Posted on Apr 15, 2018
Leadership failures in Navy pilot training squadrons led to Tennessee T-45 crash
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Air Power
Naval/Maritime History
Aviation
Flying
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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Everyone has to be a hotshot, CW5 Jack Cardwell. How about just flying according to flight plan?
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PO2 Rev. Frederick C. Mullis, AFI, CFM
This has been a problem for decades. Pilots who feel they are above the rules because they have a Daddy who is an admiral or worse yet a Daddy and a GramPa who are Admiral's If I need to spell out the individual I will but he crashed 4 aircraft and one while in Pilot Training. because he was hot dogging. When he was shot down in Vietnam, he was NOT following protocol because he felt he knew more than the rules. His fellow Aviators of VF-163 did not want to fly with him as many did not trust the Hot Dog. In his Memoirs he said a SAM blew his right wing off, this was a LIE, the reports from other pilots including his wingman who witnessed his downing reported that his hot dogging got his own ass shot down by AAA fire. Because of his connections and relatives when he was released instead of being Courts Marshaled, he was promoted given a Training Command VA-174 then allowed to retire as a Captain, NOT as an Admiral like Daddy and GramPa. but he went into Politics, as we all know is a compound word made up of two Greek words, POLY meaning many and TICKS meaning blood sucking insects. Then lost a run for the president against a nobody. BUT I wax poetically...
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I've lost too many friends to flying...part of me hates the infernal things. I've lost great friends to them...worked an investigation of the loss of two mentors...and feel that same sickening dread of "who is it this time" whenever one of these birds goes down. All of that's part of the reason I've not flown anything more complex than a Cessna in over a decade, and have little desire to do so ever again. However, I spent enough time among them to stop short of criticizing them. The training they go through "broke" me, and I wouldn't consider myself stupid, non-committal or weak. I've never known an Aviator who wasn't a superlative individual in many aspects...or perfect in all others. Most I've worked with and known were extremely professional and held a great respect for the "envelope"...some didn't. Still, it seems to me that regardless of how they viewed their limits, those we've lost came from both sides, and none are immune to the risks. All I can say is that I honor these men for their courage...mourn for their loss, and pray for their families and comrades who will go up again regardless.
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