Four Northrop T-38 Talon jets crashed during operational training on 18 January 1982, killing all four pilots. "It happened so fast I couldn't tell you if one hit sooner. I can personally attest that the grass never regrew in that area. The formation struck the ground South of Runway 08/26 and North of the parking apron. They do have “precautionary landings”. As a result of the crash, over the field practices are limited. ”The pilot farthest to the east hit the ground first and the other three followed within a tenth of a second, flying in formation,” said Tom Sullivan of Boulder City, Nev., who was driving to a construction job in the area at the time.The formation was in a “Diamond” when it struck the ground. This was in response to an Emergency Action TCTO. Tech Sergeant Alfred King was videotaping the practice for later review. This mural was painted before the crash.“At the speed, they were going when they came out of the loop, I just thought, That’s the end of that for them fellows,” said W.G. “It happened so fast I couldn’t tell you if one hit sooner. They defend their maintenance mercilessly.
The four pilots died instantly: Major Norm Lowry, III, leader, 37, of Radford, Virginia; Captain Willie Mays, left wing, 31, of Col. Mike Wallace, of the Public Information Office at nearby Initial speculation was that the accident might have been due to pilot error, that the leader might have misjudged his altitude or speed and the other three pilots repeated the error. Much of the T-Bird training is the Leader learning a cadence and the team learning to follow the cadence. Probably of Kill. "They were going full tilt, really screaming, and at the time I thought they were too low. In all likelihood, no; however, there is a reason none of them broke formation. Reading the report, you see it leaning towards “pilot error”.
I distinctly remember a Valentine’s Day BBQ being fucked up as I was selected to accompany QA (I was the T-38 Section BPO Trainer) to inspect the stab interconnect bell cranks for cracks and installation. Many reports said they were line abreast but they began the loop line abreast and transitioned to a Diamond on the downside of the loop.The four pilots died instantly: Major Norm Lowry, III, leader, 37, of The Crash occurred at Indian Springs Auxillary Field (Later: Creech AFB). "The airframes involved were all T-38A-75-NO Talons, serial numbers Technical Sergeant Alfred R. King filmed the accident from the ground. They never felt a thing.The Thunderbirds are a quirky bunch. Also, there were many cases of improper safety wire jobs.By March, the T-38 maintenance community was convinced that failure of the stab interconnects led to loss of pitch control in Thunderbird #1. The ground always a PK factor of 1.0. Watch Queue Queue The other pilots were “flying paint” meaning they were concentrating on aircraft position in the formation and trusted the Lead to maneuver correctly. It looked like all of them hit at the same time.
They do not call in-flight emergencies. They blame the trim actuators malfunctioning and distracting Lead’s attention at a critical moment. It was the worst accident in the history of the Thunderbirds, a precision military flying team, and its 15th fatal crash since the group was formed in 1953. Out of 144 aircraft, two bell cranks on each aircraft, we found cracks in six. The Diamond taking off from Nellis AFB on the day of the mishap. 5 Inches away from each other, wow. Most training now occurs north of Peanut Hill where a simulated airfield is set up.The mascot of the Indian Springs High School are the Thunderbirds. I’m pretty sure that it addressed the stab interconnect issue. The Air Force team, like the The deadliest Thunderbird accident was the crash of a team support "Construction worker George LaPointe watched the jets disappear behind tree tops, "They didn't come back up," he said. See also the F-16.net Forum discussions: Thunderbird crash accident report released, Thunderbird crash 14 Sep 2003 and Thunderbird crash photo (head-on). The worst crash in Thunderbird history, dubbed the "Diamond Crash," came when four pilots crashed Jan. 18, 1982, during training at Indian Springs. Notice that the Diamond is missing and the solos (with wrong numbers) are still there. The 1982 Diamond Crash was the worst operational accident to befall the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Team involving show aircraft. A malfunction in the lead plane was blamed. INDIAN SPRINGS, Nev., Jan. 18, 1982— At 0923 PST, four T-38A’s (68-8156, 8175, 8176 & 8184) from an Air Force Thunderbirds Team crashed, one after another, into the Nevada desert, killing all four pilots. Wood of Indian Springs, who witnessed the crash as he drove along U.S. 95. However, on the Order of General Wilbur (Bill) Creech, Commander, Tactical Air Command the tapes were destroyed.Cutting to the chase, these were the Board Findings:In January 1982, I was assigned to the T-38 Section at Laughlin AFB, Texas.