Four Gripens have crashed, two of them before the delivery to the Swedish Air
Force. While this is by no means an extreme number for this kind of aircraft
(as a comparison, the test series of Viggen saw seven crashes), the public
setting of the first two crashes initially gave Gripen a bad public image as
being unsafe.

On 2 February 1989 the first prototype crashed on its sixth flight when landing
in Linköping as a result of pilot-induced oscillation. The accident was filmed
in a now famous recording by a crew from Sveriges Television's Aktuellt. The
pilot remained in the tumbling aircraft and escaped miraculously with just a
fractured arm.
On 8 August 1993 a Gripen crashed on the central Stockholm island of Långholmen
during a slow speed manoeuver during a display over the Stockholm Water
Festival. The same pilot as in the 1989 incident ejected safely. Despite large
crowds standing by watching, no one on the ground was seriously injured. Like
the first crash, this one was caused by a PIO.
On 20 September 1999 a Gripen from Airwing F 7 at Såtenäs crashed into Lake
Vänern during a dog-fight exercise. After passing through the wake vortex of
the other plane, the aircraft abruptly changed course and the pilot got a
warning of the highest severity from the ground-collision warning system. He
ejected from the aircraft and landed safely by parachute in the lake, where his
colleague observed him getting into the inflatable life raft. He was picked up
by helicopter 27 minutes later.
On 1 June 2005 a Gripen from Airwing F 17 at Kallinge apparently ceased to obey
commands from the pilot. After attempting to regain control while the aircraft
slowly descended, the pilot ejected from the aircraft and landed safely by
parachute. The cause of the accident is still to be determined.
A sculpture in stainless steel by Thomas Qvarsebo, depicting a paper plane with
a crumpled nose, has been placed on the spot of the 1993 crash.

The cause of the 1999 crash could not be determined until the crash protected
memory was found some 15 months later. The preliminary report is available in
English.[7] The final report (not available in English) concluded that the
plane had passed through the other plane's wake vortex while in a steep (−70
degrees) dive. When passing, the pilot's pitch command was "up", but instead
the vortex inflicted a large aerodynamic transient on the plane, throwing it
down into an almost vertical (−85 degrees) dive. These factors combined created
an angle of attack that was too large for the command to be obeyed, and in this
instant the ground-collision warning system alerted the pilot that a turn to
avoid a crash would require more than 10 G. He then chose, in full accordance
with the flight manual, to eject. In the same moment, however, the vortex's
effect ceased as suddenly as it had appeared, instantly reducing the angle of
attack to within limits, and thus the plane was flyable again, and could in
theory have been saved. The flight status in the moment of ejection was:
altitude 750 m, flight angle −75 degrees, speed 350 km/h, angle of attack −8
degrees, and load −1.5 G.

www.vsocial.com/video/?d=1113#
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uBaxq85wZs
www.radio.cz/en/article/84229
Fighter jet crashes off Swedish coast
A Swedish JAS-39 Gripen fighter jet crashed into the sea off Sweden's south
eastern coast during a routine exercise on Wednesday, but the pilot was able to
eject safely, military officials said.
"The accident occurred at 9:30 am, 40 kilometres south of Karlskrona in Hanö
Bay. The pilot ejected safely and has been rescued from the sea and taken to
hospital," a Swedish Armed Forces spokeswoman told AFP.
The cause of the accident was not yet known, she said, adding that the military
would hold a press conference later in the day.
Wednesday's (June 2005) incident was the fourth crash of a JAS-39 Gripen. The
most dramatic crash occurred in 1993 during an air show over central Stockholm.
The plane went into a nosedive and crashed just 30 metres from thousands of
spectators. The pilot ejected to safety.

A tutaj o Eurofighterze:

14 February 2006

AN RAF Eurofighter crashes in flames imperilling a £20billion defence project
already branded a "waste of money".
The front wheel of the £50million jet, known as the Typhoon, failed to drop
down on landing because of a disastrous computer glitch. A vital manual over-
ride also failed to work.
Our exclusive pictures show smoke and sparks pouring from the plane's engine
and undercarriage as it careers down the runway for hundreds of yards with an
emergency parachute flying out the back.
The pilot and co-pilot escaped unscathed. But the accident highlighted problems
threatening the future of a jinxed programme on which 14,000 British jobs
depend.
The 1,500mph plane is years overdue. Development costs have more than tripled.
Yet only two months before the jet comes into service, failures with its on-
board computer system are continuing to compromise safety for crews.
An insider declared: "This plane has cost billions to develop, is years late
and they still can't get it right. These problems have been going on for
years."
Another source said: "There are horrendous problems. The computer system is a
mess and nothing seems to work properly. Some of the pilots don't feel the
Typhoon is safe. It's simple as that."
Our pictures were taken as the stricken Typhoon came into land at RAF
Coningsby, Lincs, on January 16.
Our source said: "The crew used the computer in the usual way as they came in.
But the front wheel wouldn't come down. Nor did it with the manual over-ride
for use in emergencies.
"The pilots were so far down on landing they had to use the emergency
parachute.
"The back end and undercarriage went up in flames. Fire crews put down foam
which prevented further fire and the whole thing going up. But what if that had
happened in battle?"
The Mirror has learned that the Typhoon's on-board computer has featured in a
series of "operational issues" recorded in the computerised logbook kept by
pilots, engineers and technicians over the past few months.
Missiles did not fit the plane. Language problems between the four countries
funding the project - Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain - have added to
expensive delays.
Our source said: "When the missiles arrived they wouldn't sit properly on
board.
"There have also been real problems with the Italian engineers involved. There
are obvious language difficulties. Different countries coming together to build
one plane hasn't worked."
Britain has 144 Typhoons on order with the first due to come into service with
the launch of a new squadron at the beginning of April.
Tony Blair has triumphantly hailed the fighter as the "cornerstone" of
Britain's air defence. Two new aircraft carriers ordered by the Navy are each
due to carry 36 Typhoons.
But former Tory Defence Secretary John Nott said recently that his decision to
give the scheme the go-ahead in the early 80s was "my biggest mistake". He
said: "It's a complete waste of money."
In 2004 a leaked report by MoD evaluators Qinetiq said safety problems put the
jet at risk of an irrecoverable loss of control in flight.
Problems were so serious the aircraft should not fly in cloud or
perform "dynamic" manoeuvres used in aerial combat unless it carried a safety
pilot.
The document also said there was an "unquan-tifiable" risk that computer
problems could cause a catastrophic failure of the aircraft.
Qinetiq identified three key issues which made the Typh