Pilot who survived midair collision 37 years ago learns wreckage found
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/22/us/pilot-wreckage/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/22/us/pilot-wreckage/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
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A7 midair wreckage found 37 years later
- Thread starter hobbstc
- Start date
This is a great story, as the Admiral clearly says he caused the incident. Yet, he wasn't sh*t-canned and went on to have a distinguished Naval career as an officer and carrier aviator. I hope this is still possible in the New, Action Navy.
Crashes were far more common back in the day. And forgiven.
I remember being told that a Naval Aviator flying a tactical jet would, on average have to eject once every five years during his career! [Fortunately for me, some guys doubled or tripled up on their ejections to balance out my "zero ejections."]
I don't know the accuracy, but I will never forget Thomas Wolfe's 1979 quote in The Right Stuff:
I remember being told that a Naval Aviator flying a tactical jet would, on average have to eject once every five years during his career! [Fortunately for me, some guys doubled or tripled up on their ejections to balance out my "zero ejections."]
I don't know the accuracy, but I will never forget Thomas Wolfe's 1979 quote in The Right Stuff:
"A career Navy pilot faced a 23 percent likelihood of dying in an accident. This did not even include deaths in combat, which at that time with the war in Vietnam in progress, were catastrophically high for Navy pilots.... also there was a 56 percent probability exactly that at some point in his career a Navy pilot would have to eject from his aircraft and attempt to come down by parachute."
I think the Admiral might have acknowledged that, had his mishap occurred in today's climate of 'zero tolerance', his career would have been essentially over.
BzB
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
I think the Admiral might have acknowledged that, had his mishap occurred in today's climate of 'zero tolerance', his career would have been essentially over.
BzB
That's what I understood as well BzB.
Sent from my PH44100 using Tapatalk 2
Does anyone know of an otherwise qualified senior officer who has been prevented from being promoted due solely to a mishap? I don't. AFAIK, that information wouldn't even be available to a selection board, nor would it be "admissible" for consideration unless it were part of a FITREP. So, barring loss of wings or designator following a mishap, I don't see how it would factor in at all. Of course, if the mishap were a symptom of an officer who gravitates toward buffoonery in general, then that aspect of the individual's overall performance would be reflected in a lackluster FITREP.
I don't know if was from the mishap per se, but the results of a FNAEB would definitely impact your promotability.
Results of an SIR would not be available to the board but information that finds its way into a Pg-13 entry or a blurb on the FitRep would be seen by the board.
(CNN) -- Former naval aviator Bob Besal was just 24 when his life literally took a dive.
Besal was piloting a Vought A-7C on a training mission 20 miles east of St. Augustine, Florida, more than 37 years ago when his light attack aircraft collided with another plane at 15,000 feet, sending his jet spiraling into the Atlantic. Besal ejected safely from the cockpit; his plane sank to the bottom of the ocean. The other plane limped back to base.
This month, Besal's past caught up with the present as divers found his wreckage, and the story can now be written about the people who recently found it and Besal's reaction.
Story Here: http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/22/us/pilot-wreckage/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
Besal was piloting a Vought A-7C on a training mission 20 miles east of St. Augustine, Florida, more than 37 years ago when his light attack aircraft collided with another plane at 15,000 feet, sending his jet spiraling into the Atlantic. Besal ejected safely from the cockpit; his plane sank to the bottom of the ocean. The other plane limped back to base.
This month, Besal's past caught up with the present as divers found his wreckage, and the story can now be written about the people who recently found it and Besal's reaction.
Story Here: http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/22/us/pilot-wreckage/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
Or a JAG mishap investigation?
You're writing off the possibility of someone who was an otherwise fine officer making a single airmanship mistake and getting tanked on their FITREP as a result.
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
THIS.
I'm not writing it off, but unless the CO thought the guy was AFU, it doesn't seem likely. A CO could also give someone a shitty FITREP because that person was the wrong race or religion - those are possibilities, but they're not possibilities that should keep anyone up at night.
Like we've been saying, assuming the mishap officer is an otherwise due course guy, the likelihood of a CO punishing him for a mishap seems remote - not impossible, just remote.
Brett - I agree with you, however I get the impression from guys in some of our more parochial communities that this might not be case. Either that or there are some folks out there in denial about their performance...
I can think of four guys involved in one mishap (in three separate aircraft) who've all screened for command.