THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 13, 1996 TAG: 9604130324
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long : 113 lines
The Navy ignored ``cues and clues'' that the pilot of an F-14 Tomcat that crashed near Nashville in January ``was having trouble flying the airplane,'' the nation's top admiral acknowledged Friday.
He said the service will increase training and toughen oversight of its aviators as a result.
As the Navy released a report attributing the fatal mishap to pilot error, Adm. Mike Boorda, the chief of naval operations, said he's taking several steps to ensure that Navy fliers are evaluated solely on their ability to fly safely.
Among the changes:
The Navy's vice chief of operations, Adm. Jay Johnson, will screen all future reports by fellow aviators who review problem fliers. Those groups of aviators are known as as ``Field Naval Aviator Evaluation Boards.''
Johnson also was directed to review all evaluation board reports for pilots in Carrier Air Wing 11 during the past three years. The West Coast-based wing has been plagued by a series of crashes. The plane in the Nashville crash was part of VF-213, an Air Wing 11 squadron that has the worst safety record among the Navy's 13 F-14 squadrons.
The process that the field evaluation board members follow in doing their work will be reviewed by other senior aviators, with a report due to Boorda by June 1.
A ``Naval Flight Officer-to-pilot'' program, which each year lets a handful of bombadier/navigators and radar officers enter pilot training, is being terminated. Officials suggested that an unacceptably high percentage of the program's graduates have proven to be problem pilots. Boorda said the 11 or so officers now in the program will be allowed to complete it.
All aviation commanding officers and executive officers will be required to complete the Navy's aviation safety command course.
All naval aviators will get additional training in instrument flight and coping with spatial disorientation or vertigo, a condition that occurs when the pilot's eyes or sense of balance give him erroneous signals about his direction of flight.
Investigators believe that the pilot in the Jan. 29 Nashville crash, Lt. Cmdr. John Stacy Bates, became disoriented while his jet climbed through heavy clouds and did not realize he had gone into a dive until it was too late to recover.
Bates and his radar intercept officer, Lt. Graham A. Higgins, were killed instantly in the Jan. 29 crash. Three civilians also died as the jet plunged into a home about 1.5 miles from the end of the runway.
The report released Friday during simultaneous news briefings in Nashville and Washington detailed a series of problems with Bates' flying, including a crash last April during maneuvers west of Hawaii. There were no injuries in that mishap and after receiving additional training, Bates was cleared to return to the air.
Though Bates had a reputation as a careful pilot, his flying was suspect enough that two radar intercept officers in his squadron declined to ride with him, the Navy's investigation found.
The report said that just two weeks before the fatal crash, while practicing bombing runs over a range in Southern California, Bates headed for a target without clearance. Another F-14, which had been cleared, was ``rolling in'' on the same target and an air controller had to order both planes off to avoid a catastrophe.
Bates was not disciplined after that incident, and Boorda suggested the flier may have been given extra breaks by supervisors who were so impressed by his dedication to improve his flying that they overlooked or minimized his mistakes.
Boorda stopped short of calling Bates unqualified, however, terming him ``a good officer - a conservative officer.''
Though the report found no mechanical problems with Bates' plane, Boorda said restrictions on the use of afterburners in the ``B'' and ``D'' models of the F-14 remain in effect. The Navy has decided to install pressure sensors near the engine air intakes on those jets; the sensors are designed to warn pilots if the engines are in danger of stalling because they aren't getting enough air.
The service also has decided to spend $80 million on a new digital flight control system that is supposed to prevent F-14 pilots from performing some maneuvers that are beyond the plane's capabilities. Boorda said the service initially decided not to install the controls because all F-14s are to be retired by 2010, but ``we changed our minds'' after the Nashville crash.
Bates was flying an F-14A, the oldest model of the jet and one that some pilots have complained is underpowered for some maneuvers. The report released Friday said his plane had enough power for the steep climb-out he attempted but stressed that the maneuver violated Navy regulations for flying in such bad weather.
Bates had been cleared for an unrestricted climb, allowing him to go directly to his cruising altitude of 15,000 feet, the report said. But that clearance did not permit the steep climb - at an angle of more than 50 degrees - that the pilot attempted, the Navy said.
Bates, who was based in California, chose Nashville for the training flight because his parents live in Chattanooga. He visited them after flying in on Jan. 26, and they were at a restaurant near the end of the runway as he and Higgins took off on the 29th.
Investigators believe that Bates may have attempted the steep climb-out to impress his parents. Shortly after his plane entered the clouds, which were just 2,000 feet above the runway, they believe he tried to shift to a more normal angle of climb but became disoriented and did not realize that he had pitched the aircraft over into a dive.
The plane's flight path suggests that Bates realized his predicament only after coming out of the clouds and that he was attempting to pull up when the plane crashed. Officials theorize that Higgins, who might have initiated an ejection to save both men, may have passed out because he was unprepared for the stiff G-forces caused by the attempt to pull out.
As the pilot, Bates would have been braced for those extra Gs, investigators said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
John Stacy Bates
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE U.S. NAVY CRASH F-14 INVESTIGATION by CNB