F-15 Skids Off the Runway into Canal in Oregon; Pilot OK

An Oregon Air Nationwide Guard F-15D slid off the runway and into an irrigation canal at Kingsley Area, Ore., on Could 16. However the pilot was in a position to stroll away from the mishap with solely minor accidents and was rapidly launched from the hospital, the 173rd Fighter Wing introduced. 

The accident came about at roughly 3:15 p.m. native time after a routine coaching mission, in accordance with press releases from the wing. Regardless of being a two-seat F-15D, the plane had just one crew member on board on the time—an teacher pilot—in accordance with a launch.

“We’re so grateful that our pilot was in a position to stroll away from this mishap,” Col. Micah Lambert, 173rd Fighter Wing vice commander, mentioned in a press release. “Our Staff Kingsley responders acted rapidly and with professionalism because of the in depth coaching and security mindset of our group.” 

No trigger for the mishap was given, however the wing mentioned {that a} board of officers has been assigned to research. 

In a launch, Lambert additionally famous that the wing didn’t consider the plane was leaking any gas into the water. 

“Minimizing the environmental influence is one in all our fundamental priorities; we now have taken precautionary measures and positioned absorbent booms across the plane to forestall the circulate of gas, or different substances, downstream within the occasion there’s a leakage,” Lambert mentioned. 

A spokeswoman for the 173rd Fighter Wing mentioned there isn’t any timeline but for the plane to be faraway from the water, nor has any willpower of the severity of the water injury to the airplane been made.

The Air Power has just a few F-15Ds left in its stock—18 as of September 2022. Most of these are within the Air Nationwide Guard, and they’re on common greater than 30 years outdated. 

In 2020, the Air Power introduced it was changing its F-15C/Ds at Kingsley with its F-15EX schoolhouse. Nevertheless, the 173rd introduced in February that the division is reconsidering that call.