Navy pilot's error blamed for collision over Persian Gulf

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Navy pilot's error blamed for collision over Persian Gulf
 By Matthew Jones
The Virginian-Pilot
© November 27, 2008

VIRGINIA BEACH

On a moonless night in January, two Super Hornets collided over the Persian Gulf. The three aviators aboard were retrieved safely, but the jets were lost.

Now a Navy report offers an explanation: One of the pilots, who was filling in as wingman, misread his position and reported that he was eight nautical miles away from his actual location.

The crash occurred about 7:10 p.m. local time Jan. 7 in the northern part of the g ulf, soon after the planes left the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman for a scheduled eight-hour mission in support of the Iraq war, according to the report.

They departed under a clear sky with visible stars and no moon.

One of the planes, a single-seat F/A-18E, had been assigned to fill in as the wingman for the other plane, a two-seat F/A-18F.

Five minutes after takeoff, the F/A-18E pilot mistakenly noted his position as being in one location while he was actually eight nautical miles to the southeast. That "created a false sense of security with respect to completing other in-flight tasks," the report says.

The pilot and weapons systems officer aboard the second plane tried to locate the first plane via computer data exchange, radar and night-vision goggles, but, according to the report, "all three aircrew failed to maintain proper visual scan" for one another.

As a result, they flew too close to one another, didn't have time to correct and collided - less than a minute after the first pilot's inaccurate transmission.

According to the report, the vertical tails on the F/A-18E most likely struck the fuselage of the F/A-18F behind its cockpit, setting that jet on fire. After impact, the F/A-18F lost its communications systems and interior lighting and displays.

The F/A-18E kept flying for another 10 seconds or so, its tails severely damaged, before going into a spin.

The three aviators ejected. Rescue swimmers helped them aboard helicopters, and they returned to the carrier, uninjured.

Both planes were lost, though parts of them were later recovered, including both planes' in-flight data recorders. Neither plane was found to have had any mechanical issues.

The Navy did not release the aviators' names. The F/A-18E belonged to squadron VFA-105, the Gunslingers. The F/A-18F belonged to VFA-11, known as the Red Rippers. Both squadrons are part of Carrier Air Wing 3, which is assigned to Oceana Naval Air Station.

The strike group was able to continue normal operations as part of the routine U.S. presence in the region. The carrier returned to Norfolk in June.

In a statement included in the report, the F/A-18E pilot, who formerly flew the S-3B Viking, accepted full responsibility for the collision and cited an "inappropriate prioritization of non-essential administrative cockpit duties during a critical phase of flight."

The report found that "no willful violations or criminal conduct is evident" in the incident and recommended that all aircrew review night-vision goggle instructions and rendezvous procedures, and undergo aircrew coordination training.

All three aviators involved in the collision are still flying, said Mike Maus, a spokesman for the commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic.

Midair collisions occur periodically during flight training, but crashes such as January's - which happened during actual flight operations - are rare.

In January 1999, a Marine pilot crashed about 20 miles off the coast of southern Japan after apparently colliding with another military jet.

In February 1998, two Marine Corps jets collided over the Persian Gulf and crashed near Kuwait, killing one pilot. That crash was later blamed on confusion in a crowded air space during a midair refueling.

A single Boeing-built Super Hornet costs $57 million, according to the Navy.

Source
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/11/navy-cites-pilot-error-jan-hornet-collision-over-persian-gulf