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Prowler crashes in Eastern Washington, Aviators Feared Dead

MIDNJAC

is clara ship
pilot
I agree with the above, but if you do care enough to ask, your community dude at the Safety Center should be able to pull anything you might want to see. I know when I was building up a brief for the ready room on a particular topic, my community rep was super helpful in shooting me copies of long lost SIR's and such.
 

ChunksJR

Retired.
pilot
Contributor
The fact that you have to ask about specific reports in order to receive them shows an inherent flaw in the system. Just because I'm not in a VAQ squadron, doesn't mean that I cant glean useful information from a mishap ie CRM, ORM, NAV, command culture, etc.
Your Analysts on the inside cover of APPROACH magazine can absolutly get you anything you need. I did it for a year, and we all take pride in providing applicable and treading hazards in all TMS aircraft.

There should be a master database of all mishaps and you should be able to browse and query to find what you want. for instance: Safety standdown coming up on CRM? I should be able to poll the database for every mishap report where CRM or communication was listed as a causal factor. Same goes for improper procedures, mechanical failures, all 60's, etc.
Since 2010, there is. Now, I agree, but you'll have to thank civilian contracts and lawyers at NAVSAFCEN for the delay on pre-2010 mishaps.


That being said, having first hand knowledge of several recent mishaps, I would be highly reluctant to ever willingly participate in one again, even including statements of fact whether related to myself or anyone else. I think the way they are currently conducted leads to some completely bullshit outcomes.
Gots to disagree with you on that one. The investigaters are NTSB certified and full time. Have you engaged with them? Their contact info, also, is located on the inside of APPROACH and I think they'd love to have a discussion on any outcomes that you, personally, have disagreed with. Remember that the SIR is meant to be raw and beneficial for other aviators reading the causal factors of mishaps. They are put before a board of analysts and scrutinized extensively.
 

ChunksJR

Retired.
pilot
Contributor
I'm not going to dive into the rabbit hole that is the "privileged" silliness here though.
I understand the frustration behind the Navy's privelidge policy, but it's equivelent to Doctor/patient, Lawyer/client, etc. and allows a shade closer to the truth to be used for improving safety culture in SIRs (which are 100% NON-PUNITIVE). I really don't think many aviators are properly educated on why it's so important.
 

OscarMyers

Well-Known Member
None
The investigators are NTSB certified and full time.

Who fills these billets, or are they civilian contractors? I would be interested in gravitating towards these type of positions later on in my career. I took a few aircraft accident accident investigations classes in college and enjoyed them quite a bit.
 

lowflier03

So no $hit there I was
pilot
Your Analysts on the inside cover of APPROACH magazine can absolutly get you anything you need. I did it for a year, and we all take pride in providing applicable and treading hazards in all TMS aircraft.
To me that is part of the problem. Unless someone regularly watches the news for crashes, or browses Airwarriors for them you may never know a crash happened or that you have something to learn from it. Then if I want to "search the database" I have to send an email in where I hope the person on the other end gets what I am trying to search for. Why cant there be a website where I can put in search terms, or filters like specific causal factors, airframe, date range, etc.? Why not have access open to all pilots so you can read them in your spare time outside of a command directed standdown/training. Seems to me reading through old mishaps is a great study tool for up and coming pilots.

Gots to disagree with you on that one. The investigaters are NTSB certified and full time. Have you engaged with them? Their contact info, also, is located on the inside of APPROACH and I think they'd love to have a discussion on any outcomes that you, personally, have disagreed with. Remember that the SIR is meant to be raw and beneficial for other aviators reading the causal factors of mishaps. They are put before a board of analysts and scrutinized extensively.

Not arguing against the "certified" crash investigators as I have had great interactions with them. I am arguing against the normal make-up of the pilots that are allowed on a FNAEB. I also beg to differ on the causal factors being scrutinized extensively. The recent trends I have seen point to a witch hunt mentality where a CO (or whoever is directing the board) gets to select who he wants on the board and they come to the conclusions they want to whether right or wrong. And I also know of specific instances where a board specifically ignored the facts and other statements in a case, made up their own "facts" just so they could then make up their own conclusions.
 

ChunksJR

Retired.
pilot
Contributor
To me that is part of the problem. Unless someone regularly watches the news for crashes, or browses Airwarriors for them you may never know a crash happened or that you have something to learn from it.
As someone who manned, in the NAVSAFCEN on a 24hr watch (all e-7s to o-4s had this at least once a month) for ALL mishap phones (Sub, Surface, NSW, Air), we knew within the first 4 hrs. Have you ever read the pre-mishap plan? Do you all have one? I have no idea who you think may have actually RUN the mishap from start (IN) to finish (Final Notification), but that was us. So I knew about ANY mishap, within 4 hrs of occuring. Oh and that's Class A and some Class B.

Then if I want to "search the database" I have to send an email in where I hope the person on the other end gets what I am trying to search for.
Have you ever tried it? I usually got back to any and all of my requests within about 72hrs. And it was the full SIR, up to and including 1951 to present. Your HSM contact sat next to me, and I'm pretty sure that he was just as/more talented than me.

Why cant there be a website where I can put in search terms, or filters like specific causal factors, airframe, date range, etc.? Why not have access open to all pilots so you can read them in your spare time outside of a command directed standdown/training. Seems to me reading through old mishaps is a great study tool for up and coming pilots.
They have been working on the right way to do this for years. I don't know what the delay is, but I know that there's a damn good reason why it's not up yet. Again, I understand your frustration, but instead of just giving up, try contacting your analyst. PM me for his name.


Not arguing against the "certified" crash investigators as I have had great interactions with them. I am arguing against the normal make-up of the pilots that are allowed on a FNAEB.
SIR <> FNAEB <> JAGMAN. Latter is non-punitive and privileged information found or deduced therein cannot be used on the middle, or former, which are BOTH punitive. ALL THREE are different processes. Check out OPNAV 3750, which is the Naval Safety Program


I also beg to differ on the causal factors being scrutinized extensively. The recent trends I have seen point to a witch hunt mentality where a CO (or whoever is directing the board) gets to select who he wants on the board and they come to the conclusions they want to whether right or wrong. And I also know of specific instances where a board specifically ignored the facts and other statements in a case, made up their own "facts" just so they could then make up their own conclusions.

Yep, you don't know what you're talking about or confusing the issues. The FINAL Notification is actually not complete until NAVSAFCEN Actual (right now an O-7, formerly an O-8 and CNO's Safety Officer) has his cut. The CO can say what he wants, but EVERYONE in the chain all the way up gets their own "Concur/Do Not Concur" and comments. I have personally sat through 7-8 Class As in my year at SAFECEN, and our recommendations/factors often differed from CDREs and COs. Check out a FINAL NOTIFICATION and you'll hopefully see what I mean. Oh and any Class A MUST be chaired by an equivalent rank (or higher) from outside your command...pretty hard to force a direction on an SIR. Again, your frustration is certainly misplaced at best, IMHO.
 

lowflier03

So no $hit there I was
pilot
Meant to say SIR in my post not FNEAB, that was a misspeak on my part. I'll to go PM for the rest so others dont get confused.
 

ChunksJR

Retired.
pilot
Contributor
Meant to say SIR in my post not FNEAB, that was a misspeak on my part. I'll to go PM for the rest so others dont get confused.

LOL, copy. I will tell you, one of the greatest gigs that you could ever voluntarily take that will shoot your career in aviation right in the face would be the Naval Safety Center, but my GOD what a great tour that is. The only thing that saved me was that I took it due to HAVING to do an extra shore tour and then got sucked back out to Sea Duty when I screened DH on 2x look. ;)
 

Recovering LSO

Suck Less
pilot
Contributor
The recent trends I have seen point to a witch hunt mentality where a CO (or whoever is directing the board) gets to select who he wants on the board and they come to the conclusions they want to whether right or wrong. And I also know of specific instances where a board specifically ignored the facts and other statements in a case, made up their own "facts" just so they could then make up their own conclusions.

Then you have witnessed FAILURES. Probably not fair to paint the entire process with the same broad brush. If what you write has actually occurred than YOU owe it to yourself, the rest of Naval Aviation, and the process to put the facts (as you see/perceive them) on paper and notify the Safety Center, CNAF safety, and perhaps the IG. Your claims are serious and, again, are FAILURES of the officers involved - NOT of the system as a whole.

ChunksJR expertly identifies a lot of the details - but I'm telling you that if your claims ARE legit - you should do something about it. OR, these are your interpretations and opinions? And that's ok too - just different than indicting the entire system as F'ed up.
 

xj220

Will fly for food.
pilot
Contributor
Wow, I'm surprised the Navy released that. Was it leaked or did it come from an official source? The SIR came out late last year and I'm still getting endorsements from it. That's not typical of the Navy to say the cause of a mishap, especially so publically.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
May have come from the JAGMAN (which I haven't read), that someone in the media probably FOIA'd.
 

squeeze

Retired Harrier Dude
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
LAT mishaps have about a 90% chance statistically of being a result of "turning and looking." Big surprise there.
 
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