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Guest HercengTN
Posted
:flag_waving::salut::flag_waving: God Speed!
Guest Sessy
Posted
Did I miss it or do we still not know what happened?

You didn't miss it.. we still don't know... Wait for the press release and the board to release the results. Please everyone, keep this thread reserved for thoughts and prayers and an organized location to discuss supporting Matt and Bama and their families.

Posted
Here's a suggestion for anybody who knew the mishap pilots. Write a short paragraph or two describing your interaction with them. Tell a bit about their personality and the good traits they possesed. Nothing fancy. Just a little something that their kids and/or family can read now or in the future.

I'll get the next of kin address within the next 24 hours.

Rip :flag_waving:

FANTASTIC IDEA - I can tell you first hand that last year when my cousin was KIA, his troops and peers put together a book with pictures, notes, and stories. They made two copies, one for his wife and child and one for his parents. His mother then shared it with the extended family. What an amazing tribute it was. It really gives the families something to cherish forever.

Guest Hueypilot812
Posted

Godspeed to both. Over the years, I've lost 6 friends in accidents. All of them were from IERW class 96-17 (IERW is Army version of UPT). My condolences and prayers to the families of all.

Posted
Any word on when the accident findings are due to be released?

I thought the first big milepost was the 30-day report...and that's not even close to being the "final" report. It will be a while.

Posted

Pretty sure they do a 48 hour, 10 day, 30 day, and then the final. I tried to dig up the 48 hour and there wasn't anything. There are rumors floating around here, but I'll leave them as rumors.

  • 5 weeks later...
Guest Sessy
Posted
Was there a fund set up for the IP? Anyone got that info?

If you have a .mil address, PM it to me. I'll give you the address to the 50th FTS, we can make sure any monetary donation gets to Bama's family. I don't know for sure if a website was setup, but I do know that a college fund was set up for his two kids.

thanks

sessy

Guest SKE'd
Posted
If you have a .mil address, PM it to me. I'll give you the address to the 50th FTS, we can make sure any monetary donation gets to Bama's family. I don't know for sure if a website was setup, but I do know that a college fund was set up for his two kids.

thanks

sessy

PM sent

  • 2 months later...
Posted

AIB Released.

Air Force officials release report on Columbus T-38 accident

8/7/2008 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- Air Force officials here recently completed its investigation of the April 23 T-38C Talon accident at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., which resulted in the deaths of two pilots and destroyed the airplane.

Maj. Blair Faulkner, a 43rd Flying Training Squadron instructor pilot, and 2nd Lt. Matthew Emmons, a student pilot assigned to the 50th Flying Training Squadron, were taking off from Columbus AFB when their T-38 began an uncommanded roll to the left.

The crew briefly recovered the aircraft to level flight, but as the aircraft gained airspeed the roll intensified. Unable to regain controlled flight, the crew attempted to eject from the aircraft but were too low and the aircraft was inverted. Both were killed on impact with the ground.

The accident investigation board determined the cause of this mishap to be mechanical failure of the right aileron, which failed in the full down position before takeoff.

There were no other casualties from this mishap and other than the aircraft, there was no property damage.

Brig. Gen. Dean J. Despinoy, the 434th Air Refueling Wing commander at Grissom Air Reserve Base, Ind., headed the accident investigation board.

Posted
Mechanical like the rudder hard-overs that happened a while back?

Strange they did not mention the type of mechanical failure. Did the linkage break, or malfunction. I can't remember what caused the rudder hard-over. I know there was an aileron related accident years ago that was maintenance related.

Posted

Anyone been through Safety School recently? I seem to remember one of the wrecks they have there to train you on being a -38 from many years ago that had the same failure. I thought the word we got there was that they "fixed" the problem by preventing it from failing in the full-down position. Either way..

:beer::beer:

Posted
Anyone been through Safety School recently? I seem to remember one of the wrecks they have there to train you on being a -38 from many years ago that had the same failure. I thought the word we got there was that they "fixed" the problem by preventing it from failing in the full-down position. Either way..

:beer::beer:

looks like we posted at the same time. The one at the lab at Kirtland was MX related.

Guest chief
Posted

AirForce Times, Today:

Mechanical failure, error caused Talon crashes

By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer

Posted : Thursday Aug 7, 2008 16:34:38 EDT

The reasons a pair of T-38C Talons crashed less than two weeks apart, killing both sets of instructor pilots and students, were released Wednesday by Air Education and Training Command.

A mechanical problem with a T-38C’s right wing led to the fatal April 23 crash at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., an Air Force accident investigation board concluded.

Instructor Maj. David B. Faulkner, a reservist with the 43rd Flying Training Squadron, and student pilot 2nd Lt. Matthew Emmons of the 50th Flying Training Squadron were both killed in the crash. The officers tried to eject, but the plane was nearly upside down and too low for either to bail out safely.

The investigation found that the jet’s right aileron failed just before takeoff, leaving the flap in the “full down” position and causing the T-38C to roll to the left as it left the runway. The pilots managed to get the plane level momentarily, but the aileron continued to twist the plane to the left and the pilots could not overcome the roll.

Prior to takeoff, no maintenance problems had been found with the aileron, the report said. However, post-crash inspections found that a lever controlling the aileron had broken from fatigue.

Less than two weeks after the Columbus crash, a T-38C at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, crashed May 1. Both instructor pilot Maj. Brad T. Funk, 90th Flying Training Squadron, and student 2nd Lt. Alec F. Littler, 80th Operations Support Squadron, were killed.

The accident investigation board concluded that Funk erred during emergency procedures after the jet touched down short of the Sheppard’s runway while practicing single-engine touch-and-go landings. The board found that Funk’s decision to retract the wing flaps, after deciding to take back off, left the jet without enough lift to stay in the air.

After the jet began to fall, Funk and Littler ejected, but their seats collided and both officers died on impact with the ground.

Posted

It is simply amazing to see the level of detail they can contribute the crash to most of the time. When I think of a crash after take off I'm not picturing too much intact pieces of the aircraft left. To be able to have enough of the aileron linkage left to determine that it broke from fatigue is amazing. Would love to go to the Crash Investigation course sometime.

  • 4 years later...
Posted

Anyone know how to actually find the AIB report? My google attempts have failed.

They are created for public release right? Doesn't that mean they get posted somewhere?

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