Posted on 05/10/2006 7:28:38 AM PDT by IonImplantGuru
A former Navy Top Gun with decades of flying experience forgot to put his plane's landing gear down during an air show practice run in Tucson in March, the Federal Aviation Administration found.
Retired Capt. Dale "Snort" Snodgrass, a seasoned pro on the military air-show circuit, was piloting a Korean War-era F-86 Sabre that scraped to a stop and caught fire in the March 4 mishap at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Snodgrass, 57, was given counseling as "corrective action," according to the FAA report, obtained by the Arizona Daily Star under the Freedom of Information Act.
The pilot was unhurt in the incident, which shut down air-show practice at D-M that day. The vintage warplane he was flying, owned by a California air museum, sustained minor damage when one of its wing fuel tanks ignited.
The F-86 was one of dozens of warplanes in Tucson to practice formation flying for the 2006 air-show season. The event was not open to the general public. Snodgrass remains on the Air Force schedule this season. The service still has "total confidence in his abilities," according to a statement from the Air Combat Command.
Snodgrass, a Florida resident, declined to comment on the FAA finding.
(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com ...
But he's not a Top Gun-(he only plays one in the movies)-...
.. and he's still weird :))
Lord's sake: why? None of the rest of us ever do! Shoot, most of us don't even read our own dadgum words before we hit the Post button.
Shows, too, don't it?
Yeah, but Iceman did it twice....
The P-51 Mustang is still one hot looking, beautiful machine. My dad flew several in WWII, shot down twice, once by himself (ground explosion).
Do me a favor and shoot me a FReepmail a few days beforehand.
But he's not a Top Gun-(he only plays one in the movies)-...The Tomcat piloting for The Final Countdown was likely better. At least one scene (where a pilot was "distracting" two Zeros) caused admirals to look askance at the flier in question.
-Eric
I wonder what percentage of retractable bear prop planes have never scraped a prop?
Super cool, if corny, movie. Great naval aviation pic.
Counselor: Screwed the pooch, eh?
Pilot: Yeah
Counselor: Embarrassed?
Pilot: Yeah
Counselor: Good. Dismissed.
A Pukin Dog is a current or former member of the finest Navy Fighter Squadron this nation has ever produced, whose members are the most handsome and brave, who children are cuter and smarter than the children of other squadrons, whose wifes are prettier and slimmer, but have larger breasts, whose dogs can beat up the dogs of other squadrons and whose cats dont stink up their homes.
I'm talking about the "World Famous Pukin' Dogs of Fighter Squadron VF-143".
If you need more information then that, you can find it at here.
Man, now you've done it.
Now I know who really lives in Stepford!
Seriously though.....
Congrats. on being part of such an outfit.
I don't know that, but there is a FBO here that has has 3 prop strikes in the last 6 months.... 2 Diamonds and a Piper. Bummer
He pretty much hung it out there by himself allowing the LANTIRN manufacturer access to two jets to demonstrate the capability. Without it the Tomcat would have been useless for its last decade of service.
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