Description
SHOCKING!!! Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon hits a seagull at +1000km/h during a solo flight display at AIRE 25 international airshow, causing the canopy to shatter at transonic speeds!!
The Eurofighter was just performing its fast speed flyby, flying just slightly under Mach 1, as certified by the normal shockwaves that can be appreciated on the jet in the video, right at the point of impact!
Flying at such high speeds, the poor seagull had no chance of evading the jet, mostly because there would be a minimal delay between hearing it approach before it arrived.
The collision forced the pilot to immediately abort the demonstration and head back to the base to perform an emergency landing, as the canopy front section completely collapsed due to the terrible force of the impact, which must have been very unpleasant and dangerous for the pilot.
Thankfully enough, the canopy, head up display and face protective gear (helmet, mask, visor) shielded the pilot from the brunt of the impact, preventing bad injuries and allowing him to safely land the damaged airplane.
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard–delta wing, multirole fighter jet featuring lightweight construction (82% composites). It was designed originally as an air superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo. The aircraft's development effectively began in 1983 with the Future European Fighter Aircraft programme, a multinational collaboration among Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain. Disagreements over design authority and operational requirements led France to leave the consortium to develop their own jet independently, which resulted in the Dassault Rafale. A technology demonstration aircraft, the BAe EAP, first took flight on 6 August 1986; the first prototype of the finalised Eurofighter made its first flight on 27 March 1994. The aircraft's name, Typhoon, was adopted in September 1998 and the first production contracts were also signed that year.
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a highly agile aircraft, designed to be a supremely effective dogfighter although later production aircraft have been increasingly better equipped to undertake air-to-surface strike missions as well. This agility, both at supersonic and low speeds is achieved through having an intentionally relaxed stability design. The plane features a quadruplex digital fly-by-wire control system providing artificial stability, to compensate for the inherent instability and it also prevents the pilot from exceeding the permitted manoeuvre envelope.
Although not a stealth fighter, measures were taken to reduce the Typhoon's radar cross section (RCS), especially from the frontal aspect. The engine inlets conceal the front of the jet engine, many important potential radar reflectors (wing, canard, fin, leading edges...) are highly swept, so will reflect radar energy away from the front sector. Some external weapons are mounted semi-recessed into the aircraft, partially shielding these missiles from incoming radar waves. In addition radar-absorbent materials, coat many of the most significant reflectors, such as the wing leading edges, the intake edges and interior, the rudder surrounds, and strakes. While canards generally have poor stealth characteristics, the flight control system is designed to maintain the elevon trim and canards at an angle at which they have the smallest RCS.
The first Spanish production Eurofighter flew on 17 February 2003 from Getafe Air Base. The Spanish Air Force assigned their Typhoons to QRA responsibilities in July 2008.
SPECIFICATIONS
Crew: 1 (2 on the tandem version)
Length: 15.96 m
Wingspan: 10.95 m
Height: 5.28 m
Wing area: 51.2 m2
Empty weight: 11000 kg
Gross weight: 16000 kg
MTOW: 23500 kg
Fuel capacity: 4996 kg / 6215 L internal
Powerplant: 2 × Eurojet EJ200 afterburning turbofan engines, 60 kN thrust each
Maximum speed:
2495 km/h / M2.0+ at 10975m altitude
1530 km/h / M1.25 at sea level
Supercruise: M1.5
Range: 2900 km
Ferry range: 3790 km+ with 3 × drop tanks
Service ceiling: 19812 m
G limits: +9, -3
Rate of climb: 318 m/s
Wing loading: 312 kg/m2
Thrust/weight: 1.15
More info about this jet here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurofighter_Typhoon
AIRE 25 Airshow official homepage:
https://www.aire25.es/
Chapters:
0:00 - Seagull impact, real speed and slow mo replays
3:08 - Full flight demonstration
5:57 - Transonic flyby
If you dearly enjoy my content, please consider supporting me on Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/Airguardian
I'd feel really grateful that you take some time to SHARE this video with your friends, LIKE and off course, SUBSCRIBE and ring the bell!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can also follow me on:
YouTube (2nd channel): https://www.youtube.com/RC4ever
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RC4ever
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/RC4Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Airguardian