Jet crash probe will take time

The Sunday Times ^ | 20jan03

[demlosers]

THE United States Navy has said it will not push for a quick answer on the cause of a fighter jet crash at Pearce Air Base, north of Perth.

The FA-18C Hornet fighter-bomber from the nuclear-powered USS Abraham Lincoln overshot a runway and damaged its wing surfaces and fuselage when it crashed into thick scrub and trees.

The Hornet was on a routine training exercise. Its pilot did not suffer any injuries.

US naval spokesman Jeff Bender said the investigation needed to be thorough and precise and not rushed.

"There is no timeframe on it.

"Whatever time is needed will be given and that could be a few days or it could be a few weeks," Lt Commander Bender said.

"At this stage we do not know if what happened was technical or mechanical or something else but the cause is under investigation and that will take as long as it needs to take."

Lt Commander Bender said reports that local residents were incensed by the US Navy's presence in the area were disappointing.

"We have always put safety first and we always operate within the allotted area and we were within the bounds of the airforce base when this happened," he said.

"It was a very unfortunate accident and we are lucky in the respect that nobody was hurt and there were no injuries.

"When it crashed through the fence, it (the plane) ended up in a private paddock, but it was just unfortunate and in the past six months we have not had one aircraft mishap."

The paddock, near Warren Road, is about 1.5km from the Great Northern Highway, one of Perth's main arterial roads.

[demlosers]

Overshot the Runway huh? Did the Flying Squid think there was an arrestor hook and gave it the ABs in case he didn't connect with the non-existent hook? :)

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[CPOSharky]

Naval Aviators know they have an arresting hook on their aircraft and do not use AB in case they miss the arresting cable on a carrier landing. (They do use 100% throttle)

[demlosers]

Oops...right... a little mixed up.

What I meant was the pilot may have momentarily forgot where he was landing, and as a consequence, gave the fighter full military power in case he missed the non-existent arresting cable, that resulted in over-shooting a short runway.

Like you said.

[CPOSharky]

I'm pretty sure that the pilot didn't think he was landing on a carrier. Most airfields operated by the US military do have arresting cables for emergencies but I don't know about Australia in general or the airfield in question. Maybe it was as simple as non-working brakes.

[mrustow]

Or "she."