3 F-14 Crashes Not Related, Navy Says

After boasting of the best safety record in the Navy for more than a year, the Miramar Naval Air Station has lost three F-14 Tomcat fighters in training accidents in less than three weeks.

But, unlike two years ago, when there was a rash of accidents in the air and at sea, the Navy has no plans to institute safety measures.

Navy spokesman Lt. Fred Henney in Washington said that preliminary reports indicate that the incidents are unrelated. He added that the recent spate of accidents “is something that happens now and then” and said the Navy has no plans to initiate another safety stand-down to ground its pilots and planes.

In November, 1989, the Navy responded to a succession of 10 “significant” accidents that had occurred in the preceding 30 days by ordering a stand-down, in which most flights were suspended while Navy personnel were re-trained in safety procedures. A review of those accidents also showed that they were unrelated, Navy officials said.

“Right now there is no plan for a stand-down,” Henney said. “If you have accidents on carriers, most squadrons have temporary stand-downs where they go back and review safety procedures.”

But Miramar also has no plans for a safety stand-down, officials there said.

Some pilots suffered minor injuries in the recent accidents, but all were rescued and returned to duty. Navy officials said the three F-14 fighters, each worth about $35 million, were lost when they plunged into the Pacific and Indian oceans.

Until the recent series of accidents, Miramar had not lost a pilot or a plane in more than a year, giving it the best safety record in the Navy, said base spokeswoman Chief Petty Officer Bobbie Carleton. In addition, no Miramar pilots nor planes were lost during the Persian Gulf War, despite thousands of combat sorties.

Although Navy officials said the sophisticated F-14 fighters cost U.S. taxpayers about $35 million, a 1989 Department of Defense budget study put the average cost of each fighter at about $73 million, when all the equipment and spare parts necessary to operate it are included. About 110 F-14s have been lost in training accidents since the aircraft was introduced in 1972.

The three Tomcat fighters were only one group of aircraft involved in carrier accidents in recent days. Last Friday, an A-6E Intruder from the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington crashed when it attempted to land on the carrier Ranger. Each of the accidents is under investigation.

The A-6, which costs $30 million to $45 million, plowed into three Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet fighters from the El Toro Marine Base that were parked on the carrier deck. Navy officials could not provide any damage estimate on the Marine aircraft, which are valued at more than $30 million each.

According to a Navy report of the incident, the A-6, which carries a two-man crew, was engaged in carrier landing qualification training when the plane crashed into the Marine fighters.

The recent group of accidents began June 29 during training operations. On that date, two Miramar-based F-14’s, each with a two-man crew, operating from the carrier Abraham Lincoln collided in flight about 150 miles off the Malaysian coast.

A Navy report of the accident said that one aircraft was lost and the other limped to Singapore. The crew of the downed Tomcat were rescued and treated for minor injuries.

Eight days later, on July 7, another F-14 from the Lincoln crashed into the Indian Ocean, about 140 miles from Sri Lanka. The Navy said the fighter was in a landing approach when it went out of control, forcing the two-man crew to eject. They were rescued and treated for minor injuries.

On July 16, a third F-14 was lost 50 miles off the coast of San Diego when it failed to stop during a landing on the Ranger. The crew ejected safely, but the plane went over the side, into the ocean.

Carleton said that Navy officials have not decided whether attempts will be made to salvage the aircraft.

The last time that Miramar lost a number of F-14’s in just a few weeks was in August and September, 1988. In five weeks, five F-14’s were lost in training accidents, including one that crashed at a civilian airport in El Cajon when the pilot tried to make an emergency landing.