Lars Gunnar Robert Rådeström (born 7 June 1944) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

former

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...

Crashes with Gripen

Rådeström was the pilot in the first two Gripens to

crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...

, while the aircraft was still in the test series. Both crashes were caught on film by television crews from

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...

.Sveriges Television
, News footage of the 1989 and 1993 crashes (Swedish). * The first crash occurred on 2 February 1989 during an attempt to land at Saab's airstrip at

Linköping/Saab Airport Linköping/Saab Airport , branded as ''Linköping City Airport'', is situated in Linköping, Sweden. The airport is shared between civil aviation and Saab. Airlines and destinations Statistics See also * List of the largest airports in the N ...

. Rådeström remained in the tumbling aircraft, but escaped miraculously with only a fractured elbow and a few other minor injuries. * The second crash occurred on 8 August 1993, when his aircraft

stalled ''Stalled'' is a 2013 British zombie comedy film directed by Christian James. It stars Dan Palmer, who also wrote the screenplay, as a man confined to a bathroom stall after zombies attack. Produced by Richard Kerrigan and Daniel Pickering, the f ...

after a slow speed manoeuver during a display over the

Stockholm Water Festival The Stockholm Water Festival ( sv, Stockholms vattenfestival) was an annual street festival held in Stockholm, Sweden, in August from 1991 to 1999. The festival featured many activities in central Stockholm, but was eventually cancelled after the 1 ...

. Rådeström

ejected Ejection or Eject may refer to: * Ejection (sports), the act of officially removing someone from a game * Eject (''Transformers''), a fictional character from ''The Transformers'' television series * "Eject" (song), 1993 rap rock single by Sense ...

and landed safely by

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

(though he became stuck in a tree), while the aircraft fell to the ground and caught fire at impact. Amazingly, only one person on the ground was injured,A woman was hospitalized for three weeks for burns
"Coping with a Credibility Crisis: The Stockholm JAS Fighter Crash of 1993"
, p. 27. Swedish National Defence College. Retrieved 23 January 2012. and the fire was soon put out. Both crashes were the result of

pilot-induced oscillation Pilot-induced oscillations (PIOs), as defined by MIL-HDBK-1797A, are ''sustained or uncontrollable oscillations resulting from efforts of the pilot to control the aircraft''. They occur when the pilot of an aircraft inadvertently commands an oft ...

(PIO). After the second crash Rådeström decided to retire as a test pilot at the age of 49. The usual retirement age of test pilots is 50, but in an interview he said that he "did not want to push isluck for just another year."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radestrom, Lars Swedish aviators Swedish test pilots 1944 births Living people