Bravado cost jet pilot his wings

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051022/REPOSITORY/510220335/1013/NEWS03 ^ | JAMES RICCI

[thebaron512]

S AN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - At a quarter past noon on Jan. 21, a U.S. Navy F-18 Super Hornet jet fighter flown by a combat-tested pilot named Richard Webb appeared over the Edna Valley and streaked toward San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport.

[thebaron512]

No one got hurt and nothing was damaged, so grounding a Combat Pilot does not seem to be the right thing to do these days. He might have done a stupid thing, but nothing bad happened and a good tongue-lashing/maybe a temporary revoking flying time might have been more effective.

[Army Air Corps]

No captain's mast?

A lot of stunts like thise were pulled in WWII (and later) and usually resulted in temporary grounding of the pilot.

[vrwc0915]

The nuke navy is not your fathers navy!
No offense to the real sailors in the USN, but after tailhook the navy was neutered,and eats its own quite often

[Army Air Corps]

thise = these

[MineralMan]

"No one got hurt and nothing was damaged, so grounding a Combat Pilot does not seem to be the right thing to do these days. He might have done a stupid thing, but nothing bad happened and a good tongue-lashing/maybe a temporary revoking flying time might have been more effective."

---

I disagree. As a military pilot, he knew the rules about overflights of civilian airports.

I'm familiar with the San Luis Obispo airport. It's actually quite busy, with many commercial flights daily (3 airlines serve it) and many more general aviation flights.

If the sun's up, there is a plane on the approach to that airport, and usually one which has recently taken off.

If this idiot buzzed the field, he was not under control of the tower at the airport, and could have caused a serious accident.

Sorry, but there's no excuse for his behavior. He deserved to have his wings pulled. If he has no better judgment than to buzz a busy civilian airport, he's not to be trusted under any circumstances.

[Rummyfan]

Surprising that they would take away his wings when we are in a shooting war. There must be something more going on. And nowhere in the article does it state Webb's rank. Interesting.

[SIDENET]

I'm surprised that the FAA hasn't taken action against him.

This guy knew thew rules. He's lucky that he didn't kill someone.

[r9etb]

Well stated.

[ClearCase_guy]

Ya know, when Tom Cruise did this, they decided to send him to Miramar!

[XJarhead]

This guy apparently saw Top Gun one too many times.

I suppose if its aviators making the decision, and they're the ones who have to fly with the guy, I'd trust their judgment. And I 'sponse there's a difference between doing a flyby of fellow military types, and a flyby of a civilian airport.

[BluH2o]

Although a superior officer acknowledged that Webb was "an energetic junior officer and talented aviator," the commander of the Naval Air Force Atlantic Fleet, Webb's home command, concluded that his fly-by "merits termination of flying status."

This Navy pilot's training cost U.S. tax payers in the vicinity of a million bucks. Getting your wings pulled permanently for such a trivial incident isn't the best use of that money. It's possible he may be sitting in a trailer somewhere piloting drones ... active pilots hate this duty ... but are called to do it because they have the experience required to control them.

[oxcart]

No this is not fair! A Mach 3+ SR-71 Blackbird pilot once sonic boomed Kelly Johnson's (founder of the Skunk works) house in CA and blew out windows...his neighbor President Richard M. Nixon also had damage and was not pleased! But this pilot still went on flying.
Sourse; Ben Rich "The Skunk Works"
Sigh...I hate this PC world.

This is what the CIA use to do instead of trying to bring down a sitting US President; http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/sr-71~1.htm

[Dark Knight]

No one got hurt and nothing was damaged, so grounding a Combat Pilot does not seem to be the right thing to do these days. He might have done a stupid thing, but nothing bad happened and a good tongue-lashing/maybe a temporary revoking flying time might have been more effective.<<<

There are a couple of drunken commercial pilots that are going to spend a couple of years in jail when "no one got hurt and nothing was damaged".

This pilot was taking a big chance, and he was not acknowledging it. He needed to face the fact that he more than doubled the speed limit. That's reckless driving in most states. And he embarrassed the military.

He's not toast, he's burnt toast.

DK

[Doogle]

Reminds me of the "hotshot" B-52 pilot who thought he was a super pilot and had many run ins with other pilots and superior officers because of his antics. He eventually would be responsible for killing himself and crew members on an ill fated display flight at an air show a few years back. He deserves to have his wings clipped.

It's a fairly well known clip (the crash) I have the link if anyones interested.

Doogle

[You Dirty Rats]

On its first pass, the Super Hornet screamed along at more than 650 miles per hour, just 96 feet above the main runway. But the Federal Aviation Administration designation for the airspace above the airport is Class D, meaning that it has a speed limit of 230 mph below 2,500 feet.

420 MPH over the Speed Limit? What's the fine Ponch would give you for that?

A fly-by of a military site - smartass.

A fly-by of a civilian site - dumbass.

I suppose the military has to put up with smartasses to some extent, but there's really no need for a dumbass.

[tanknetter]

No one got hurt and nothing was damaged, so grounding a Combat Pilot does not seem to be the right thing to do these days. He might have done a stupid thing, but nothing bad happened and a good tongue-lashing/maybe a temporary revoking flying time might have been more effective.

Pour encourager d'autres. I believe it costs several million dollars for a Naval Aviator to earn his wings, but the aircraft costs tens of millions of dollars and has an expected operational lifespan of several decades.

The days where planes were being turned out at rates that exceeded the training of pilots (at the end of WWII planes were flown directly from the factory to the boneyards) are long over. It's cheaper in both long run to train this guy's replacement (and use him as an example for his peers) then it is to build an attrition-replacement for his aircraft.

[in hoc signo vinces]

Probably in hindsight for him, he should have radioed for clearance...granted it probably wouldn't have been given, but it may have if it was a low traffic day...then he could have buzzed the 'port and not had his career in the balance when doing so.

Without a doubt, he should have been grounded but permanently? That seems a little harsh. He must have other cites in the ole' file. There's a backstory here.

[MineralMan]

"Getting your wings pulled permanently for such a trivial incident isn't the best use of that money."

This pilot was probably flying a training mission out of Lemoore NAS. As such, he was under orders. I can guarantee you that those orders did not include buzzing SBP (the designation for the SLO airport).

He got his wings pulled both for buzzing that airport and for violating orders. I can guarantee you that there are standing orders to stay the heck away from SBP for these Lemoore NAS pilots. He thought he'd impress his buddies and ignored his orders.

Sorry, but military pilots on training missions aren't fighting a war. They're training. This one can't even follow simple, common-sense orders. He's done.

[tanknetter]

He eventually would be responsible for killing himself and crew members on an ill fated display flight at an air show a few years back

iirc, that guy had a bad habit of putting his BUFF into a "death spiral" above his daughter's highschool softball games. The cliche of his ego writing checks his body couldn't cash seems to apply.

[SIDENET]

This is a different example of a "hot dog" who couldn't obey the rules. I couldn't find the video.

Remember...rules of flying are there for a reason.