THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 5, 1996 TAG: 9602050039
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Citing a ``loss of trust and confidence'' in his leadership, the Navy has reassigned the commander of an F-14 fighter squadron that last week lost two of its fliers and their plane in a Nashville crash that also killed three civilians.
Cmdr. Fred Kilian was relieved Sunday as head of Fighter Squadron 213, based near San Diego; a Navy spokesman said he will be replaced today by Cmdr. Mark Clemente, who had headed another West Coast F-14 squadron.
The Navy's carefully worded announcement of the switch noted that planes in squadron 213 have had three serious accidents since Kilian took charge last year. But the announcement did not blame his leadership for any of the accidents.
``In the Navy, we hold commanding officers accountable for things that happen on their watch,'' said one service source, speaking on condition of anonymity. If a surface ship runs aground, he suggested, ``it doesn't matter if the CO wasn't at the con.''
Cmdr. Gregg Hartung, a spokesman for the Navy's Pacific air forces, said the service's investigation of the Nashville crash is continuing, and that no conclusions have been reached about the cause of the accident last Monday.
In the accident, an F-14 Tomcat piloted by Lt. Cmdr. John Stacy Bates, 33, plunged into a house near Berry Field, an Air National Guard field adjacent to Nashville International Airport. Three people in the house, along with Bates and his radar officer, Lt. Graham Alden Higgins, were killed instantly.
Officials have acknowledged that Bates had requested and was given permission for ``an unrestricted climb to 15,000 feet'' - a style of takeoff in which the pilot climbs almost straight up just after clearing the ground.
The crash was the second in less than a year for Bates, who safely ejected from an F-14 over the Pacific west of Hawaii last spring after losing control of the plane during a banking maneuver. Bates was found at fault in that accident, but after receiving additional training was cleared to fly again.
Navy sources have suggested that Bates was considered a good pilot despite the Pacific incident, noting that the service encourages its fighter jockeys to fly aggressively.
Known as the ``Fighting Blacklions,'' Fighter Squadron 213 has the worst safety record among the Navy's 13 F-14 squadrons.
Of the three crashes the squadron has suffered since Kilian took charge last year, only the Nashville accident resulted in fatalities. But in October 1994, squadron member Lt. Kara Hultgreen, one of the Navy's first female pilots, died when her F-14 went into the Pacific during a training flight off the West Coast.
Though the F-14 community has been troubled by a rash of crashes in the 1990s, the Navy says that the Tomcat actually has a better-than-average long-term safety record. Since 1981, F-14s have suffered serious accidents at the rate of 5.4 per 100,000 flight hours; overall, Navy tactical aircraft have had serious crashes at the rate of 6.03 per 100,000 flight hours.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE U.S NAVY F-14 by CNB