Pilots rescued after fighter jets crash

AP ^ | 02/20/2008 | By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer

[fieldmarshaldj]

Witness accounts said he was showing off, and it wasn’t the first time he had crashed his plane (this was an F-14). This one had deadly consequences, killing 5 people (himself, the co-pilot, and 3 on the ground). There was also the claim that the Navy encouraged that sort of flying behavior, but why they would do so over highly populated areas is insane. The final verdict by investigators was “pilot error.”

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1996/vp960130/01300299.htm

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04EED61639F932A05752C0A960958260

http://www.cnn.com/US/9601/nashville_plane/crash_update/index.html

[A.A. Cunningham]

the co-pilot

RIO

[RDTF]

ejecting has gotta hurt. But so glad they are ok.

[Calvin Locke]

Heard a caller on Dennis Miller a week or two ago. Said he was retired Navair, and his research on McCain showed *three* in flight school. "Good thing his father was an admiral..." was among the other comments the guy had.

Remember Bush 41 got shot down in combat. Don't know about any non-combat losses.

LBJ got a Silver Star (thanks, MacArthur) for going on a bombing mission as an observer. (Only WWII congress critter that didn't resigned seat when he enlisted.)

Don't know about any Bush 41 losses, either.

[USNBandit]

Flying fighters isn't the safest occupation and sometimes mishaps happen. Will somebody be found at fault, yes. It might cost both pilots their jobs.

If you think you can do a better job, then I highly encourage you to get off the bench and get in the game.

[yarddog]

Just saw on another thread that one of the pilots has died. Really sad to hear that.

[Traveler59]

You have to lose at least 3 planes to become president.

Nope, new policy is that after the third plane they pull your union card ;)

-Traveler

[Traveler59]

Thanks Cindy. I saw a lot of Eagles (more than usual) from Eglin AFB headed for the W-151 range and wondered if there was an ORE/ORI going on or if something bad had happened.

-Traveler

[JRios1968]

As a young captain nowadays, to me they are...

[PAR35]

Randy "Duke" Cumningham was one of only four US aces of the Vietnam war

Is there solid documentation for all 5 planes? I tried to research it on the internet one time, and it appeared that there was reasonable doubt as to one of the planes. Apparently, Duke's plane ended up in the water that time, so there is no film, and NV records would indicate that their plane was damaged, but returned to base. I couldn't find any indication whether or not other US pilots saw a crash.

Of course, the material I saw could have been the result of a political smear, but given Duke's record before and after, one would wonder.