T-bird crash blamed on pilot error

Mountain Home news ^ | January 28, 2004

[demlosers]

The Sept. 14 crash of a USAF Thunderbirds demonstration team F-16 at the Gunfighter Skies 2003 airshow has been blamed on pilot error. The accident investigation board, headed by Col. Robert Beletic, released the results of its inquiry into the crash last Wednesday, determining that the pilot, Capt. Chris R. Stricklin, misjudged his altitude before beginning a Split-S maneuver after taking off as the last Thunderbird plane to launch during the team's planned airshow demonstration. It was the last event of the airshow.

More than 35,000 people watched in horror as the plane slid into the ground and exploded just off the runway, with Stricklin bailing out less than a second before impact.

The $20 million plane crashed between the runway and the control tower at Mountain Home Air Force Base. Stricklan sustained only minor injuries, no one else was hurt and, other than the plane's destruction, damage near the airfield was minimal. Environmental impact was limited to soil contaminated by JP-8 where the fuselage came to rest.

The crash occurred 25 seconds into the flight of the aircraft, known as Thunderbird 6. The pilot was performing the "Maximum Climb and Split S on Takeoff' maneuver when the mishap occurred. Mountain Home airfield elevation is 2,996 feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL). The Thunderbirds used a 3,000-foot altimeter setting for the demonstration.

The accident investigation board determined that Stricklin took off at the proper time, 25 seconds after Thunderbird 5, beginning a maximum climb at 55 degrees. At 4,670 feet Mean Sea level (MSL), 1,670 feet above ground level (AGL), the pilot initiated an unloaded roll to inverted. The target altitude to initiate the roll was 5,500 feet MSL, (2,500 feet AGL). The pilot's planned apex (the highest point of the maneuver) was 6,500 feet MSL (3,500 feet AGL), but his actual apex altitude was oly 5,760 feet MSL (2,760 feet AGL).

On the radio, Stricklin called "three five" (meaning 3,500 feet AGL) after reading 5,500 feet on the heads up display (HUD) altimeter in the cockpit.

The safety observer, upon hearing "three five," allowed the maneuver to continue, the board said.

The pilot then pulled back to complete the Split S. Upon reaching 90 degrees nose low, aimed straight at the ground, the board said Stricklin recognized that "something was wrong."

"He had in fact put the aircraft in a position from which it could not be recovered," the accident report stated. He then commanded maximum back stick pressure in an attempt to recover and rolled slightly left to ensure the aircraft would impact away from the crowd should he have to eject.

Upon realizing that he could not avoid ground impact, he ejected from the aircraft at 140 feet above the ground, 0.8 seconds prior to aircraft impact.

"The mishap pilot's ejection was successful and the aircraft impacted the ground on the opposite side of the show line from the crowd," the report stated.

"There is clear and convincing evidence that pilot error caused the mishap," the report added. "The pilot misinterpreted his altitude above the ground causing him to roll and apex approximately 1,000 feet below the target altitudes. He mistakenly interpreted 4,500 feet MSL as the planned 2,500 feet AGL roll altitude and 5,500 feet MSL as the target 3,500 foot AGL apex altitude. Thus, upon reading 5,500 feet MSL on the altimeter, he called "three five" and initiated a Split S that the aircraft was incapable of successfully completing prior to ground impact."

Three factors, the report said, "substantially contributed to creating the prospect for such a critical error.

"The requirement for demonstration pilots to real time convert MSL to AGL numbers, a maneuver with a limited margin of error, and a preconscious level of awareness created a situation more susceptible to pilot error."

Stricklin has been reassigned to a desk job in the Pentagon, although Air Force officials insisted he was not being punished for the incident.

The Thunderbirds canceled four airshows after the incident before it resumed flying the rest of its airshow schedule, with only five planes instead of the normal six.

The team is stationed at Nellis AFB, Nev.

[demlosers]

See the pilot punch out: Thunderbird_crash.mpeg

[demlosers]

See video Bump.

[Old Professer]

Math is hard...

[ArcLight]

Dag! That is serious! You see how fast the seat accelerates out of view? And if you look past the pilot's shoulder you can see the ground rushing up. Those guys must have reflexes like lasers to react that fast. I'da been mixed in with the rest of the wreckage. Wow!

[cpdiii]

Rokke if you read this thread I have a question.

Whey do they not set their altimeter to zero at ground level for an acrobatic display and thus their readout would be AGL instead of MSL?

[cpdiii]

Spell check is your friend!
Whey = why

[hattend]

Hmmm. Didn't they get an airfield altimeter setting from the tower before engine start?

Or do the T Birds use 29.92 all the time and have to do the mental math to convert MSL to AGL? Just curious.

Since he's sitting at a Pentagon desk and not likely to be a T-Bird again, it's a good thing my fiance' got his autograph 2 days before the accident at the Air Races in Reno

[Grut]

Not sure why they can't just set the altimeter to show zero on the ground and avoid all the MSL-AGL hooraw. As I recall, the altimeter has to be set to 29.92" above 18,000(?) feet and to the actual air pressure below that, but for the specific purpose of an airshow, setting it to show AGL seems worth a minor rewrite of the regs.

[hattend]

If you want Rokke to read the thread, ping him over. :-)

[Luke]

The Air Force has another supply officer. His career in T-Birds is over.

[Centurion2000]

Stricklin has been reassigned to a desk job in the Pentagon, although Air Force officials insisted he was not being punished for the incident.

He's not being punished ... he screwed up royally.

[PokeyJoe]

Stricklin has been reassigned to a desk job in the Pentagon, although Air Force officials insisted he was not being punished for the incident.

One lucky sum bit - but it's not the first time. I remember same thing happening to an F-18 at an air show at MCAS El Toro, and an F-22 Raptor cushioned on the runway not too long ago as well. Frankly, I would make him to TAD with the Navy landing ont he deck of an aircraft carrier. ALl he needed was a tailhook and he would have caught #3.

[kaiser80]

just incredible. I've seen many crashes and that one is one of the most spectacular (luckily nobody is hurt that's why I can say spectacular). Remember the crashes of the 2 MiGs-29? That one was owesome, they crashed in air and though the pilots managed to eject. After a couple of minuter they were standing
smoking cigarettes...I remember also a crash of a Su-27 Flanker, when the pilot forgot to extract gear ;)) and there were sparks on the runway...haha. After a day or two the plane
took off heading it's home base.

[Alissa]

Do you remember when about 2-4 T-Birds pilots all crashed into the ground at Indian Springs during a practice session in the early 80's? I was there quite awhile after the crash and you could still see the black scar marks on the ground. Very sobering.

[stylin_geek]

A friend of mine was an air force mechanic, and he had an aircraft he had worked on fly (he was a crew chief) into the side of a hill the day he signed off on it. He was sweating that one, even though the initial investigation showed both engines were turning when it impacted. It turns out the pilot had grabbed the wrong altimeter deviation card. I believe he worked on F-111's.

[LasVegasMac]

Dag! That is serious! You see how fast the seat accelerates out of view? And if you look past the pilot's shoulder you can see the ground rushing up. Those guys must have reflexes like lasers to react that fast. I'da been mixed in with the rest of the wreckage. Wow!

Sweet, huh?

ACES-II, (Advanced Concept Escape System - 2nd generation), and as those of us that used to be in the business say, "ACES-II, Thrust you can Trust!" Great video. The pilot made a career ending mistake, unfortunately, but at least the boy is alive to talk about it. And that is all that counts.

I've been retired since 1995. On my key chain is the firing pin for a JAU/8 ejection initiator. Just for a small memory of what I used to do. That particular initiator starts the entire sequence - canopy first, then seat. It was not a real glamorous job, but I got to shake hands with 4 very happy (but a bit shorter) pilots that were forced to "un-ass" the jet. My name was all over the maintenance records - seat maintenance, seat install, canopy install, etc.

Makes one feel warm all over.

ACES-II is used in the A-10 / F-15 / F-16 / F-117A / B-1 / B-2 / F-22 / and who knows what else. It is the escape system of choice.

LVM

[LasVegasMac]

4 of them. T-38's.

Lead's altimeter malfunctioned - and the other three had their eye balls glued on his jet. Sad.

I was here for that one.

LVM

[demlosers]

Do you remember when about 2-4 T-Birds pilots all crashed into the ground at Indian Springs during a practice session in the early 80's?

Yes, they were flying their T-38s wing tip to wing tip and followed the leader into the ground. The three Talons smacked the ground doing a similar maneuver as this T-bird did doing the split-S. The planes were too close to the ground when they executed their inverted flight turn.

[XHogPilot]

Striklin is exceptionally lucky to be alive. It's amazing that he almost completed his Split-S from less than 3000'. The F-16 can "turn a corner" better than any fighter I've seen. That and the ACES-II seat he rode are why he is above ground today. During the 1977 Paris Airshow, the fatal crash of the A-10 ThunderboltII doing an identical maneuver iced any opportunities for international sales of the Hog.

[Rokke]

Good question. Setting your altimeter to read zero only gives you an AGL reading over terrain with the same elevation you set your altimeter. A Thunderbird performance takes place over many square miles of terrain with usually a wide variance of elevation. Some maneuvers begin and end several miles away from show center. There may be a couple thousand feet of elevation difference within that distance. So you are still faced with converting your "MSL" altitude to AGL altitude during the course of the performance. In other words, it wouldn't necessarily solve the problem encountered in this mishap. This guy was an extremely talanted, well practiced human who made a mistake in an environment with very tight tolerences. It's a crappy way to end a flying career, but at least he survived. Glad it wasn't me.