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1998 USS Enterprise collision EA-6B Prowler with S-3B Viking


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1 hour ago, 11bee said:

Tough to watch.   That Prowler crew never had a chance.   Wonder if whoever failed to wave off the EA-6B was ever held responsible?

 

I believe it said something about the Air Boss and the two LSOs were held responsible for the incident.

I remember reading about it in the newspaper back when it happened but never seen the video until now.

 

-Gregg

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It's sad seeing stuff like this.   I was researching a memorial build to another carrier landing crash that occurred the year before.   I couldn't find the parts to build the kit so I never started the project but the story is pretty moving.  Google "Ranger 12 & EA-3B" and there is plenty of info / videos on the web if anyone is interested. 

 

I believe this incident was the catalyst to having the EA-3 removed from carrier operations. 

 

 

Edited by 11bee
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17 minutes ago, 11bee said:

It's sad seeing stuff like this.   I was researching a memorial build to another carrier landing crash that occurred the year before.   I couldn't find the parts to build the kit so I never started the project but the story is pretty moving.  Google "Ranger 12 & EA-3B" and there is plenty of info / videos on the web if anyone is interested. 

 

I believe this incident was the catalyst to having the EA-3 removed from carrier operations. 

 

 

I was on the (Nimitz) flight deck that night.

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The second thing (the first thing was obviously the EA6 crew) that stands out for me watching the EA6/S3 video, was how the deck crew raced towards the devastation to do whatever they could have done that night without thought for their own safety.

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4 hours ago, scotthldr said:

The second thing (the first thing was obviously the EA6 crew) that stands out for me watching the EA6/S3 video, was how the deck crew raced towards the devastation to do whatever they could have done that night without thought for their own safety.

Another thing that stood out (on the Ranger 12 video), while the EA-3 was still floating with the SAR helo hovering over it, the crew was already starting to clear the deck of the debris, presumably so they could resume recoveries.  

Edited by 11bee
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13 hours ago, scotthldr said:

The second thing (the first thing was obviously the EA6 crew) that stands out for me watching the EA6/S3 video, was how the deck crew raced towards the devastation to do whatever they could have done that night without thought for their own safety.

Everyone who works on the flight deck (including aircrew) are trained to fight fires and are trained to respond to any fire on the deck immediately. You are trained to respond immediately in order to prevent the fire from spreading, to put the fire out, prevent any ordnance from detonating and to render aid to the injured. Everyone who works on the flight deck (including aircrew, no matter the rank) has to complete aircraft fire fighting school prior to deploying onboard a carrier and the carrier holds drills continuously in order that when something happens you respond by more instinct/natural reaction than having to think about what you are doing.

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9 hours ago, 11bee said:

Another thing that stood out (on the Ranger 12 video), while the EA-3 was still floating with the SAR helo hovering over it, the crew was already starting to clear the deck of the debris, presumably so they could resume recoveries.  

We were clearing the landing area in order to recover the helo in preparation for the helo bring injured aircrew aboard.

 

Here's what happened that night.

 

25 Jan 1987 Last Recovery of the Night

 

I was working CAG Arm/Dearm (crew leader) that night, back then CAG Arm/Dearm worked flight quarters to flight quarters (i.e. from first launch to last recovery), you had to be on the cats 15 minutes prior to the first launch and did not secure until the last bird was on deck after the last recovery. I was an AO2 with VA-82 and this was my second cruise (deployment).

 

It was a cold windy night, we were in the Med (Mediterranean Sea) and had just gotten to the Med a few weeks earlier, we were still in the first month of a six month cruise (left Norfolk on 30Dec86).

 

It was the last recovery of the night and the last two birds left to recover was a Whale (EA-3B) and the airborne tanker (VA-82 A-7E). The Whale had bolter'ed (missed the wire) four times so it was sent up to the airborne tanker to get some gas since is was getting very low on fuel. The pilot of the Whale was a nugget (newbie) who had just completed carrier qualifications and only had 10 night carrier landings prior to this night. He kept "floating" over the wires when he came into land, meaning, instead of "sinking" into the wires when he came over the round down of the fantail he would level off and just fly parallel to the deck and then settle after he had past the wires.

 

Now here's where things went from "having issues" to down right bad.

 

He went up to the tanker and tried to tank but the tanker package on the tanker went "sour" (meaning it was busted) and the tanker could not pass gas to the Whale. (The hose ruptured on the Buddy Store (D-704) and the A-7E pilot could not reel in the hose or guillotine (jettison) it so he had to jettison the who buddy store). It was decided to launch the alert tanker (VA-35 A-6E) but it was "buried" up at the top of the four row (starboard bow) and it would take at least 15 to 20 minutes (or longer) to dig out, let alone get it started and launched. The Whale did not have that much fuel so it was decided to bring the Whale in for a barricaded arrestment (they were given a choice to either take the barricade or fly along the ship at 3,000 feet and bail out, they chose to take the barricade) so we recovered the tanker (VA-82 A-7E) and rigged the barricade (in record time, from start to rigged took us 84 seconds IIRC).

 

Now here's where things went from bad to down right FUBAR'ed.

 

V2 (cat and arresting gear department) could not find the air-fitting used tighten up the barricade and get it to it's proper height of 25 feet, instead they (V2) could only get the barricade to 17 feet. (In the video you can see the top of the barricade sagging)

 

We prep'ed the deck, got Tilley out, and buttoned up all the aircraft. Everyone was sent to the starboard catwalk and we stood by. The Whale came in and again floated instead of hitting the deck of rolling into the barricade, it settled on top of the barricade catching the top of the barricade just forward of the nose gear. The plane hit the deck (hard, took chunks out of the nonskid), the barricade initially snagged the nose gear which pulled down the barricade (as if the plane had rolled into the barricade) and it slipped off the nose gear when the plane hit the deck and the nose gear came off the bird. The plane slide down the deck and over the round down of the angle, it hit the water about midway between the bow and the angle.

 

As soon as the bird hit the deck we climbed out the catwalk and started running to our fire hoses (we had per-positioned  fire hoses in case of fire) since we saw sparks and heard metal crunching. As we got halfway across the deck we say the plane go over the side so ran to the port side and started throwing our flashlights in the water in order to mark the aircraft position (little did we know at that time the plane was going to float for 20 minutes). The ship immediately did a hard turn to starboard and came back to a dead stop with the Whale floating off our port aft quarter. The helo was on scene immediately (HS-9 SH-3H#614) and hovering over the aircraft waiting to recover the aircrew once they got out of the aircraft, but no one did.

 

We stood along the port angle for a moment or two before starting to clear the landing area in order to get more helo's in the air to help with the recovery effort and to recover 614 after they got (we hoped) aircrew. We knew the aircrew would require immediate medical treatment due to the nature of the crash and for being in that cold water (IIRC the water temp was in the hi 30's/ low 40's). The helo hovered/slowly circled the Whale which floated for about 20 minutes before sinking, the helo continue to search and we launched another helo to assist.

 

I left the deck around 0015 (12:15 am) after having been on the "roof" deck since 0700, there was nothing else I could do and I was tired, cold and hunger. I went down the shop, stowed my gear, went and grabbed some chow, then hit the shower, grabbed a smoke and hit the rack since the next day we were scheduled to fly and I had to be on deck by 0700. It turned out that we did not fly for the next few days, a whole lot of big wigs were on the boat by mid day investigating the crash and the flight deck crew got a few days to catch their breath. The helo's continued to search the area for the next day or so but the only fixed wing flying we did was recovering and launch COD's with VIP's. We started flying about three days later and on our first recovery we had another Whale (Ranger 14) come on board to replace Ranger 12.

 

We stayed in the Med until late May then left to go around the horn of South America and onto San Diego, Ca since the Nimitz was now going to be a west coast carrier. We lost one more bird a month after the Whale crash (A-7E from VA-82 side # 312) but recovered the pilot uninjured.

 

BTW, when the Whale came across the round down for the last time, it only had 800 lbs of fuel.

 

 

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Just as an FYI

 

On the S-3/EA-6B video, the plat shows, going from left to right

 

First Row

Date - Deck (landing area) Status (C for Clear, flashing F for fouled) - Carrier (65 = CVN-65)

 

Second Row

Time (local) and Wind down the angle in knots

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GW8345 thank you for posting your experiences on the night Ranger 12 went down. I had never heard of this accident nor saw the video until just now. Terrible to see and I can only imagine how helpless the ships company must have felt seeing the aircraft floating right there and knowing their shipmates needed help but there was nothing that could be done.

 

Both Ranger 12 and the Prowler footage in OP's initial post were tough to watch.

 

.

 

Don

 

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2 minutes ago, Don said:

. Terrible to see and I can only imagine how helpless the ships company must have felt seeing the aircraft floating right there and knowing their shipmates needed help but there was nothing that could be done.

 

I recall reading some comments on another site, there were some folks present that night who felt the SAR helo should have deployed it's rescue swimmer to see if he could have helped any of the crew out of the floating aircraft.   I know that A-3's typically open the large escape hatch in the top of the canopy prior to landing (only way to get out, given that those jets didn't have any ejection seats), I believe the ELINT version also had an upper escape hatch for the 4 guys in the back, which also should have been open prior to landing.  The posters felt that some of the crew could have possibly been rescued.   Believe the jet stayed afloat for approx 15 minutes before finally going under.  

 

The NSA has a memorial to the crew of this jet at their headquarters, including another EA-3B painted to replicate Ranger 12 that night. 

8324837267_e408d16929_z.jpg

 

nsg003.jpg

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9 hours ago, GW8345 said:

He went up to the tanker and tried to tank but the tanker package on the tanker went "sour" (meaning it was busted) and the tanker could not pass gas to the Whale. (The hose ruptured on the Buddy Store (D-704) and the A-7E pilot could not reel in the hose or guillotine (jettison) it so he had to jettison the who buddy store). It was decided to launch the alert tanker (VA-35 A-6E) but it was "buried" up at the top of the four row (starboard bow) and it would take at least 15 to 20 minutes (or longer) to dig out, let alone get it started and launched.

 

That's the reason the alert tankers live on the shelf of El 3 now, where they can't get buried.  Once the tankers get a good package check they get left alone. If they are launched, it gets hot pumped after recovery, parked in final spot, and the recovering aircrew resets the alert.

Edited by rightwinger26
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A lot of things changed because of that night, Whales were taken off the boat a year after the crash, squadrons had to identify their alert birds prior to the last recovery so the Handler could ensure they were parked in the appropriate spot, V2's tool control program changed, do not throw flashlights in the water.

 

As for the tanker doing a package check, we did that prior to each launch but that would not prevent the hose from rupturing. We did do jet checks on the buddy store every night (back then all jett-check were only good for 24 hours), including the guillotine.

 

IIRC the plane floated for 22 minutes before it sank.

 

I remember people grumbling about why the rescue swimmer was not deployed, the ship and CAG would not allow the swimmer to enter the water because they feared he would go down with the plane if he entered it to assist the aircrew. The swimmer had no experience with entering the EA-3B (the inside of the ECMO compartment was classified at the time) so he could have quite possibly become a casualty himself.

 

There are three escape hatches on the EA-3B, the primary crew entry hatch on the belly just aft of the nose gear, a top hatch at the cockpit and a side emergency escape hatch (with explosive bolts) on the starboard side on the forward portion of the ECMO compartment. I don't recall the top hatch being opened normally on launches/recoveries, I don't think they did that in 87 like the use to do back in the 60's.

 

Edited by GW8345
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15 hours ago, GW8345 said:

It was decided to launch the alert tanker (VA-35 A-6E) but it was "buried" up at the top of the four row (starboard bow) and it would take at least 15 to 20 minutes (or longer) to dig out, let alone get it started and launched.

 

Back in '93, VF-213 lost a bird on the USS Lincoln, at night. First bird in the recovery, sunk low on final and had a ramp strike that broke the airplane in half behind the wings. crap all over the place with flames down the whole angle. RIO lived, pilot did not. Being in the IO, there was no divert and the rest of the airwing was overhead and low on gas. The spare tanker was buried up in the point behind the NavPole, AND empty. They decided if they couldn't get the deck ready in time there was going to be a whole new submarine fleet right there. Fortunately, the deck was clear and ready in about 30 minutes, and everyone else made it down.

Edited by Spook498
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11 hours ago, GW8345 said:

 squadrons had to identify their alert birds prior to the last recovery so the Handler could ensure they were parked in the appropriate spot, V2's tool control program changed, do not throw flashlights in the water.

 

As for the tanker doing a package check, we did that prior to each launch but that would not prevent the hose from rupturing. We did do jet checks on the buddy store every night (back then all jett-check were only good for 24 hours), including the guillotine..

So, these days, squadrons have to have the side numbers for the first three events of the next day, including the sides for all the alerts turned into the CAG FDC by around 0100 or so, about the time the night check yellow shirts are coming back up from midrats.  That way they can set the deck accordingly.  Usually the alerts stay the same for the most part, especially the tankers.  If take a bird is getting low on phase hours, its a good way to manage specials so you don't get backed up.  There's also a TTLR, (turning tanker) on deck for final final; its one of the tankers that recovered on the second to last recovery, it gives the option for more airborne gas. 

 

So now there isn't a good package check until they get airborne and passes gas, once they call in sweet, they are good until they shut down, so the recovery tankers will hot pump hot switch 3 to 4 times before shutting down, usually around the ops shift into nights.  The two ARS squadrons swap the primary and secondary tanker lines.  Cut checks are only done when the ARS is installed or on R/C's, but the hose is pulled out nightly as part of the daily or the 112 day.

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3 hours ago, rightwinger26 said:

 

 

So now there isn't a good package check until they get airborne and passes gas, once they call in sweet, they are good until they shut down, 

Been that way for awhile. You sit there up on Departure freq waiting for the airborne hose to be checked good. Normally we were mid deck typically with the door open and the Tomcat or other bird blowing exhaust into the jet. Absolutly sucked. Eyes watering and on O2. Honestly that was the only time we had it worse than the brown shirts. Normally we sat there in the cockpit during rain or cold weather, they were on deck in the suck. Actually sitting alert in the gulf in the Summer, the brown shirts felt so bad for us cooking in the cockpit they would bring us frozen ice water (after we exhausted ours). That’s the only time they had it better. 

 

When I first got to CVW-5/Indy, we would launch all the alerts, normally a A-6E and a S-3B, because we had the OPTAR and flight time. Not unusual to have 4 or more hoses hawking the deck on a night recovery. That ended when we lost VA-115. 

Collin 

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