Northrop Blames Crash of F-20 Fighter on Pilot Error
Northrop Corp. said Monday that pilot error was the cause of the crash of its F-20 jet fighter in South Korea last year.
The accident occurred Oct. 10 when the high-performance jet aircraft lost lift at low altitude during a sales demonstration flight at an air base in Suon.
Northrop said that its investigation “has found that the aircraft and all its systems functioned properly.”
The F-20 has undergone an extensive flight test program at Edwards Air Force Base that Northrop described as extremely successful.
A finding that the aircraft was at fault would have been a serious setback to the already troubled program, which has cost the firm more than three-quarters of a billion dollars.
Three-Month Probe
The Los Angeles-based aerospace firm has developed the F-20 commercially, so the three-month crash investigation was conducted largely by Northrop officials.
A Northrop spokesman said Monday that the company does not plan to make public its investigation report because it is “proprietary.”
The spokesman said Northrop does not plan to disclose any technical details that the company uncovered in finding the pilot at fault.
The company said that Air Force advisers participated in the investigation and that they “determined the investigation was thorough and reflects logically derived conclusions.”
Northrop has not sold any F-20s, a plane that was developed specifically as a low-cost fighter for export to U.S. allies. The firm had built three of the aircraft, also known as the Tigershark, for testing and demonstration.
Chief Test Pilot Killed
It said some weeks after the crash that it would build a fourth, at a cost of about $150 million.
The accident in Suon took the life of Darrell Cornell, Northrop’s chief test pilot.
The crash resulted when Cornell “began a climbing roll and stopped the roll while inverted (upside down) at low speed,” Northrop said in announcing its investigation findings.
The landing gear and flaps were extended, which would have contributed to aerodynamic drag, it said.
“The aircraft was at an altitude of 1,200 to 1,800 feet above the ground, insufficient to recover from the stall,” Northrop said.
