CONTROLLING CHAOS
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 5:25 pm
Three days after I got my Tower Local Control qualification at the Naval Air Training Command in Kingsville, TX. I was working an eleven plane pattern. I cleared a student pilot with an instructor in the back seat of their TA4 jet to land, when they turned final the student couldn’t get lined up correctly for the assigned runway. His speed was too fast and his flight path was too wide for a safe landing so, he added power to wave off the approach and go around.
When he added power and pulled the nose of the aircraft up to climb back to pattern altitude the entire bottom of the aircraft exploded just as he was over the approach end of the runway at about 200 feet. As we soon found out after the accident investigation the aircraft engine seized when power was added causing the engine to start throwing turbine blades resulting in the catastrophic explosion. The engine on this aircraft is internal just behind the pilot cockpit.
Almost at the same time the instructor instinctively grabs the stick, pulled it back putting the aircraft in a high nose up attitude to stall the aircraft and then pulled the master ejection handle. The instructor came out of the aircraft clean, his chute deployed, and he came down safely on the runway. The student pilot however came out of the plane, spun around once or twice before the chute deployed, he got one swing in the chute and then hit the ground hard. His knees and his back were a banged up, but he survived.
Now what I saw from the control tower was total chaos. White and black smoke from the explosion immediately followed by a large orange ball of flames from the ejection seat rockets. I remember seeing the pilots come out of the flames and smoke and the aircraft pointing almost straight up and then come down in the middle of the runway intersections. Then there was another large explosion as the aircraft completely disintegrates and aircraft parts went everywhere. For a moment everything in my mind seemed to have gone into slow motion just like a lot of people say during stressful events. But when we went back later and listened to all the tapes, the accident happened in about ten seconds and everyone in the control tower and on the ground did their jobs just like they had been trained.
Of course, we had to close the airport, there was no way we could land any aircraft with debris all over the runways and fire/rescue equipment responding to the crash site. So, I coordinated clearances for all the aircraft I had and diverted them to other nearby airports. The flight data guy was busy helping me, the supervisor and the ground controller were of course taking care of all the crash and ground support activities on the airport. I still marvel at the fact that the whole event was over in about 2 hours and we were back in full operation.
I took a few days off after that one. I never told anyone at work or Cheryl, but I had some nightmares about that one. I would see that big orange flash of the ejection seat rockets going off and the aircraft hitting the runway and exploding into hundreds of parts. Only in my nightmare those parts came right at the control tower windows….. and me.
It would end with the parts slamming into the tower glass and the glass shattering into thousands of pieces right before hitting me and then I would wake up. It seemed like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie and that was the end of the movie. I should have gone to the flight surgeon and reported it, but in those days’ things were a little different and I was afraid it might jeopardize my status as a controller, so I keep quiet. The nightmares didn’t last long and soon I was ok. I just prayed I would never see that movie in re-run again.
When he added power and pulled the nose of the aircraft up to climb back to pattern altitude the entire bottom of the aircraft exploded just as he was over the approach end of the runway at about 200 feet. As we soon found out after the accident investigation the aircraft engine seized when power was added causing the engine to start throwing turbine blades resulting in the catastrophic explosion. The engine on this aircraft is internal just behind the pilot cockpit.
Almost at the same time the instructor instinctively grabs the stick, pulled it back putting the aircraft in a high nose up attitude to stall the aircraft and then pulled the master ejection handle. The instructor came out of the aircraft clean, his chute deployed, and he came down safely on the runway. The student pilot however came out of the plane, spun around once or twice before the chute deployed, he got one swing in the chute and then hit the ground hard. His knees and his back were a banged up, but he survived.
Now what I saw from the control tower was total chaos. White and black smoke from the explosion immediately followed by a large orange ball of flames from the ejection seat rockets. I remember seeing the pilots come out of the flames and smoke and the aircraft pointing almost straight up and then come down in the middle of the runway intersections. Then there was another large explosion as the aircraft completely disintegrates and aircraft parts went everywhere. For a moment everything in my mind seemed to have gone into slow motion just like a lot of people say during stressful events. But when we went back later and listened to all the tapes, the accident happened in about ten seconds and everyone in the control tower and on the ground did their jobs just like they had been trained.
Of course, we had to close the airport, there was no way we could land any aircraft with debris all over the runways and fire/rescue equipment responding to the crash site. So, I coordinated clearances for all the aircraft I had and diverted them to other nearby airports. The flight data guy was busy helping me, the supervisor and the ground controller were of course taking care of all the crash and ground support activities on the airport. I still marvel at the fact that the whole event was over in about 2 hours and we were back in full operation.
I took a few days off after that one. I never told anyone at work or Cheryl, but I had some nightmares about that one. I would see that big orange flash of the ejection seat rockets going off and the aircraft hitting the runway and exploding into hundreds of parts. Only in my nightmare those parts came right at the control tower windows….. and me.
It would end with the parts slamming into the tower glass and the glass shattering into thousands of pieces right before hitting me and then I would wake up. It seemed like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie and that was the end of the movie. I should have gone to the flight surgeon and reported it, but in those days’ things were a little different and I was afraid it might jeopardize my status as a controller, so I keep quiet. The nightmares didn’t last long and soon I was ok. I just prayed I would never see that movie in re-run again.