Posted on 05/24/2009 10:26:33 AM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
5/22/2009 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An Air Force test pilot student died yesterday when his jet trainer crashed north of Edwards Air Force Base.
Captain Mark P. Graziano, 30, died when the T-38A he was piloting crashed approximately nine miles north of Edwards AFB, near California City. Graziano was assigned to the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards, where he was undergoing training to become a test pilot.
His crew member, Major Lee V. Jones, was injured upon ejecting from the aircraft. He was transported to Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, where he is listed in stable condition. Jones, a senior navigator, is also assigned to the USAF Test Pilot School, undergoing test navigator training.
"We are shocked and saddened by this sudden loss and our hearts and prayers go out to Mark's family and loved ones," said Col. Terry M. Luallen, commandant of the USAF Test Pilot School. "We are doing all we can to support Mark's family during this trying time."
At approximately 1:15 p.m. yesterday Edwards AFB was notified that a TPS aircraft had gone down near California City. Emergency responders from the base and Kern County arrived at the scene where they found Jones near the crash site, and transported him to Kern Medical Center. Graziano was pronounced dead at the scene.
A board of officers is investigating the accident. Base officials stress that the accident site may contain hazardous materials released from the crash, and ask that individuals refrain from entering the area until the investigation has been completed, and debris removed from the scene.
A T-38 Talon, like the one landing on an Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., runway April 10, crashed May 21 about nine miles north of the base. The aircraft and its two-person crew were on a flight-test training mission at the time of the accident. The T-38 is a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer used in a variety of roles because of its design, economy of operations, ease of maintenance and high performance. (Air Force photo by Senior Airman Julius Delos Reyes)
Thanks for the post. I was wondering if we would get an update.
RIP
What is up with the pilot training these days? We had a couple of crashes in San Diego last week too!
Maintenance budgets are not sexy enough to defend in congress.
No votes!
Here we go - next up, after the crashing cranes, now we have the crashing pilots because of these ______ _______ limiting funding. This is the kind of stuff that pushes me to the liberal use of the vernacular.
Whats up? I’d guess its budget cuts impacting aircraft maintenance and the amount of flight time each pilot gets.
He’s from Long Island.Newsday has a bio on him in today’s
paper.He was an impressive young man.
Sure, low maintenance budgets are a factor. Longer hours (lower numbers of pilots), lower training budgets (same amount of knowledge is expected, but number of flights, number of weeks in pilot school (here, test pilot school), amount of practice hours are reduced.)
But look also at the ages of the machines: T38 was around in the mid-70’s.) T-38 A means this plane was in the first group of an early version of the original.
They are trying to isolate the crash site - which is OK, but claiming harazrdous material is a bit “thin” of a claim.
Sad. RIP.
RIP.
In California, motor oil is hazardous material.
Flying is inherently hazardous. If you fly a lot, you will have some casualties. The Air Force Test Pilot School gets the best of the USAF (and foreign) pilots, and flys a lot.
The T-38 has been in service for about 50 years. It is one of the aircraft that the students at the TPS flight test, and work up its performance and handling characteristics.
I had a friend that was involved with fueling USAF jets. She saw a photo of us Marines in the Gulf war, SPAM chunks on a KaBar knife, roasting it on an open flame of Jet fuel. She had a heart attack and said they regard jet fuel as toxic. I always was told it was basically Kerosene.
We ran all our diesel hmv’s on it. One bottle of ATF fluid per 2 jerry cans. They told us it was basically diesel then.
A Department of Defense (DoD) Directive Number 4140.43 dated 5 December 1975 stated that all new turbine powered air vehicles should be designed to operate on middle distillate turbine fuel, JP-8, as well as JP-5 and JP-4. JP-8 has since been identified as the Single Fuel for the Battlefield. Shipboard based air vehicles continue to require JP-5 fuel because of safety considerations in storing and handling fuel aboard ships. These fuels can be routinely encountered in world wide deployment and should be considered in the design of the air vehicle systems. All other fuels should be designated alternate, restricted or emergency fuels.
JP-8 is a 100% kerosene blend and is an acceptable substitute/alternate for diesel fuel. JP-8 is interchanged within NATO under NATO Code Number F-34. In terms of refining crude oil, jet fuel 8 is a middle distillates. The middle distillates include kerosene, aviation fuels, diesel fuels, and fuel oil #1 and 2. These fuels contain paraffins (alkenes), cycloparaffins (cycloalkanes), aromatics, and olefins from approximately C9 to C20. Aromatic compounds of concern included alkylbenzenes, toluene, naphthalenes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Here is the money quote (benzene)
Compositions range from avgas and JP-4, which are similar to gasoline, to Jet A and JP-8, which are kerosene-based fuels [661]. Kerosene normally has a boiling range well above the boiling-point of benzene; accordingly, the benzene content of the kerosene fraction (and therefore jet fuel 8) is usually below 0.02%. However, since wide-cut jet fuels (such as jet fuel 4) are made by blending with gasoline, they may contain more benzene (normally < 0.5%).
The JP-8 +100 fuel thermal stability additive for JP-8 was developed by the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL/PRSP) to increase the thermal stability of jet fuel by 100?F and increase the fuel’s heat sink capacity by 50%. The +100 additive is a fuel injector cleaner additive package consisting of detergent, dispersant, metal deactivators and antioxidant. The additive was developed to facilitate fielding of future advanced fighter air vehicles requiring enhanced thermal margins for fuel. During field evaluation of the additive in F-16 air vehicles, benefits of reduced engine coking were reported. The Air Force has been evaluating the benefits of this additive in fighter and trainer air vehicles. However, the additive disarms the current generation of filter coalescer elements making them ineffective for removing water, and dirt.
Find the MSDS HERE
Edwards lost another jet and test pilot two months ago. That one involved an F-22 and there is nothing in the media about it.
Meat was a friend of mine. He was a squared away, super great guy. Not a guy to take risks in an airplane. Truly a tragedy.
Correction on #17: I should not have said there’s “nothing” in the media about that F-22 crash. What I mean is that there is nothing in the media hinting to a crash cause.
I have no knowledge of T-38's, but the EPU on F-16s run on hydrazine. Nasty stuff to be around without the correct protective gear.
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