Navy Pilot Was Showing Off When Jet Crashed, Killing 5, Report Says

An F-14 pilot was apparently showing off for his parents when his fighter jet crashed on takeoff Jan. 29, killing him and four other people, the Navy said Friday.

Lt. Cmdr. John Stacy Bates, 33, became disoriented after a rapid, steep takeoff from Nashville’s airport into a cloudy sky, said Rear Adm. Bernard Smith, who presented the results of a 2 1/2-month review.

Bates’ crew mate and three people on the ground died along with the pilot in the fiery crash.

Bates’ “judgment was influenced by his parents’ presence at the field and his desire to demonstrate other than a routine departure,” the report said.

It also said two other airmen had asked not to fly with him because of problems in the past.

Bates was flying with the nose of the plane at more than 50 degrees, a steeper pitch than a high-performance takeoff allows, Smith said.

The pilot probably did not realize his fighter was headed downward until it emerged from the clouds, which were at 2,300 feet. That was not enough time to recover, Smith said.

The crash was one of three within a month involving fighters from Bates’ home base in Miramar, Calif.

The series of disasters prompted Defense Secretary William J. Perry to order all models of the jet retrofitted with a control system that keeps pilots from pushing the aircraft too fast or too hard.

Bates and radar intercept officer Graham Alden Higgins, 28, of Maine died in the crash, as did Elmer and Ada Newsom, whose home was struck by the fighter, and Ewing Wair, who was visiting the Newsoms.

At least two other Navy radar intercept officers told investigators they had asked not to fly with Bates because of problems they had had during previous flights with him.