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T-34C Crash
- Thread starter Tahoe
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Article regarding the crash, could do without the remarks from the bystander questioning the T34C and the safety of flying, "too many dying...", as always, consider the source and the fact that this yokel has probably never been in a plane or familiar with our training....
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/Today/Local/ST006.shtml
quote:
PUBLISHED FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2000
No cause yet in T-34C crash
Few details in training accident that killed instructor, student
By Brett Norman
News Journal staff writer
SILVERHILL, Ala. - The sun rose over an unusually busy Baldwin County hayfield Thursday as Navy officials scrutinized the wreckage of a training plane that killed two aviators the day before.
Armed security officers guarded the site of Wednesday afternoon's T-34C crash, where the bodies of a Navy flight instructor, Lt. James S. McComber, and his student pilot, Air Force 2nd Lt. Alex Velkov, were recovered.
Officials released few details about the crash, which marks the 11th and 12th fatalities in a T- 34C Turbo Mentor in the Pensacola area over the past 10 years.
McComber, 31, and Velkov, 23, flew with Training Squadron 10 based at Pensacola Naval Air Station, base spokesman Harry White said.
McComber, a native of Apple Valley, Minn., had logged more than 1,800 flight hours, including 400 in the T-34C turboprop, White said. He had been with Squadron 10 for 11 months.
Velkov, who grew up in Mountain View, Calif., was about halfway through primary Air Force navigator training. He had been with Squadron 10 since May.
In primary training, navigators are taught how to fly planes in order to understand what the pilot does, said Lt. j.g. Barbara Kelly, spokeswoman for the Chief of Naval Air Training in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Navy officials have not disclosed who was flying the plane.
The photographed and flagged wreckage will be moved to a local hangar, where military officials will continue their investigation into the cause of the fatal crash, White said.
``It will probably be months until the investigation is completed,'' he said. Navy policy prohibits releasing details of investigations until they are finished.
One witness questioned the reliability of the aging T-34C trainer. The plane, deployed in 1977, is scheduled to be phased out over the next 20 years.
``The plane looked like it was in trouble,'' said Danny Brand, who was questioned by investigators. ``(The plane) began rolling to the right, tried to fire up the engine and then corkscrewed straight down to the ground.''
The impact crater was at least four feet deep, Brand said.
``I was hoping to see a parachute, but (investigators said) that they're mechanically and physically unable to eject when it goes into a spiral,'' he said.
Although T-34C instructors and students wear parachutes and can pull back the canopy to bail- out, the planes are not equipped with ejector seats.
``I sure hope they ground those (T-34C's),'' Brand said. ``Too many are dropping out of the sky; too many dying that don't need to die.''
Navy officials defend the airplane, citing its exceptional safety and reliability records when missions and flight hours logged are considered. The T-34C eventuaklly will be replaced by the Texan T-6, but the decision is not based on safety considerations, Kelly said.
``We periodically modernize our planes,'' she said. ``The T-6 is a technological upgrade.''
Whiting Field will receive its first T-6 in 2002, she said. The planes, assembled in 1996 by Ratheon Corp., will be phased in through 2009. Pensacola NAS is scheduled to receive its first replacement plane by 2012.
Meanwhile, training flights continued as usual Thursday, with orange and white planes buzzing the South Alabama field where investigators picked through the charred wreckage.
Pensacola NAS launches an average of 100 training flights per day using numerous outlying airstrips in Northwest Florida and South Alabama, and some danger is involved in all those operations, White said.
That danger is something McComber understood as inherent to the job he loved - flying, said family friend Anne Malone.
McComber returned home to Minnesota less than two weeks ago to stand in his father's place and walk his sister down the aisle at her wedding, Malone said. McComber and his wife, Kim Limmex, were wed four years ago.
``He had a great sense of humor. He loved music,'' said Malone, who has known the family for 22 years. ``He liked all kinds of music. He always had a real wit and sense of humor.''
McComber's family is traveling to Pensacola for a memorial service on base scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, she said.
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/050200/Local/ST019.htm
quote:
Other area T-34 crashes
June 30, 1999: A Whiting Field Naval Air Station flight instructor bails out of a T-34C Turbo Mentor and parachutes to safety moments before the plane crashes near East Brewton, Ala.
June 11, 1998: A Whiting Field instructor and his student pilot are killed near Key Largo when their T-34C Turbo Mentor hits another training plane in mid-air and crashes into 2 feet of water.
Dec. 2, 1996: A Navy T-34C training plane crashes at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., killing the instructor and his student navigator from Italy. The pair, flying out of Pensacola Naval Air Station, were practicing maneuvers.
Dec. 5, 1994: Navy pilot from Pensacola Naval Air Station is killed when he loses control of his T-34C training plane near Robertsdale, Ala.
May 13, 1992: Navy instructor is killed after two Navy T-34C training planes collide over a densely wooded field 6 miles southwest of Whiting Field.
Feb. 23, 1990: Marine Corps student pilot and a Navy instructor from Whiting Field are killed after two T-34C training planes collide mid-air during a training exercise near Summerdale, Ala.
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/Today/Local/ST006.shtml
quote:
PUBLISHED FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2000
No cause yet in T-34C crash
Few details in training accident that killed instructor, student
By Brett Norman
News Journal staff writer
SILVERHILL, Ala. - The sun rose over an unusually busy Baldwin County hayfield Thursday as Navy officials scrutinized the wreckage of a training plane that killed two aviators the day before.
Armed security officers guarded the site of Wednesday afternoon's T-34C crash, where the bodies of a Navy flight instructor, Lt. James S. McComber, and his student pilot, Air Force 2nd Lt. Alex Velkov, were recovered.
Officials released few details about the crash, which marks the 11th and 12th fatalities in a T- 34C Turbo Mentor in the Pensacola area over the past 10 years.
McComber, 31, and Velkov, 23, flew with Training Squadron 10 based at Pensacola Naval Air Station, base spokesman Harry White said.
McComber, a native of Apple Valley, Minn., had logged more than 1,800 flight hours, including 400 in the T-34C turboprop, White said. He had been with Squadron 10 for 11 months.
Velkov, who grew up in Mountain View, Calif., was about halfway through primary Air Force navigator training. He had been with Squadron 10 since May.
In primary training, navigators are taught how to fly planes in order to understand what the pilot does, said Lt. j.g. Barbara Kelly, spokeswoman for the Chief of Naval Air Training in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Navy officials have not disclosed who was flying the plane.
The photographed and flagged wreckage will be moved to a local hangar, where military officials will continue their investigation into the cause of the fatal crash, White said.
``It will probably be months until the investigation is completed,'' he said. Navy policy prohibits releasing details of investigations until they are finished.
One witness questioned the reliability of the aging T-34C trainer. The plane, deployed in 1977, is scheduled to be phased out over the next 20 years.
``The plane looked like it was in trouble,'' said Danny Brand, who was questioned by investigators. ``(The plane) began rolling to the right, tried to fire up the engine and then corkscrewed straight down to the ground.''
The impact crater was at least four feet deep, Brand said.
``I was hoping to see a parachute, but (investigators said) that they're mechanically and physically unable to eject when it goes into a spiral,'' he said.
Although T-34C instructors and students wear parachutes and can pull back the canopy to bail- out, the planes are not equipped with ejector seats.
``I sure hope they ground those (T-34C's),'' Brand said. ``Too many are dropping out of the sky; too many dying that don't need to die.''
Navy officials defend the airplane, citing its exceptional safety and reliability records when missions and flight hours logged are considered. The T-34C eventuaklly will be replaced by the Texan T-6, but the decision is not based on safety considerations, Kelly said.
``We periodically modernize our planes,'' she said. ``The T-6 is a technological upgrade.''
Whiting Field will receive its first T-6 in 2002, she said. The planes, assembled in 1996 by Ratheon Corp., will be phased in through 2009. Pensacola NAS is scheduled to receive its first replacement plane by 2012.
Meanwhile, training flights continued as usual Thursday, with orange and white planes buzzing the South Alabama field where investigators picked through the charred wreckage.
Pensacola NAS launches an average of 100 training flights per day using numerous outlying airstrips in Northwest Florida and South Alabama, and some danger is involved in all those operations, White said.
That danger is something McComber understood as inherent to the job he loved - flying, said family friend Anne Malone.
McComber returned home to Minnesota less than two weeks ago to stand in his father's place and walk his sister down the aisle at her wedding, Malone said. McComber and his wife, Kim Limmex, were wed four years ago.
``He had a great sense of humor. He loved music,'' said Malone, who has known the family for 22 years. ``He liked all kinds of music. He always had a real wit and sense of humor.''
McComber's family is traveling to Pensacola for a memorial service on base scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, she said.
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/050200/Local/ST019.htm
quote:
Other area T-34 crashes
June 30, 1999: A Whiting Field Naval Air Station flight instructor bails out of a T-34C Turbo Mentor and parachutes to safety moments before the plane crashes near East Brewton, Ala.
June 11, 1998: A Whiting Field instructor and his student pilot are killed near Key Largo when their T-34C Turbo Mentor hits another training plane in mid-air and crashes into 2 feet of water.
Dec. 2, 1996: A Navy T-34C training plane crashes at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., killing the instructor and his student navigator from Italy. The pair, flying out of Pensacola Naval Air Station, were practicing maneuvers.
Dec. 5, 1994: Navy pilot from Pensacola Naval Air Station is killed when he loses control of his T-34C training plane near Robertsdale, Ala.
May 13, 1992: Navy instructor is killed after two Navy T-34C training planes collide over a densely wooded field 6 miles southwest of Whiting Field.
Feb. 23, 1990: Marine Corps student pilot and a Navy instructor from Whiting Field are killed after two T-34C training planes collide mid-air during a training exercise near Summerdale, Ala.
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