[Chainmail]

People forget how difficult aircraft are to be completely sure that they are safe and ready for operational use. I remember the problems with the CH-46 when it was first introduced: tearing the rear portion of the aircraft off just ahead of the rear pylon, usually during landings.

We lost a lot of our people during that phase in 1968 - almost lost me. I was off duty for the evening while I was with HMMT-302 in Tustin California and a fellow Marine came into the Ready Room and asked I could take his Crew Chief duty for night training. I couldn't because I had promised my fiancée that I would be in Burbank that evening.

During that flight, the rear end came off that '46 at 5,000 feet above Black Star Mountain and that crew chief was thrown out of the plane. It took a while to find his body.

We lost 11 dead in two months of training until they finally reinforced the 410 joint.

One student pilot survived the crash, thanks to the heroism of a local rancher who pulled him from the fire. That pilot slowly recovered and his helmet - crushed like an eggshell - was on display for some reason. He had the shakes really bad but resumed training and after 6 more months, he deployed to Vietnam.

He was killed about one month after he got there.

[SZonian]

Some forget, some are just ignorant and put their ignorance on full display.

RIP to your fellow Marines...and thanks for some really good insight on the hazards of military service.

[pfflier]

I remember someone else also posting the same information about the frog accidents.

Most in the general public do not realize that any aircraft has growing pains. If they looked on the commercial aircraft they are routinely flying they will see external stiffeners and straps that are post production fixes.