Marine Corps' "Widow-Maker": Harrier Attack Jet (LA Times hit piece)

Yahoo Press Release (LA Times) ^ | Dec. 13, 2002

[Poohbah]

So you are condemning Col. Ditto and the other 40+ Harrier pilots killed? To say nothing of anyone killed in a crash at all?

Not always. Sometimes the situation deteriorates too fast for an egress decision. Sometimes, there are lives on the ground you're trying to protect. But when you DO have enough time, and you AREN'T in a situation of jeopardizing others, failing to know when to go is a failure of airmanship. Col. Ditto ignored THIRTEEN eject calls from the tower. That's not airmanship--that's pure egomania. Pride goeth before a fall.

I think that someone might reasonably -think- a plane recoverable when it is not.

Hultgren was unrecoverable per the F-14 NATOPS manual for almost a full minute. Those limits are boldface and must be memorized word for word by the aircrews. The NATOPS manual is written in someone else's blood. Hultgren chose to ignore it, and gambled with her life and her backseater's life. A little longer, and her ego would've killed TWO people, not just one.

Seriously, how many aircraft do you think have been saved because the pilot stayed with it when no one would have faulted him for jumping?

In this day and age...very damn few.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Hultgren was unrecoverable per the F-14 NATOPS manual for almost a full minute. Those limits are boldface and must be memorized word for word by the aircrews. The NATOPS manual is written in someone else's blood. Hultgren chose to ignore it, and gambled with her life and her backseater's life. A little longer, and her ego would've killed TWO people, not just one.

Wow. Thanks for the data.

Can the back seater not initiate an ejection? There must be a story there also.

Walt

[Poohbah]

Can the back seater not initiate an ejection? There must be a story there also.

Backseater can initiate eject, but he didn't have all of the pieces of data Hultgren did. He knew they were in serious trouble, but didn't know that they were officially unrecoverable.

[hchutch]

So, the report was leaked.

The other question: What about that hit-piece editorial?

I'd bet MONEY some hot-dog Congresscritter is going to throw a fit and demand the hearings.

[rmlew]

Harriers and other V/STOL fighters are also useful becuase they give small aircraft carriers the ability to project power with jets. The Brits, Spanish, Italians, Thais, and Indians fly Hariers off their small carriers. The Russians fly the Yak-38 off their Kiev class carriers.
We fly Harriers from our Iwo Jima, Tarawa, and Wasp class marine carriers.