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Stuck tail rudders may have caused F-15 crash

Stuck tail rudders likely caused the Feb. 1 crash of an F-15 D Eagle off the coast of Hawaii, leaving the jet in a left-hand turn and dive the pilot couldn’t pull the jet out of, an accident investigation board concluded in a report issued Tuesday.

The pilot, Lt. Col. Christopher Faurot of the Hawaii Air National Guard’s 199th Fighter Squadron, safely bailed out of the jet as it dove to 5,000 feet and at about 275 mph. A Coast Guard rescue helicopter delivered Faurot to a civilian hospital 76 minutes after the ejection.

Because the F-15D sunk into water 15,000 feet deep, the wreckage was not recovered. However, based on the testimony of Faurot, his wingman and more than 100 simulator flights, investigators concluded that the jet’s rudders became stuck 10 to 20 degrees to the left.

A check of the jet’s maintenance records showed the jet had passed all its recent inspections and went through a program depot maintenance overhaul in the spring of 2007.

Mechanical problems possibly leading to the stuck rudders included a broken or disconnected linkage or a jammed crossover cable, the report said.

A jammed crossover cable was also cited as the reason for the May 2007 crash of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15D. McDonnell Douglas produced both jets in 1978.