TU-95 Bear Explodes on take Off

Blew right in half. At night
Those props flying off in all directions had to be bad.
Scary stuff.
RIP
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkG4ltu_UGQ[/ame]

Footage has surfaced online showing a Tu-95 Russian military aircraft fail a takeoff at Ukrainka air base. The aircraft leaned to the left side before an explosion broke the plane apart. There were a total five crew-members on board at the time, three of whom survived the crash. Russian authorities are investigating what caused the explosion.

 

Hard to believe there were survivors.

 

Agreed, amazing they survived.

 

Anyone know who the film crew was?

 

don't believe it's a Tu-95... the engine nacelles are built into the wing, are large enough to accommodate a radial engine, while a TU-95 has turbines mounted below the wing

 

I was looking at the Tu-95 and it seems like things would get real ugly in a hurry if you have a gearbox or prop come apart with the swept wing. With the counter rotating props it seems to be almost a certainty that it will take out the other engine on that wing and probably the rest of the wing with it. I recall seeing some pics of a C-130 that had the gearbox come apart and the #2 propeller ended up chewing through the side of the fuselage which was bad but not a fatal blow. So I'm imagining the same thing on that Tu-95 except the big ol' prop is chewing into the next engine over likely causing it's prop to come apart in short order and shaking the wing off.

 

Looks like it started in the tail area.

Definately a turboprop.

 

One thing that bothers me is why would someone film a take off in a black night when you see nothing unless he knew or was expecting that something's going to happen?

 

In Soviet Russia, bombers bomb themselves.

 

A fuel tank went off almost immediately, so something cut into one of them or an explosion blew one open. Left wing failed immediately, resulting in yaw/roll to the left.

 

Amazing anyone survived that.

 

Nowadays, giving how easy it is to film and how cheap it is to store, people are filming anything that. Doesnt really surprise me.

 

Tu-95 has no turbines, it has turboprops, it's been comfirmed on Russian aviation forums that it was a 95.

 

I think what he ment was turboprops have turbines in them as opposed to a radial engine.

 

The turbines turn the props, but then everyone knew that. Not that much different from a turbofan, except the fan is shrouded.

 

Here is a good shot of one and how they are laid out.
A really good performing airplane. On par with a few jet aircraft.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

A turbo-prop is a gas turbine mechanically connected to a gearbox that reduces the rpm and transmits the torque to the propellor shaft. From what I remember, the gearboxes on that airplane are a German engineering masterpiece that came out of WW2. The power plants on the TU95 give it almost the same performance as the B-52.
Looking at the explosion and the pieces flying out of it initially gives me the impression that it was the number one engine that came apart and threw debris into the wing, the number 2 engine, and fuselage. The outboard engine would appear pretty far aft from the angle of the picture point. Just taking a guess. I , too, wonder why someone would be filming the take off at night like that.

 

I think you are confusing the reflection of the fire against the back of the contra-rotating prop blades (at high speed) as actual nacelles. Digital video (and tape) can turn that effect into a solid.

 

I think the engines on the RH wing carried the forward section of the fuselage forward and to the left, away from the center of the main fireball. Still, I wonder what kind of shape the survivors are in....

 

yes, my bad =( sorry, I didn't enlarge the frame... at quick glance it does appear like a large cowling...

 

don't the counter rotators use concentric power shafts with complex gearboxes to drive and control the props... a pant load of things happening and to go wrong

 

in the early days of turbine powered props, manufacturers labeled their turbo recips as turbo powered... caused a lot of fueling problems...

 

What you mentioned about the overlap of the prop blades turning into a solid is exactly how some B-24 pilots synched the engines . They looked at the number 1 and number 2 prop blades (that over-lapped) and when they got a solid shadow, they were in sync. Then they did the same thing with number 3 and 4. Then synchronized the whole batch.

 

Bob- Number 1 is definitely a possibility, followed by the shrapnel taking out the wet wing tanks.

Incidentally, the Russians record everything. Drivers over there have Go-Pros or similar to document that the guy they hit intentionally stepped in front of them so he could sue. That is why there was so much film of that recent meteorite.

 

Russian dashcam videos can be pretty entertaining and startling (and scary). Plenty on YouTube.