USS Ronald Reagan FA/18-C Aircraft Mishap

Navy Newsstand ^ | 1/29/2006 2:20:00 PM | U.S. Seventh Fleet Public Affairs

[xone]

'it's always a maintenance issue'

Only if the pilot lives!

[farlander]

But does it break the sound barrier ? :)

... recalls image of an stereotypcal italian teenager in Rome buzzing by on a Vespa. *Ciao!* ...

[Doogle]

But does it break the sound barrier ? :)

..yes with the muffler off

[wordsofearnest]

This landlubber has traveled that channel on a cruise ship.

[TexanByBirth]

at approximately 4:17 a.m.

This was obviously a night landing! I have heard Navy pilots say the scariest thing in the world is a carrier landing at night....

Studies have also shown that a pilot's heart rate is actually higher during a night-time carrier landing than it is in actual combat.

[Terpfen]

Whoop there goes andother billion dollars.

$29 million, actually.

[EVO X]

This photo's got to be photoshopped! Is it really possible for a CVN to get this close to shore?

I would think so. It would fit in there if it was deep enough, but just barely. I can't imagine that would pull it in there for various reasons, even if was deep enough.

I made a port visit to Fort Laudererdale on the Nimitz in the early 80's. We parked a couple miles off shore.

[cva66snipe]

I made a port visit to Fort Laudererdale on the Nimitz in the early 80's. We parked a couple miles off shore.

Yea that's my thinking also from the 70's. No port south of NORVA except Mayport has a deep enough or wide enough channel for a carrier unless some dredging and widening was done. Not to mention compatible pier side services. The only piers we ever berthed in was NORVA, Mayport and France. In France we had to stay steaming as they for obvious reasons could not provide us services. In any event I don't see it wise steaming a CVN in that channel. I've you've ever had your carrier drag anchor you'll know why :>}

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Lost off the coast of Australia. Will this keep the PRC busy for a while?

[EVO X]

I've you've ever had your carrier drag anchor you'll know why :>}

I don't recall if we ever dragged anchor, but I had a few ruff liberty boat rides.

[cva66snipe]

I don't recall if we ever dragged anchor, but I had a few ruff liberty boat rides.

I was a boat snipe for One and a half MED Cruises. Yep I've had some really rough ones. The roughest one I missed because I was off duty. In early 78 {winter} we were anchored off Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. A strong straight line storm came across the Adriatic. Our radar missed it and we started dragging anchor during the storm. The boats were sent to the beach and the ship likely made history as the fastest getting underway by a carrier since WW2. We were pulling up anchor and deck houses while screws were turning reverse. It was close. This was Cold War and our mags were full also.

The worse part of boat crew besides the weather {especially dense fog} was the drunks. Did you ever see the wire mesh jail used? Put a life jacket on the drunk and put him in a wire mesh stretcher. Take another stretcher and put it facing the one he's in. Get a lot of rope and tie the stretchers together real good and you have a drunk belligerent squid ready for a boat ride from Fleet Landing to the ship.

The Officers Boats were sometimes worse. In Genoa first cruise a squadron officer wanted to bring his date back to the ship. No I don't mean a woman I mean an honest to goodness four legged pig :>}

The good part of boat crew was 48 hours off after 24 on. You didn't have to wait in line for a ride to the beach either. I hated those jacobs ladders though. I about got my skull smashed a few times trying to get to boats tied off at the boons.

[EVO X]

Yep I've had some really rough ones. The roughest one I missed because I was off duty.

We had helicopter rides back to the ship at Livorno, Italy. The weather got so bad they canceled liberty boats. It is possible they dragged anchor then.

[Navmatic22]

The pilot, a lieutenant, crashed a F/A-18C hornet at approximately 11:16 P.M. Brisbane time. The aircraft side number was 404. He is still under review depending on the crash resulted in a mechanical error or operator error. The pilot claims he "lost power" as he approached the fan tail. The jet was not recovered, although many parts and debris were retained that remained on the flight deck. Flight ops were cancelled for three days to ensure all FOD was accounted for. The family was notified and he remained on the carrier throughout the evolution. - VFA-25 someone

[Navmatic22]

Unless he was in VFA-25, which I would hope you knew your brother's command, he would not be dealing with the logs and records. When something like this happens, enlisted servicemen do not have a whole lot to do with these kinds mishaps. He didn't crash at 4 either, like the papers had incorrectly mentioned.

[Greenpees]

Are you trying to tell me that AZ's, who directly keep the maintenance logs for each aircraft, don't have a lot to do with this "type" of mishap.

Would it be wrong to assume that when any aircraft goes down that an in-depth review of the maintenance records is an important step in the investigation process?

And, since when do pilots or any other officers physically do the job of keeping maintenance logs for individual aircraft?

I'd grant you that they will inspect such logs, or even sign off on them, but as we have seen trillions of times in the Navy, it's the enlisted sailor that's doing the detailed work. It's also many times true that the enlisted sailor that is held accountable when things go wrong.

I find your comments somewhat telling. But, I could be wrong. Perhaps you have some first hand knowledge of what my brother does, and he's just been lying to me all these years?

Nonetheless, if you knew this pilot, I do wish him well and hope he's ok.

[No2much3]

Galveston Bay was my first thought also but super tankers do not enter Galveston Bay. They "Lighten" 20 miles out where there is a floating fuel pipeline inlet. The supertanker (usually from Cen./Sou. America or from Africa) will pump crude into the pipeline at the same time filling smaller tankers (lightening). The turnaround for a fully laden Supertanker is about 24 hours. The supertanker will then head to the LOOP off Louisiana and pick up distilled fuels for ballast for the trip back.

This demonstrates the problem which the world has with oil. We have plenty of oil but no refineries. Europe and Africa and Sou. America buy refined products from us because they do not have the refining capacity. So why do we ship gasoline overseas? Because oil companies can get a better price for gasoline in England or Portugal then in America. Europe is helping support our lower gasoline prices because we are doing the refining.

What we need is more refineries, especially on the West coast where the demand is higher. It would also help if we taxed illegal immigrants from Mexico who send US$ back to their home country. The tax should be about 100% paid in oil, shipped to our Gulf coast facilities.

Then again, this is America where nothing will get done due to our politicians.

Sorry for the rant