Warbird Information Exchange

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecBArccU1R4

Anyone know the details of this accident?
Specifically about the crewmember`s careers....

BuNo. 158618 launching off of CVN-74 (CVW-9) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom

8th March 2002

USS JOHN C. STENNIS CVW-9(NG) CVN-74

Grumman F-14A-60-GR Tomcat (Upgraded to Block 130)

BuNo. 158618

VF-211 Checkmates, Modex 104

LT Rob Woods
Ogre McGowen

Incident:
Arabian Sea. F-14A overboard on landing, John C. Stennis (CVN 74). Aircraft returned from mission and was conducted an arrested night landing onboard USS Stennis. Upon engagement of the arresting gear, the aircraft's tail hook failed. The aircraft continued off the angle with insufficient flying speed and impacted the water. Both crewmembers ejected and were recovered; only one suffered minor injuries. Aircraft destroyed. 8 Mar. 2002.


CVW-9 (NG) CVN-74 John C Stennis

12Nov2001 - departed San Diego
about two months earlier than originally scheduled,
for a part of the anti-terrorist campaign "Operation Enduring Freedom"
22Nov-25Nov2001, Pac
30Nov-03Dec2001, Hong Kong
04Dec2001, departed Hong Kong
07Dec-10Dec2001, Changi Naval Base, Singapore
14Dec2001-18Apr2002, Northern Arabian Sea, part of Operation Enduring Freedom
28Apr-01May2002, Fremantle, Australia
02May2002, departed Fremantle, Australia
06May-10May2002, anchored Ralphs Bay, Hobart, Tasmania
11May2002, departed Ralphs Bay, Hobart, Tasmania
20May-22May2002, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
23May2002, departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
23May-27May2002, "Tiger Cruise" from Hawaii to San Diego
28May2002, returned to San Diego
JCS traveled more than 62,210 nautical miles over 13 time zones.
And, also made six port visits to three countries
including Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.
Liberty was granted in Bahrain after spending
100 consecutive days at sea
flying combat missions over Afghanistan.
JCS's embarked CVW-9,
flew more than 10,600 combat sorties in support of fighting terrorism.


VF-211 Aircraft assigned for the CVW-9(NG)Deployment.

F-14A BuNo. by Modex
100 159428
101 161603
102 161612
103 158632
104 158618
105
106
107
110 158628
111 161295
112 158637
113 ******
114 161622
115 161297

I didn't find anything much on Service Members Woods and Mcgowen. It's conceivable that both are still on Activeduty. Hope this helps

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

This aircraft was one of the very first production F-14s built. In 1986/87, it, and a bunch of other Block 60/65 F-14s were brought out of retirement and rebuilt by Grumman to Block 135 standards. They were then assigned to VF-201 and VF-202 at NAS Dallas. The reason for the rebuild was a shortage of Tomcats available to allow these 2 Navy Reserve squadrons to finally retire their F-4 Phantoms. When -202 disbanded, and -201 converted to F-18 Hornets, some of these aircraft cycled back into fleet units, where they served until the last F-14As were retired. In spite of their age, their Block -135 upgades and low hours on the airframes kept them going until the end of the line for the F-14A, with several of them seeing combat.

VF-211 had 4 of these a/c on that cruise, BuNos beginning with 1586__.

deleted.

someone else posted it.

_________________

If the tailhook failed and there was not enough speed to recover the aircraft I would think that the pilot flew again.

Interesting to finally view a few of VF-213 crashes that I heard about first hand and lived through the aftermath of one of those. But that is another story...

Tim

_________________
www.tailhookstudio.com

I am not sure if anyone will read this, but I had an urge to see if this accident was online anywhere. I am not a pilot, however I was on-board the Stennis when this happened. It was in the middle of the night when we were sleeping. (We were running night ops) They called man overboard so everyone got up and met with their respected divisions. I am sure the pilot felt the tail-hook grab, it slowed him down, and then broke off. From I understand the engines did not fire up immediately like they should have. The engines did fire up, but not until after it rolled off the front of the flight deck and the pilots had already ejected by then. The plane flew up, turned to the left, and came right back down in the water. Our ship had to maneuver to the right to avoid hitting it.

One of the pilots landed on the flight deck, the other pilot which took a little while to find was hanging on the left side of the ship. His parachute had caught onto something and he was hanging over the water. I was actually part of the division that found him. Once we reported him the crash and salvage (flight deck firefighter and rescue) was able to pull him up.

That is basically all I know. Hope this answered any of your questions.

I have no clue what happened to the pilots, but I'm sure since the crash resulted from a tail-hook and engine failure, they were still allowed to fly aircraft after that. In all actuality, it could have been a lot worse. Although the plane ended up in the water, if the pilots waited 1 more second the plane could have went down directly in front of the ship, rather than up, and we might not have had enough time to get out of the way

So...you have no clue what happened to them, but then say they continued in their flying careers?

_________________

Exactly! I am not 100%, positively, absolutely certain, because I have not heard of any information regarding their careers. However, based on my experience in the military and the conditions of this accident I am assuming that their careers were not harmed.

Hope this clears up your confusion!