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For pilots, deadliest year since 2002

For Air Force pilots, 2008 was the deadliest year since 2002, according to the Air Force Safety Center.

Nine pilots died in flight accidents during fiscal 2008, which ended Sept. 30 — the highest since 2002, when 10 pilots lost their lives.

Also killed were four crewmembers — two navigators, an electronic warfare officer and a flight surgeon — in the July 21 crash of a B-52H Stratofortress off the coast of Guam. The cause of that crash is under investigation as salvage teams search in ocean waters 2 miles deep.

The fiscal year ended with a Class A accident mishap rate for manned aircraft of 1.37 accidents for every 100,000 flying hours. That’s the highest rate in three years, but close to the average for the past five years — 1.27.

“For 2008, we were right on that line,” said Col. Sid Mayeux, chief of the Safety Center’s Aviation Safety Division.

A Class A mishap is an accident with at least $1 million in damage or a death. As the Safety Center gets updated figures on flight hours and repair costs, the Class A numbers could be adjusted.

While Safety Center rules restrict officials from discussing recommendations resulting from specific accidents, Mayeux did indicate that the center is putting an increasing emphasis on the human factors and aircraft problems that cut across multiple mishaps, such as the B-1B Lancer brake failure.

Accident board inquiries of the fatal crashes all concluded each of the pilot error accidents could have been prevented if the pilots had followed the rules — from maintaining a safe distance from another jet to not trying to take off with the wing flaps set incorrectly.

Beyond reminding pilots to follow the rules, the Air Force continues to look at physical and psychological reasons that lead to air and ground accidents, Mayeux said, adding that human error, in the cockpit and on the ground, continues to be the primary cause of most accidents.

Investigations are completed for four of the six fatal accidents. Of the four, three were blamed on pilot error. The fourth resulted from a broken control level. Details of the six fatal accidents:

* Two F-15C Eagles from the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., collided Feb. 20 during an air-to-air combat training mission over the Gulf of Mexico, killing 1st Lt. Ali Jivanjee. Both pilots were at fault, not realizing they were closing in on each other, an accident board ruled.

* An F-16 Fighting Falcon student pilot, 2nd Lt. David Mitchell of Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., lost consciousness and died when his jet hit the desert March 14. Investigators believe Mitchell didn’t properly tighten his thigh muscles and control his breathing to prevent passing out while flying high-G maneuvers.

* A T-38 Talon jet trainer from Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., crashed on takeoff April 23 after turning upside down. The two pilots — instructor Maj. Blair Faulkner and student 2nd Lt. Matthew Emmons — bailed out, but the plane was too low for them to survive the ejection. An investigation concluded that a control lever inside the jet’s left wing broke apart just before takeoff, making the plane nearly impossible to control once it was airborne.

When Air Education and Training Command leaders learned the likely cause, every T-38 was inspected for cracked levers. The command is replacing the levers in all T-38s and expects to have the work done by mid-November, an AETC spokesman said.

* In another T-38 trainer accident a week later, instructor pilot Maj. Brad Funk and student 2nd Lt. Alec Littler died while practicing an emergency landing at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, on May 1. Investigators determined that after the plane touched down short of the runway, debris was sucked into the right engine, shutting down the motor as Funk tried to get the jet back in the air.

But the wing flaps were set at the wrong angle — which investigators deemed pilot error — so the T-38 didn’t have enough power to stay airborne. The pilots bailed out less than 40 feet above the ground, but their ejection seats collided and neither survived.

* Off the western coast of Guam, a B-52H Stratofortress deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., crashed into the Pacific Ocean on July 21 during a daylight training flight in good weather. The crew was killed: pilot Maj. Chris Cooper, pilot Capt. Michael Dodson, electronic warfare officer 1st Lt. Robert Gerren, flight surgeon Col. George Martin, navigator 1st Lt. Joshua Shepherd and navigator Maj. Brent Williams. The investigation is ongoing.

* During a July 30 Red Flag exercise north of Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Lt. Col. Thomas Bouley, commander of Nellis’ 65th Aggressor Squadron, died when his F-15D crashed. A British exchange officer riding in the jet survived. Investigation results have not been released.

Aviation safety chief Mayeux said the news isn’t all bad, despite the number of deaths, and he pointed to the overall drop in Class A accidents linked to maintenance and parts problems, from 12 in 2007 to eight last year.

Helping push that number down, he said, are new efforts by Pacific Air Forces and Materiel Command that encourage maintainers to speak up when they see a problem, even if it involves a repair they are not working on. Before those efforts, an airman might have kept quiet to avoid questioning a more senior maintainer’s decision.

Mayeux compared the initiatives to the aircrew practice of welcoming airmen of any rank or cockpit position to call “knock it off” when they believe the plane is getting into trouble.

Mayeux also believes the service is doing better at spotting problems before they lead to a crash, such as the Oct. 3 decision to ground about 130 A-10 Thunderbolts until their wings are inspected for cracks and repaired, if needed. “That whole process worked there,” he said.

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