Instead of ‘negging’ this Naval Aviator, read this part of the article:
Her correction disrupted the airflow into her Tomcat’s left engine, which caused it to fail. This was a known deficiency in that particular engine.
The engine had a KNOWN PROBLEM.
Skill and luck are no match for known failures.
That is a lie. There was nothing wrong with the engine. She simply flamed it out by disrupting it's airflow into the engine inlet because she moved the control surfaces in such a way as to cause the front fuselage to block the airstream going into the engine air intake.
This is a known problem on all navy jets and has nothing to do with any specific engine. The aircraft has to fly straight into the air stream. If you get it cocked slightly sideways, the nose of the aircraft blocks the air flow into the engine causing a "compressor stall" and a flameout.
You can recover from this at higher speeds and higher altitudes, but you often cannot recover from this at low speeds and low altitudes.
“The engine had a KNOWN PROBLEM.”
First, it was not the engine with the problem. It’s an issue inherent to twin engine aircraft where the intakes are on the side. The F-14 was more susceptible to this problem than most other aircraft at the time.
So, yes, it was a known problem. Which is exactly why there was an established procedure for recovery that all F-14 pilots were required to memorize. That procedure did result in recovery of the aircraft when this event was recreated in simulators multiple times.
She did not follow that procedure.
She screwed up.
Watch the video linked in post 40.
You fail.
All airplanes have small details that will kill you if you do not understand them.
Now as for all of the heated defense of the lady, you also are missing an important point.
I flew for 40 years. During that time a lot of people I knew died in crashes.
I can think of only a few who died because of mechanical failure.
One, along with several others in the aircraft, died because some sort of fastener on the elevator was not properly secured. Long ago and I don’t remember the exact details, but the plane crashed immediately after takeoff on a maintenance test flight.. No survivors.
A friend died when both engines on his Aerostar quit shortly after takeoff. The airport is surrounded by very rugged terrain. The engines quit because the lineman at the fixed base thought the aircraft used jet fuel.
But the list of dead is very long with rolls to inverted flight on takeoff, circling approach at night, weather below minimums and collision with the ground, hammer head stalls overloaded and out of CG, buzzing the girls house, failure to remove gust lock on elevator complicated by an extremely short field, close turn behind a heavy jet, and multiples of some of the above.
My point is that every single one of these were dissected and critiqued in no telling how many hanger flying sessions by friends and acquaintances of the dead. Not out of meanness, but because we were determined to learn from their mistakes and not die repeating them.
That is best done by discussing the facts, throwing in a few suggestions and leaving out personal prejudice.
That said, commenting on her record and questioning whether she was pushed beyond her skills is certainly a legitimate factor in the discussion.