United States Air Force has declassified a terrifying footage that shows how the autopilot mechanism of a F-16 saved the unconscious pilot from crash.
During one of the training routines, a student pilot lost consciousness while executing a maneuver. The heads-up display shows exactly what happened after he passed out.
Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System or the Auto-GCAS, is an on-board mechanism of this fighter jet, that can sense land and adjust its own course, to avoid collision. Had it not been for this, the unconsciousness could have easily cost the pilot his life.
The video, is nothing less than a short thriller film as the ground instructor calls for the pilot to recover from the G-induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC), as Aviation Week Network reported.
As the instructor repeatedly says "2 recover", urging the pilot to regain consciousness, the flight can be seen in a nose-dive at 12320 ft at a harrowing 1086kmph, Gizmodo reported. As the instructor calls for the third time, the Auto-GCAS kicks into action making the manoeuvre to avoid collision at 8760ft and at a speed of 1207kmph.
A close shave indeed, but kudos to Lockheed Martin for putting such a system on-board!
