F18 crashes at Zaragoza airbase

[tertius]

An F18 practising for an air show has crashed at a Spanish airbase, pilot ejected safely:

https://euroweeklynews.com/2023/05/20/huge-firebal...

Video on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/zgzdenuncia/status/16598719976...

[aeropilot]

The other clip showing the immediate seconds is more telling....looks like a very hard pull to the vertical, and then a slow climb and almost stall over the top, and then spiral spin descent before the pilot bangs out at last minute....

https://twitter.com/OnAviation/status/165989395257...

[cherryowen]

Isn't that steep vertical climb, followed by a sharp level out called a "Bunt"? Same thing that did for that Tu-144 at that Paris air show?

[aeropilot]

cherryowen said:

Isn't that steep vertical climb, followed by a sharp level out called a "Bunt"?

Yep, can be done from level flight to vertical and to inverted, or as in this case, from vertical to level flight...

Pretty much a standard routine in most F-18 display's by the various forces that use it.....
Something went wrong with this one though.....pilot disorientation/G-Loc perhaps? The engines were clearly going strong by the noise, so either pilot issue or some flying control restriction/failure?