THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 27, 1994 TAG: 9410270499
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
One of the first women to qualify for combat flight, the Navy's first female F-14 Tomcat pilot, was missing and presumed dead after her jet crashed in the Pacific Ocean off Southern California.
Lt. Kara S. Hultgreen, 29, of San Antonio, Texas, crashed about 3 p.m. Tuesday. The second member of the crew, radar intercept officer Lt. Matthew P. Flemish, was quickly rescued. He had minor injuries.
Hultgreen trained in A-6 Intruder bombers at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach in 1989 and 1990. She was one of 37 women jet pilots in the Navy.
``I would hope people would see this as a tragic aviation accident and not attempt to say it happened only because a woman was in command,'' said a naval officer in Norfolk, who asked not to be identified. In Washington, a spokesman for the Navy said, ``She was a professional, and in the profession of naval service there are some risks. . . . That doesn't diminish the personal tragedy, and our condolences go out.''
Hultgreen was one of two women among the 14 pilots in Fighter Squadron 213, an F-14 unit based at Miramar Naval Air Station outside San Diego. In an interview last year with The Miami Herald, she described even loftier goals.
``I want to be an astronaut,'' she said. ``Most of the astronauts are Navy jet test pilots first. If you're not given the same opportunities, you can't compete on the same level.''
The national spotlight fell briefly on Hultgreen when NBC News broadcast a segment on her, showing her making an emergency shore landing at Key West, Fla., a year ago in an A-6 with a broken landing gear.
The Pentagon announced in April 1993 that it was opening the cockpits of its combat aircraft to women. In all, the Navy now has 185 female pilots and 3,636 male pilots.
Hultgreen had qualified as an F-14 pilot in July, aboard the Pacific Fleet carrier Constellation. She later made landings aboard the carrier Abraham Lincoln, and had just taken off from the Lincoln on Tuesday when the crash occurred.
Flemish ejected, but Hultgreen apparently stayed with the aircraft, riding it into the water.
The search for Hultgreen, involving the cruiser Champlain and frigate Wadsworth as well as helicopters from the carrier, was called off Tuesday night.
It was not immediately known what caused the crash, the Navy said.
The Lincoln and the Norfolk-based carrier Eisenhower are the first carriers with women permanently assigned to their crews.
The Lincoln was in the process of qualifying its air wing in anticipation of an upcoming cruise.
The Navy said Wednesday that it would be inappropriate to speculate on whether the crash would prompt a review of its policy on women as combat pilots.
``Women knew when they were wanting these expanded opportunities that (crashes) were very likely possibilities,'' said Wilma Powell, chairman of the Defense Department's advisory committee on women's roles. She predicted that the accident will not change the military's desire to open more roles for women members.
``This could have happened to any pilot,'' said John Luddy, a former Marine infantry officer at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington. But Luddy said he hopes the tragedy would spark renewed debate over women in combat.
Luddy argues that Congress and the military really haven't debated the question of women's role in combat.
Changes have come incrementally, from noncombat ships to combat ships, from cargo planes to tactical aircraft, and finally to front line troops.
``In a sense, it degrades women to be placed in a very male, violence-ridden environment,'' Luddy said. ``It does not speak well of our culture if we get to a point where women can kill and be killed'' as men can.
But Powell argued that women's roles have grown because many women want more important responsibilities and military leaders need a larger potential pool of applicants for their most demanding billets.
In a visit last weekend to the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, Powell said, she met several commanders who were pleased about the new availability of women to fill jobs for which there was a shortage of qualified men.
Adm. Jeremy ``Mike'' Boorda, the chief of naval operations, had no comment on the accident Wednesday.
In a wide-ranging interview last week with The Virginian-Pilot, Boorda said he sees no alternative to expanding combat roles for women.
``I cannot have equal opportunity without having equal obligation,'' he said. ``Our business is readiness. Now, it is a self-selecting process. I mean if you don't want to do that, you don't have to stay in the Navy. So I can't make that choice for people.'' MEMO: This report was supplemented by staff writer Dale Eisman and wire
services.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Lt. Kara S. Hultgreen, 29, trained in A-6 Intruders at Oceana Naval
Air Station.
Graphic
NAVY PILOTS
Women Men
Total 185 3,636
Jets 37 2,876
Prop-planes 33 2,352
Helicopters 115 3,326
SOURCE: U.S. Navy
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT MILITARY ACCIDENT PLANE FATALITY
U.S. NAVY by CNB