Anybody else blown the wings off yet?

[Arecibo]

I was in straight and level flight using AFCS, ten minutes in and I was suddenly surrounded by flames and had to eject. Debrief said the following, amongst other failures:

First Issue: Compressor Stall L+R

Stress Damage in Wing / Wing Inners + Outers

Hit Damage Wing Inner Flaps, slats etc etc

Mechanical Failure in Actuators

Then a bunch of other hit damage, I'm assuming from broken parts flying about and finally fuel leak and KABOOM.

Any idea on how to understand went wrong? I don't know if I missed something in cold start that I should have turned on or something. I'm pretty sure I didn't get hit, as the airspace was clear, with nothing from the RWR or Jester regarding threats. Unless it was just a farmer with a gun! 

Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

Edited August 7, 2024 by Arecibo

[Zabuzard]

Do you happen to have "random failures" activated in your mission? If you have, depending on what you checked, something like that can happen after a certain time without any other influence (thats how DCSs random failure system works).

Other than that, it must have been collision-based. So combat damage or collision with something.

There is also G-based stuff, but that would read "Stress Damage", not specifically "Hit Damage", as you mentioned. Similar for wear/tear and other stuff, its not "Hit Damage".

That said, its also possible that you "collided" with an explosion caused by your engines, in case they caught fire for too long and you did not put it out. Depends on the order of events, I would say. Explosion after catching fire usually occurs somewhere between one and ten minutes, depending on a lot of factors.

Engine Fire would be hit-based as well though (or "random failures" or "bird strike" DCS options) (while wear/tear can lower thresholds).

Edited August 7, 2024 by Zabuzard

[Arecibo]

1 hour ago, Zabuzard said:

Do you happen to have "random failures" activated in your mission?

Hi Zabuzard, no, it was an instant action cold start.

1 hour ago, Zabuzard said:

There is also G-based stuff, but that would read "Stress Damage"

There was stress damage in the inner and outer wings, immediately after the compressor stalls, but I thought it might be related to the CSs somehow. I did pull a hard 180 after takeoff, but it wasn't for long and there were no warning tones. If it was the Gs that caused the issue, I'm a bit surprised. I thought the F-4 was a bit more robust than that! 

Also worth noting, all events happened immediately and there were no fire warnings or panel lights on previously. 

Edited August 7, 2024 by Arecibo

[Omega417]

Ive ingested parts of a MIG-21 after a very close guns shot that caused an engine to cease normal operation. But havent had any wings come off yet due to the issue.

[Kalasnkova74]

On 8/7/2024 at 8:29 AM, Arecibo said:

I was in straight and level flight using AFCS, ten minutes in and I was suddenly surrounded by flames and had to eject. Debrief said the following, amongst other failures:

First Issue: Compressor Stall L+R

Stress Damage in Wing / Wing Inners + Outers

Hit Damage Wing Inner Flaps, slats etc etc

Mechanical Failure in Actuators

Then a bunch of other hit damage, I'm assuming from broken parts flying about and finally fuel leak and KABOOM.

Any idea on how to understand went wrong? I don't know if I missed something in cold start that I should have turned on or something. I'm pretty sure I didn't get hit, as the airspace was clear, with nothing from the RWR or Jester regarding threats. Unless it was just a farmer with a gun! 

Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

 

Assuming no technical glitch, I’d say something got missed during the cold start that caused the engines to compressor stall violently on takeoff . If it happens badly enough,  the engines can shed high RPM turbine parts . The failed parts then shrapnel through the rest of the airframe (followed soon after by a kaboom from punctured fuel tanks ).  It was a common problem on early F-14As with the TF-30.

Did you equip a centerline tank, and did you select it before takeoff? If memory serves doing this means the tank can overpressure on takeoff, ejecting fuel and then going boom. There may be other checklist steps that could cause an engine failure like this, but that’s what comes to mind for me ATM
 

 

[Arecibo]

Ah, interesting insight. Sounds like that might be the issue then. I'll have to follow the checklists a bit closer next time!

It was just a short flight, so no ordnance or external fuel tanks.

Edited August 8, 2024 by Arecibo