Air Force Releases Reports T-38 Crashes

Air Safety Week, August 18, 2008

U.S. Air Force officials have completed their investigation of the May 1 T-38C Talon accident at Sheppard AFB, TX that killed the instructor pilot and student and destroyed the trainer.

They were flying a training mission simulating a single engine landing approach with a full fuel load with the intent to touch down on the Sheppard AFB runway and then take off again.

The T-38 landed short of the runway, with debris from the ground entering the right engine, causing it to seize. The instructor took command of the aircraft and advanced the left engine throttle to maximum power and retracted the landing gear and the flaps. With the flaps retracted, the T-38 had insufficient power and airspeed to sustain lift and stalled.

With their T-38 in a fully developed stall 25 to 40 feet above the ground, the crew ejected from the aircraft. Their near simultaneous ejection caused contact between the two ejection seats and disrupted the direction and sequence of the ejection. Both were killed on impact with the ground.

"The accident investigation board determined the cause of the mishap was pilot error based on the instructor pilot's failure to execute critical emergency procedures upon right engine failure. Specifically, the decision to retract the flaps rather than leaving them extended resulted in insufficient lift to sustain flight," according to the accident investigation report.

USAF officials also completed their probe of the April 23 Talon accident at Columbus AFB, MS, in which two pilots were killed and the aircraft was destroyed.

They were taking off from Columbus AFB when their T-38 began an uncommanded roll to the left.

The crew briefly recovered the aircraft to level flight, but as the aircraft gained airspeed the roll intensified. Unable to regain controlled flight, the crew attempted to eject from the aircraft but were too low and the aircraft was inverted. Both were killed on impact with the ground.

The accident investigation board determined the cause of this mishap to be mechanical failure of the right aileron, which failed in the full down position before takeoff.

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