunship variant of the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules airlifter. The aircraft is equipped with a Precision Strike Package includes dual electro-optical infrared sensors, a 30-mm cannon, AGM-176A Griffin missiles, all-weather synthetic aperture radar and GBU-39 small diameter bomb capabilities.
The sensors allow the gunship to visually or electronically identify friendly ground forces and targets at any time, even in adverse weather.
