The pilot didn’t run out of gas. It was accidental throttle rotation. Good grief...
Faulty Throttle Contributed to Thunderbirds Crash
Military.com
Oriana Pawlyk
"After beginning landing procedures, the pilot inadvertently rotated the throttle, placing it into an engine cut-off position. Normally, this full rotation cannot occur unless a throttle trigger is affirmatively actuated or pressed," states an Air Combat Command Accident Investigation Board report released Wednesday. The throttle trigger became stuck in the position, due to "debris accumulation in the throttle trigger, combined with wear on the trigger assembly," the report said. Without the throttle, the engine cut off and immediately lost thrust, it said.
Maj. A.J. Schrag, a spokesman for the command, described the debris build-up as a "maintenance issue."
While a preflight inspection of the aircraft occurred two days before the flight and didn't raise any red flags, the throttle trigger sticking "has happened before," he said. The service is reviewing a possible update to maintenance procedures -- as it stands now, pilots aren't instructed to swab the trigger before each flight -- and considering a hardware or mechanical change in the future, he said.
As the pilot descended, Turner attempted to restart the engine, but officials said it was "impossible" at such a low altitude.
Air Combat Command on Wednesday tweeted: "Fuel levels were not ID'd as a cause or contributing factor." Analysts and aviation enthusiasts previously speculated Turner had simply run out of gas. "The aircraft had 900 lbs. of fuel at the time of the mishap," ACC said. The F-16 can hold 7,000 pounds of jet fuel; the Thunderbirds' F-16s are considered to be "clean jets," without the capacity to carry missiles or bombs, and harboring only an internal fuel system, according to the Air Force.
So the pilot accidentally rotated the throttle, or was this a mechanical malfunction that the pilot couldn't control?