Two Enterprise F-14s Return Safely After Colliding

Navy Newsstand ^ | 2/3/2004 9:22:00 AM | U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- Two F-14A Tomcats operating from USS Enterprise (CVN 65) in the Red Sea collided with each other while conducting basic daytime fighter maneuvers Feb. 2.

No one was injured during the incident, and both aircraft landed safely aboard Enterprise.

One F-14 sustained minor damage to its right wingtip, and the other’s right vertical stabilizer had nearly been sheared off. The Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1 F-14s are “Checkmates” from Fighter Squadron (VF) 211, home-based at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va.

The incident is under investigation, and Enterprise is still able to continue its present mission.

The Enterprise Carrier Strike Group is currently deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

For related news, visit the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, 5th Fleet Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/cusnc.

040125-N-1928O-087 Persian Gulf (Jan. 25, 2004) – An F-14 Tomcat assigned to the “Checkmates” of Fighter Squadron Two One One (VF-211) prepares to land on the flight deck aboard USS Enterprise (CVN 65). Enterprise and Carrier Air Wing One (CVW-1) are in the Arabian Gulf on a regularly scheduled deployment, conducting missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the continued war on terrorism. U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 2nd Class Mark O'Donald. (RELEASED)

[csvset]

Have you seen this? An oldie but a goodie.

Lt. Keith Gallagher's Story
Surviving Partial Ejection from A-6 Aircraft

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Far out. The flight line is wet. I'm assuming that's fuel that leaked from the wing being gone.

[The Squid]

I still have my PUKIN DOGS T-shirt from my 1996 deployment on the GW. I've had a dozen chances to sell it, some were former dogs others just liked the name. Only the dogs had a clue as to where the name came from.

[Gefreiter]

Scary.

I was on an exercise at the NTC (FEB '93), lovely Ft Irwin, CA, where a kid flipped his truck and died. He was like 19, maybe 6 months in. DIdn't know him, he was from a different unit and all, but still hurt. We had a ceremony there in the desert. What a waste, you know, to die in a freakin traffic accident. ANd at the CMTC in Germany, guys would get run over occasionally, or badly hurt, usually associated with having to do stuff in the dark.

A guy I knew who was prior service Navy mentioned a sailor getting swept right off the deck and never found.

Yup, dangerous stuff. You don't need to be in Indian country to be in harm's way that's for sure.

[Severa]

I'll have to watch the local news (We live close enough to NAS Oceana that it's an air show every day over our house) and see what they have to say about what happened.

[Pukin Dog]

More likely, they were on their way to Marshall in a Right Eschelon formation, (Lead left and out front, Wing tucked in right and low). If Lead decelerates and Wing doesn't catch it, Wing cannot break right, as his left wing would come up into Lead, and they would both likely be dead now. So, Wing pushes LEFT and low, to go under Lead, and probably caught the starboard tail on Lead's starboard wing tip. It would take a lateral impact to knock off the Vertical stab, so this is probably how it happened. Fault goes to Lead, if he did not call boards before slowing, or fault goes to Wing, if Lead called it, and he missed it.

Sorry about that.

A few definitions:

Lead: Flight or Section Leader
Wing: Wingman
Eschelon: First plane leads, second plane's nose lines up on first plane's wing, forming 2/3rd's of an arrow or delta pattern.
Break Right: Snap roll to the right and pull.
Push Left: Stick forward to nose over, then roll left.
Vertical Stab: One of the two Tomcat's twin vertical stabilizers.
Boards: Air Brakes

[serurier]

NAVY need F-18E/F And F-35 .

[Pukin Dog]

Oh, they must have been messing with you. The Pukin Dogs origin is pretty well known by now. We were "The Griffins" way back when; an Aussie said that our logo looked like a dog pukin' it's guts out.

The rest is history.

[Severa]

They're working on phasing out the F-14s in favor of the FA/18 Super Hornets (Puking Dog correct me if I'm wrong please). So far the current plan is to start with 10 Super Hornet squadrons; 8 of them to be based at NAS Oceana and the remaining two to be based at Cherry Point, NC.

[serurier]

F-14 old , I'm Anxious , You know F-22 , F-35 to AF , and F-18E/F , F-35 to NAVY very important .

[Yo-Yo]

More likely, they were on their way to Marshall in a Right Eschelon formation, (Lead left and out front, Wing tucked in right and low).

I have to disagree. Wing would have been level with Lead, and no matter how tucked in he was, there is no way that Lead's right wingtip would have been able to strike Wing's right vertical stab without also taking out the left vertical stab.

If Wing were slightly below and behind Lead, then the proper break would have been down, not right and low.

No, either a head to head a bit too close, or else one aircraft was flying formation inverted.

[Pukin Dog]

Puking Dog correct me if I'm wrong please

Hey, that's Pukin', friend. Don't be insultin' the Dogs.

They are indeed phasing out the Cat, but not nearly as fast as they wanted too. The Cat is just too damn good.

[Pukin Dog]

Picture Wing rolled almost 90 INTO lead, after starting a left push. Port Stab could be below Lead's Starboard wing, while the Starboard stab is still above. In Eschelon, Wing would be slightly below Lead for just that reason; safe separation.

Remember, I am assuming a condition where Wing is closing fast on Lead where whichever direction the break occured, it would be close aboard, not at a safe distance. A head-to-head collision would have resulted in too much damage for either bird to make it back. This was a bumping. Anything head on would have fireballed one or both aircraft.

[Severa]

Sorry *sheepish grin* Chalk it up to distraction? *Points to 4 yr old and 7 yr old sons making a mess of the house* You are right about the Cat. Love seeing her zoom over the house. But you should hear the anti jet noise peeps fussing over the 8 squadrons we're supposed to be getting. *sigh* It's only gonna get uglier...

[Pukin Dog]

You can always remind those losers that if they lived in a world without the F-14, they would also be living in a world where if they complained about noise, they might get their ass shot off, just for complaining about anything.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Big mistake. The people in charge are dreaming. The F-18 can't fly the Tomcat's fleet defense missions.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[bjcintennessee]

This is my sons ship! He emailed me the following today:

GUESS WHAT , EVERY MORNING THEY PRACTICE THEIR AIR SHOW FOR THE TIGER CRUISE ,, IT'S AWSOME ,, NOT A WHOLE LOT OF ACROBATICS ,ESPECIALLY AFTER YESTERDAYS MID-AIR COLLISION ,, TWO F-14'S WHERE FLYING AND ONE GOT INTO ANOTHER AND HIT HIS REAR VERTICAL STABILIZER RIPPING IT COMPLETLY OFF AND DAMAGED THE OTHER ONES WING PRETTY BAD , THEY BOTH WERE ABLE TO MAKE A LANDING BUT IT WAS AWSOME . AS FOR THE SHOW , IT IS MORE LIKE A DEMONSTRTION. THEY ARE GOING TO DO A ,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,. I DON'T WANT TO RUIN IT ,,YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT.

The Tiger Cruise he referred to is where my husband and I get to spend 3 days on board the Enterprise while it makes its way back to Norfolk.

As for Yo-Yo's question about frequent accidents -- there have only been two within the last 6 months that my son wrote me about. One involved a wheel that snapped off during a landing and flew across the deck, hit a rescue truck, and seriously bruised a crewman's ankle. The other was when one of the crew backed a rescue truck off the deck -- he jumped out just before it fell into the ocean.

[bjcintennessee]

Ping

[Pukin Dog]

Oh yes, the Tiger Cruise air shows...

Much better shows than those done at airbases, because you are cleared to break the sound barrier near the ship.

Thank you for your son's service.