The REAL Truth About Kara Hultgreen's F-14 Tomcat Mishap

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Lieutenant Kara Hultgreen, USN, was an EA-6A pilot based ashore who was selected to be part of the first wave of female pilots assigned to F-14 Tomcat squadrons attached to carrier air wings aboard aircraft carriers. She had a pioneer spirit but faced a number of obstacles as she joined a previously male-only environment, including the challenges of trying to land the Tomcat on "the boat." In 1994 while approaching the USS Abraham Lincoln during the daytime, her F-14 experienced a compressor stall with the left engine, a worst-case scenario. She mismanaged the emergency and the airplane flipped inverted. The radar intercept officer, LT Matt Klemish, in her backseat, initiated ejection in time to save his own life, but Kara was killed.
In this episode Ward analyzes the aeromechanics of the F-14 during single engine emergencies and reviews the "bold face" procedures - steps that must be committed to memory - that Lt. Hultgreen should have followed during the emergency situation she faced.

[@artbugbee7236]

Ward, I am a retired fighter plot with 24 years in the F106/F15 aircraft, and you just demonstrated the attitude, demeanor, and professionalism that is absolutely necessary to advance safety in flying aircraft, well done sir!

[@touristguy87]

seems to me that he just demonstrated the attitude, demeanor and "professionalism" necessary to advance his career in the Navy during this time, and essentially blame the pilot for her own death, not blame the Navy for either putting her in the plane in the first place and having done so fail to train her sufficiently to fly it and land it on a carrier safely or at the least abort a landing and eject safely. Watching this video you really have to wonder just when the Navy put engine failures on final into their sim training and whether the EA-6 would have handled markedly different from the F-14A and whether that had anything to do with the retirement of the F-14 and the reliance on the Hornet and unmanned anti-missile systems for fleet-defense going forward.

[@artbugbee7236]

@@touristguy87 All the military services investigate accidents to find the cause, then make recommendations to prevent it from happening again. Aviators want to know the truth about what happened and why, and what changes the accident board suggests. We all survive in this business by learning from the mistakes and tragedies of others. The quest for the cause can seem brutal to those looking on, I can understand the concerns you have raised but what I heard was the narrative of what the pilot did, it was not judgmental, no emotional language, just the facts.

[@touristguy87]

@@artbugbee7236 ...so you don't see "the facts" as a judgement?

[@touristguy87]

@@artbugbee7236 look, here's my opinion of his video. He brought out several questions, good questions, and simply avoided answering them, instead he summed up his video by saying that A-the pilot (whose sex is irrelevant to the plane, but certainly not to the Navy which chose to put her in one) "didn't follow the boldface" B- when another pilot followed her inputs in the sim, he crashed just as she did C-when he followed the boldface he didn't crash, in fact he was able to "recover the plane" D-he was consistently able to recover the plane. E-the LSO might have confused her by calling out "power!" when the roll became excessive. Aside from the late punch-out which ultimately is what killed her, let's just ask the obvious questions here for clarity. I'll let you start since you might as well help to demonstrate how obvious those questions are.

[@touristguy87]

Also I seem to remember seeing a video on this subject before, it quite possibly was another crash on landing (I've definitely seen this crash from rear view) I'm not sure which was an F4 crash or an F-14 crash but I remember one crash where the LSO clearly called out "abort!" 3 times. Also I remember seeing that F-14 blowoff "mishap" in another video, where the LSO (or was it someone else, maybe some carrier version of ATC) clearly shouted "eject!" multiple times as the plane was blown over the side. Would you care to go back over this video again and tell us what the LSO said in this case? I don't think it was much, so it shouldn't take long to type it out.

[@timarnold9969]

The best advice I ever got in VT-2 was: "It'll take 5 seconds to realize you have a problem. It'll take 5 seconds to BELIEVE you have a problem and it'll take 10 seconds to deal with the problem. In that third of a minute, you will be the first one to the crash site. Do your best to shorten the time involved."

[@JimOmlid]

This is great advice; glad you followed it! :)

[@timarnold9969]

@@JimOmlid Thank you. Yes, it WAS great advice, since the "Old Sage" was just a 25 year-old Navy Lt... I have used the same advice/saying over the last 40-plus years in my flying career. A civilian instructor, when I was a teen said: "If yer flying' at night and the motor quits, turn on yer landin' light. If whatcha see out there looks disagreeable, turn-off yer landin' light" (in his best Chuck Yeager drawl), as he sucked on a Pall Mall non-filter. The latter's advice was not as good as the former's...

[@spyone4828]

Decades ago I saw a documentary filmed aboard a carrier where they happened to get a launch gone wrong on film, and got to talk to the pilot and second seat afterwards. The pilot said "he yelled EJECT, EJECT, EJECT and he'd said it three times before I understood what he was saying because I was so focused on trying to save the airplane." They had rolled just past 90 degrees when the pilot's seat ejected, so it only kinda fired him towards the sea.

[@georgehaeh4856]

Winch launching gliders, we talk ½ second response time

[@steveperreira5850]

Here is the best way to shorten the time involved in decision-making, one word….. “AUTOMATION” I am constantly amused by all of these retired military pilots, and I know they are good flyers, but they cannot fly like automation can. The sooner human pilots are obsolete the better. Dumb NASA, dumb as they are, they know that pilots should not be flying rockets because the reaction time is too slow, you will get oscillation and crash. Or any number of other ways to fail. Don’t take my word for it, I’m just a little old private pilot, yeah I have an engineer in degree, yeah I worked on a lot of aerospace projects. If you really want to be amused, Google what Elon musk said about fighter pilots. He has a lot of clout. Shocked the Air Force crowd at the engagement he was invited to speak at. I guess military officers will have to find the good old fashion way to get dates with hot women, to charm them. You won’t have $100 million or so airplane to back you up. Ha ha Ha

[@keithschill6252]

I was her Plane Capt when she was training at Kingsville Tx. She was highly motivated and always in good spirits. She followed all instructions and never rushed. I was torn up when I heard of what happened. She always told me she wanted Tomcats and she worked hard to earn it. RIP Kara

[@phantomwalker8251]

were these instructions in place at the time. ?..i have zero flying experience, but,it make perfect sense if an engine is out,,you need rudder to counter effect. obviously you dont have simulators,or films on subject. how to avoid crashes. its a bad situation. but. all bad situations should be gone thru. seems the prat whitney engine,not good at low speed. slow on thrust,volume.?.like a car with cam,no good below 3k. do you have training flying with 1 engine.

[@keithschill6252]

@@phantomwalker8251 it’s easy to try the situation in a simulator because you know what’s going to happen. When this suddenly happens , she only had a second or to react. Caught her completely off guard. She did what she could.

[@clarkmorris3312]

@@keithschill6252 The Navy should have given her this very scenario as a part of her routine ongoing training syllabus...Should give all Pilots a chance to practice this so that WHEN it happens... they have seen it and done it before. This is why we spend the time and money to build simulators.

[@rnzoli]

@@clarkmorris3312expensive simulators are not enough, we also need really scenarios for the simulator sessions. For the civilian airline transpont-grade sims, the scenarios are often just going through the checklists for various emergencies, and then get out to make room for another crew. The lack of interest or time for making sim practice challenging lead to anomalies, where the crews always practiced critical engine failures, but when the other engine failed, they cut off fuel flow to their remaining good engine, because that's what they practiced in the sim, over and over again. Trim runaways simulations aren't the same since the Boeing 737 MAX crashes either, they were too easy and routine, compared to real life failure mode. Astronauts do it well, they spend a lot more in the sim (well, they have much less vehicles to fly also).

[@inconnu4961]

@@bmw_m4255 Thats not funny, sir! How is Elvis doing? What has he been up to all these years?

[@joepurshock9931]

Flew with dad privately many times. Had 2 situations come up over the years with wind shear on landings.. watching him work it, and as fast as he did all that left me in awe. He was a navy aviator in his day

[@Farweasel]

Windshear is bloody terrible & unpredictable someplaces. On the brightside - You have now learned from the best how to deal with it 😬

[@endokrin7897]

Thank you for your service.

[@KyleMiddleton7]

I feel I have just spent 15 minutes trying to memorize a procedure that under no foreseeable circumstance am I ever going to use. Still worth it.

[@rekit7351]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZm1onqmnMmtarc if u like piloting checklists, you'll like this.

[@glennkitchen2646]

No foreseeable circumstance…you don’t just study what you intend to have happen, that’s the simple part!

[@beechbonanza3895]

@Frank HeuvelmanAdapt it: "Keep your head down. Avoid getting your arms or legs tangled up. Go forward, move ahead. Use minimal effort to avoid impediments and keep moving. If your luggage is slowing you down, get rid of it."

[@beechbonanza3895]

Hand carried luggage. Not package. Perv.

[@MrBothandNether]

maybe we all failed to keep it in the air, in a past life

[@jerseyshoredroneservices225]

Nobody should be upset by recording history accurately, especially if it can prevent mishaps in the future. Well done.

[@lost4468yt]

The reason it's a touchy subject is because at the time many people and political organisations used it to bolster their personal politics, using it to push the idea that women shouldn't be pilots in the military, that women couldn't do the job, etc etc. They disgustingly used her death to push their own political agenda. Whereas what should have happened was they should have used it to rail against the military competing to try and get the first women in, and trying to play PR by letting in women that were underqualified. The reality is when you suddenly open up something like that to women it's going to take a while until there are enough women applying to statistically find some who are good enough. It takes a while because nearly all women who were around at that time would not have had it open to them when they were younger and/or kids. And the people who are really good are the ones who have not only wanted to do it all their life, but have known it would be possible so have put the work in. And of course that's how it played out, the women who actually grew up with a military pilot being an option were and are the ones who are brilliant at it and are qualified.

[@jerseyshoredroneservices225]

@@lost4468yt Yeah unfortunately it's nothing new for a tragedy to be politicized. Ideally people in the military wouldn't act like politicians but many of them do and some even retired to become politicians...

[@nottoday.9503]

It's to be expected when you're trying to be woke just for wokeness' sake. Look at the current Russian military recruitment ads vs. those of the US military. One is trying to recruit men who are good at killing people and blowing shit up. The other is trying to recruit people who can explain microaggressions and critical race theory to the enemy.

[@joshgh8844]

@@nottoday.9503 - Funny, but truthful!

[@WhatnotChaser]

@@lost4468yt she had no business flying that aircraft not because she was a woman but because she wasn’t good enough.

[@dr.skulhamr3220]

Physics is unforgiving, I'm afraid, and the split second decision making required to fly these beasts is way beyond what is normally required of a human. In awe, I salute all of you.

[@AllegedlyElPresidente.]

💯% spot on

[@art3030]

Great video sir. I'm a retired RMCM '77. I am the father-in-law of a great Tomcat/Hornet driver (Rhino) who left us much too soon at age 57 due to cancer. I made the last westpac cruise on the old 27-Charlie carrier Hancock in '75 when we evacuated Cambodia and Saigon. It was a pitch dark night - no moon. I remember well the loss of the two Marine pilots flying plane guard duty as the big HM-53's were circling and off loading refugees. All I could see was their running lights. I was on the signal bridge with WO Ramsey when I saw their aircraft drop out of the circular formation and head toward the water at about a 45 degree angle. I said to Ramsey, "They are going down!" Then the bright flash. The two crewmen were thrown clear out the rear open hatch. Both had severe injuries but survived. I sent out the message stating, "Pilot space disorientation as the cause." After the evacuation ops we brought back aboard our fixed wing aircraft and did normal carrier ops with our A-4's and other aircraft. I was in the radio shack listening to the UHF flt ops radio when LTJG Bruce Carrier was lost. I shall never forget the long and valiant attempt by flt ops and our skipper, Capt. F. G. Fellowes to get LTJG Carrier back on board safely. It is a long story starting with the A-4 only able to lower one of its landing gear. The later loss of his refueling nozzle, ejection seat failure and eventually ordered to fly inverted level with no canopy and manually drop out of the aircraft. He went into a spiral dive the first attempt but regained control and went back up to about 10,000 feet and tried again. He again went into a spiral dive and crashed. The Golden Wrench Award was subsequently given in his honor. Lt CDR "Bug' Roach and I became great friends during that cruise along with ABCM Trueluck. We had a long talk about that loss. For example, a barrier arrested landing was disallowed by NATOPS because LTJG Carrier could not get his air speed down low enough. We tried several barrier landings and because of the one wheel down and the one wheel up the little A-4 became very unstable below about 160 kts. Trueluck said the barrier could have handled him at the higher speed but it would have violated the NATOPS Manual. But we will never know. As you probably know, we lost CDR John 'Bug' Roach in 1991 while flying his beloved A-4 off San Diego in 1991. Regarding the loss of Lt Kara Hultgreen; I was on the vanguard of bringing women aboard ship when I was a Senior Chief at FltTraGrp SDiego in the early 1970's. My 'ladies' and I were stopped at the quarter deck many times by the OOD who disallowed our boarding request. After reviewing their message traffic they found the message from higher authority allowing women to board. So I am aware of male sailors not being comfortable serving along side female sailors. I sincerely salute Officer Kara Hultgreen especially for her courage to carry out her duties under obvious stressful circumstances. May she rest in peace. We have the watch.

[@brianfoster7064]

I was ship's company USS Ranger CV-61 85-88. I watched as the deck app apes set up for a night-time barricade recovery of Atlas' A6 with Bug talking him in. Everyone did their jobs as best they could. That A6 was a bit torn up when I saw it the next day in the hangerbay. I saw an EA-6B lose power on approach and all hands eject. They all survived, though I believe there were a few broken bones.

[@jamesdallas8102]

Excellent presentation!! My brother was an F4 pilot in Vietnam era. Later was flight instructor in Pensacola A salute to Lt. Robert M. Dallas (1944-2016)!

[@masoncampbell3314]

RIP to your brother man and I appreciate his service.

[@No_ReGretzky99]

Rip to your brother I appreciate his service❤❤

[@lindapowell117]

Jim Powell here. I was an AQ attached to VF154 Black Knights during the Vietnam war. We flew F4 J’s during my time. I really appreciate how you described this unfortunate happening. I have seen many, many recoveries during my time in the Navy. I witnessed an A4 go in immediately after launch. In that case the pilot did not survive. It was about 2100 hours, the flight deck went into immediate recovery mode. Many on the flight deck were throwing there coned flashlights at the sinking plane and the chute of the pilot. The pilot was recovered attached to his chute, however, he did not survive. There is an empty feeling when that happens. It matters not what squadron you are from. As an AQ, my job was to give the crew a radar system that was in good working order, in case they needed it if enemy bogies would appear. That was a sad day for me. It happened over 50 years ago and I can still see that incident in my mind.

[@jbman413]

I agree it does not matter when we lose someone in community from another squadron especially if you are from the same base. It never goes away. Hopefully we remember them for good. They all put their lives on the line.

[@lav3crewman]

Thank you for your service sir, I am retired RNZAF ground crew. Appreciate you sharing that.

[@sl3966]

I was in VF-154 in Atsugi Japan after they went to F-14A's. Thanks for your service and your story, and for pioneering the squadron I was proud to serve. BKR!

[@ryand141]

How did he not survive?

[@danlambert1061]

Thank you for a very objective analysis of this mishap. You're absolutely correct that competence and ability MUST come ahead of ANY OTHER considerations in flight ops. I flew F-4 s in '72,well before women were introduced, and remember these words of wisdom from one of my mentors" Airplanes and the laws of physics are heartless and absolutely unforgiving of those who don't understand or worse ignore them." I want to fly with those who have competence and skill, and I don't care about their gender. The bar should set as high as possible so that the fewest possible die.

[@johncarder819]

Firefighters have a similar saying: Every rule is there because somebody died.

[@zhuzzir]

Wow, that striked me hard n deep (no pun intended)! RiP to the forefathers for whom these life saving rules r here for... 🌹

[@daveblevins3322]

The same has been said regarding FAA rules and regulations. The FARS is a History Book of things that are hazardous to your health and equipment. 👍

[@UncleRayRayGarageEmporium]

Fire medic here: Very little of what we learn in the academy is because of scientific prediction. There are definitely obvious actions or avoidances due to accepted science, but that can confuse someone in a high stress class. The best way to get it to sink in is... "This is written in blood, kiddo." That curs through a lot of second guessing by students. In boot camp, we had to carry our milk carton at the chow hall with 2 hands, one above and one below the milk. We all wondered what the big deal was. Just another stupid rule to follow if you wanted to avoid push-ups and an ass chewing. Nope. At the grenade range, we carried live grenades like that milk carton. The instructor said it once, we understood, we complied. A recruit dropped a grenade in the past, and killed a few Devil Pups. Never again.

[@AnimeSunglasses]

So do most engineers...

[@Devourer221]

Rules written in blood

[@jaygallamore562]

Just saw this. I’m a retired Navy pilot and was flying during this time. Subsequently became a RAG skipper then operational CO. Very objective analysis, reasoning, and presentation of lessons learned. I second the fact that physics doesn’t care who you are. Great take-always and lessons learned. Hyjack, out….

[@jaygallamore562]

@@danjarvis6980 “Replacement Air Group” I believe was the term, it’s what the Navy used to call the training squadron for a particular type/series/model aircraft.

[@64TMS]

That was one of the most fair, level headed, passionate coverage of a tragic loss but what it takes for the bad situation NOT to become tragic. Thank you so much for that coverage. (I say coverage because it did....cover....and was NOT mere content) I say this with tears in my eyes. It's a very good tear.

[@stephenwilliams282]

Would an approach at higher airspeed and distance from ship to level wings defeat compressor stall.??? Forgive me if silly comment...I am a prop guy....

[@williamsnyder841]

Ward, I got here while researching info about battleship broadsides. Don't know how but glad I did. I went from F-4Js then flew F-14As from 1973-1981, RAG instructor, LSO and Cag LSO. Absolutely best description and analysis of that mishap I have ever heard. Very sad whenever one of our fellow aviators are lost. As the old sign says, "aviation is not inherently dangerous, but it is very unforgiving."

[@robertkennerly7443]

I was on deck when this happened and remember it all of the time.

[@daddystabz]

Thank you for your service. Can you give us any stories about it? What was the reaction of the people onboard?

[@davecruz7833]

Well there you are! #AT1 #NASLemooreAIMD #650. Good to see you Rob.

[@robertkennerly7443]

@@daddystabz Good evening Jonathan ....please allow me to introduce myself to you ...I am Robert Kennerly formerly known as AT1(AW) Robert R Kennerly ...USN retired. The reaction of the crew was both sadness and shock ...along with other emotions. Since I was on deck working on one of the F/A-18's and saw the crash in person ...along with everyone else that was on deck ....I know firsthand how bad that crash would have been if she had attempted to land onboard ..... I have been on deck on other carriers when birds had crashed. The memorial service was fitting and as nice as possible under the circumstance ......it was held a couple of days later on the focsle. Every year on 25 October I toast to her out of respect and gratitude. Everything on the tape was true about the flying techniques and such ...but when it was all said and done ....please remember she was a nugget that was in one hell of a situation ....and had she tried to land ......we all could have been a casualty. From my point of view .....she was one hell of a lady, to say the least. Since I am not on social media on a regular basis ....my email is [e-mail] my number is 334-477-4263 I look forward to hearing from you Have a good night Rob

[@daddystabz]

@@robertkennerly7443 Thank you so much for your awesome reply. I appreciate you and the crew and all you did for your country. I have always been haunted by what happened to Kara and my heart is broken for her family, friends, and colleagues. She was a trailblazer and will always be remembered. She was in a very tough position and had a lot of pressure on her and in my mind she will live forever as a hero. I wanted to be a Naval Aviator after watching Top Gun the very first time at the theater as a young man. My father had served 26 1/2 years in the USAF and I also wanted to follow in his footsteps a bit. My life turned out very differently when he passed away in 1995 and I changed my plans to take care of my completely devastated mother. If I could only reset the years and pursue this dream. May callsign Revlon RIP.

[@daddystabz]

@@robertkennerly7443 Thank you so much! Stand by for an email soon!

[@budwhite9591]

Short version seems to be: you have about half a second to stop your natural reaction to what a close to stalling airplane is doing and follow that checklist, if you don’t you’re dead --no matter who’s at the stick. Great stories, Sir. I think this important work you are doing

[@ncc74656m]

One of my favorite phrases in aviation training is "When something goes wrong, the first thing you do is wind your watch." Obviously in a given situation the point isn't about how much time you have to react to save your aircraft, it's about avoiding those instinctual reactions and letting your brain catch up and run things by the numbers. I do think though that's why it's important for training to be more than "the book." Pilots have got to know why it is that way, and then do it, repeat it, and get it baked into their reactions. Even in GA this is the number one rule - you lose engine power or anything goes wrong with the engine, you push over and gain airspeed. Airspeed is options. Kara may not have picked up what other pilots did, but I think it's also fair to point out how many pilots ended up in the same situation and how they'd have pulled it out. That's why your training has to be tailored to the pilot to some level.

[@KainsAddiction]

You guys keep pretending like guys dont face inflight emergencies all the time and survive lol

[@tc1952]

I served with her. Sending her up in a tomcat without meeting testing requirements was simply reckless. Just because you can drive a Volkswagen doesn't mean you can drive a Ferrari. Sometimes you have to be told No for your own good.

[@chazmania1743]

It was forced for politics. Congress said we are getting a female fighter pilot or admirals don’t get promoted and retired.

[@scowler7200]

Like going from a stock Yamaha TW200 to a turbocharged and stretched Suzuki GSX1300R.

[@PaulBongiorno-v2l]

bubba blythe wanted to show how ‘progressive’ our military is. bubba still holds the record for the bombing of more countries during peacetime than any other president. Then again, dem presidents, dem controlled CONgress got us into WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam. I won’t even go into the other unnecessary b s dem presidents got us into overseas.

[@kennethcooper1133]

That video sent chills down my spine. It was like watching an exact rerun from more than 60 years ago when I watched an FJ-4B coming in too low; it followed that exact same trajectory into the ocean. Unfortunately, there were no zero zero ejection seats in those days. Not all flight deck level crashes ended disastrously though. I did watch as an F8U, coming in too low, sheared off its landing gear at the ramp. He scraped along the deck with fire shooting out from under, then, just at the right time, where the angle deck stopped, he hit afterburner where he was able to climb to sufficient elevation to eject. On ejecting, his chute opened, and he was able to parachute safety into the drink along side the ship.

[@joebonomono5078]

That's one hell of an F'd up ride, but nicely done hitting the afterburner and being able to climb and eject. That pilot never quit thinking it out and it saved their life.

[@georgeschulstad7626]

@@joebonomono5078 o

[@georgeschulstad7626]

Cathy Johnson!!!! Hello !! From " Sky King ". !!!!

[@markaustin650]

. Looking poo

[@RidleyMMA]

Holy shit!

[@DCW65]

Sir, thanks for the video. I'm a retired YNC(SW/AW) and one of my duty stations was at VT-25 in Beeville, TX. At that time, I was the operations yeoman and calculated/logged all the flight training books/flight logs. I was there when Kara was a student and got to know her professionally. She was a really wonderful person and so excited about her future as a pilot. Thanks for the great video. RIP Kara.

[@rstel]

Wow, I was a navy brat growing up in Beeville Tx. Graduated from AC Jones HS and went into the Navy. I was onboard the Abraham Lincoln and on watch in CDC when Lt Hultgreen crashed. We were alerted hearing the LSO and saw it on the PLAT.

[@fikipilot]

Mooch, as a civilian aviator it's my opinion that you honor Revlon's family by having the discussion we just had. All aviation accidents, incidents, and/or mishaps are never because of any 1 reason. A chain of events are always cause the error, injury, and unfortunately fatalities. In the civilian world, we always said the same thing: FAA regulations, or colloquially known as "The Regs" have been written in blood. It's a fact of flying. It's the inherent dangerous nature of a human being operating a human engineered and human built machine, airborne. Well done on your episode. I think you served Lt. Hultgreen and her reputation well.

[@cayrick]

You are incredibly articulate and I learned a lot from watching this. Excellent!

[@johndormer9297]

Ward, I lost my right engine off the cat on the Connie. The thing that kept me out of the water was AOA below 14 units and no lateral stick. Had full opp rudder and still went off like a frisbi ( full zone 5)One thing I did and was prepared for was accepting a settle without yanking back on the pole. Cheers.

[@kevinoshea9125]

Accepting a settle? Thx

[@larrymarcum1673]

I’m thinking “settle” meaning the plane squatted down a bit before it started to climb. Most peeps would increase aoa to gain altitude. That’s just my guess.

[@igclapp]

@@larrymarcum1673 Sounds about right.

[@Steven9675]

John, so you used the procedures and it works…. If you get the rudder over soon enough…. Good job. When you went over the film, how long did you have? swb

[@738hickory]

Kara was a pilot in my squadron, VF-213 after I left my F-14 pilot assignment there. I never met her, but I did speak with some crew members that flew with her at the VF-124 "RAG" (training squadron at NAS Miramar). She had a lot of training problems there and probably shouldn't have been pushed through the program like she was. This buddy of mine was a RIO RAG instructor at VF-124 and he flew with Kara quite a few times, so his assessment was from his own experience and perhaps bias. We may never know. She had a tendency to overshoot the wake and stuff rudder in to make the turn. This could have caused the compressor stall. Even so, it's not a big deal as the F-14 at landing weights coming onto the ship should easily be able to recover with a single engine "go around". Not sure what all the circumstances were, but I can tell you that making her look bad wasn't going to happen for political reasons. Just saying.....

[@beechbonanza3895]

I can verify what the RIO RAG instructor said about her rudder usage. There are no ailerons on a tomcat. It’s differential stabs and spoilers, and the stick forces are HEAVY. When I heard they were considering adding women to carrier aviation, my first thought was send them to the F-18, and if they do decide to send them to the tomcat, they better be big and strong. They chose poorly. A male pilot with that trend would have never have been allowed near the boat.

[@Cokie907]

Wow, we're both on the same wavelength. I asked Ward a day or two ago if FDR data could show use of rudder during that turn to final. Critical time to go uncoordinated with everything hanging out at low altitude.

[@beechbonanza3895]

@@Cokie907 Watch the video. Pratts smoke (ask any LSO that waved a B or a D for the first time - they thought it was a dual flame-out until they understood the new engines were smokeless). Big overshoot, no bank correction, just a boot-full of rudder. The Pratt TF-30s need symmetrical airflow or all bets are off. Seconds after the overshoot, no smoke from the port (left) engine. She was warned, debriefed, and still allowed to go to the boat, ignoring the reprimands for poor (fatal) airmanship.

[@Cokie907]

@@beechbonanza3895 So the conclusion of many is that an uncoordinated turn due to skidding the bird around with left rudder is what caused the left engine to have a compressor stall. Is that accurate? I doubt the official USN finding would state that. They would probably blame the engine manufacturer or wind shear I'm guessing.

[@beechbonanza3895]

@@Cokie907 Guaranteed. And then not flying the airplane thereafter - with plenty of thrust vs. weight to make a successful go-around.

[@retiredatc4121]

First time viewer. Retired Air Traffic Controller (10 yr USAF; 24 yr FAA). I appreciate accurate and clearly expressed aviation-related content. Now a subscriber.

[@Ruffian71]

I remember when this happened while on active duty. I was an AG2 stationed in Kings Bay, GA. When the story aired a lot of us thought it was weather related. Usually when there’s flight mishaps investigators immediately called the WX office. We later learned the ‘truth’ so to say. But I’ve NEVER heard an in-depth analysis such as this; it clears up a lot of confusion. Well done❗️❗️❗️

[@stanleybuchan4610]

I'm ex RAF and we used to get a weather report after a mishap as it may have been weather related.

[@WalterVandivort]

Ward - I took the first and several classes in the F-14 to the boat in VF-124 as the squadron LSO. For the first two classes, I was part of the problem. Coming from the oldest F-4j’s in the Navy that came aboard at 152 or greater I was concerned about the 7 knots for DLC. I had people carrier qualifying without it. The problem is without DLC, every lateral stick input produced adverse yaw and the F-14A was hard to fly. After we introduced DLC for every carrier pass the F-14A was easy to bring aboard the ship. If you got a little fast, down DLC and a little back stick got you back on speed. High or flat at the ramp, down DLC would get you aboard. After my time in the RAG I was CAG 9 LSO and saw thousands of F-14 landings that were easily done with DLC. And remember, the F-14 ( like the A-6 ) was a Grumman airplane, you could pick it up 3 stories and drop it and it would squat and go on its way. Two final notes - VF 1 and 2 did their first cruise without DLC - no landing accidents I am aware of now. There is no final Naval Officer than Tom Sobieck. Twice Admiral Bowman took him off the promotion list illegally to please Congress. Bowman was angling for Rickover’s 4 Star job which he got. Someone should at least set the record straight. Finally, the one thing that remains unresolved is - she overshot and it looks like she was correcting to centerline with the rudder vice dropping dropping her wing as she should have. Could she have blanked the left engine? It is Memorial Day tomorrow and bless her, but I do think she could have been taught better. Captain Dutch Vandivort 858-774-4809 ( but I don’t pick up unless your phone identifies you).

[@FrankPagan-d9k]

Wow. No doubt you know what you're talking about. 👍

[@johnhallett5846]

I heard Bowman was a real POS. Sadly we seem to have more of that type in uniform today then ever before

[@arinerm1331]

In my 20 years in the Navy, I always hated "qual quotas" because they were, by definition, outcome-driven. When the normal attrition rate in training is, for the sake of argument, 50%, only the top half of the candidates will qualify. When the quote is higher than 50% of your trainees in the pipeline, you can see how some candidates will qualify even when, statistically speaking, they would not objectively meet standards. I retired in 2002, so I'll imagine it's worse today.

[@dougs2747]

What you describe is promotion to Chief. Due to the needs of the Navy, people with my NEC had zero chance of making Chief. In my last 10 years in the Navy, not a single person with my NECs was promoted to E-7, because the Navy did not need us. We were dinosaurs. Yet, the guy next to me made Chief with a 70% promotion rate. Making Chief is a quota system.

[@StephenZ827]

@@dougs2747 fear not...as one that built carriers, same holds for the construction. People promoted to supervisor or higher based on gender or skin color.

[@jamalwilburn228]

It has always existed even without quotas. I've been in training where less qualified got more praise because they were liked by cadre. Just because there personalities better clicked.

[@ajj4207]

I served on the enterprise 98-00 as a AO, desert fox- kosovo and I love this channel, thank you it brings back those awesome memories serving on a carrier. Also I remember women pilots on board and even integrated into the Aos, awesomeness. Please keep it going, love it!!!!! Much love, daydreams, and smiles.

[@lyndonwillms9668]

In B-52s, I flew as an EW. The gunner and I had an agreement; if you go, I go; if I go, you go. We would get our stories straight later. There were five times we both thought about punching. Did not have to, but it was close. Good analysis.

[@saucejohnson9862]

Damn, I didn't even know the B-52 had parachutes. I thought you'd have to go down with the ship like C-130's.

[@cpfs936]

@@saucejohnson9862 Weird. I just watched a video on the B-52 about an hour ago. If I understand correctly, they could punch out of those either upward OR downward.

[@theduck1972]

The deal I had with my EW was don't look over at me to see if my eyes are as wide as yours, you'll probably be looking at an empty space where my seat was (it'll be kinda noisy too), because I won't be looking at you to see if you're freaking out too.

[@theduck1972]

@@cpfs936: Upper deck crew ejected up, lower deck crew ejected down.

[@spacecatboy2962]

I have to say, the detailed information you give as someone who was there throughout this history is pretty great. Your presentation style is great, just sitting there talking right to us in relaxed fashion.

[@decimated550]

And I must say he is showing off his well-appointed room, very classy looking furniture

[@spacecatboy2962]

@@decimated550 yeah, not sure about those beatles though, need to get john fogerty up there.

[@Patchman123]

@@spacecatboy2962 Who honestly gives a shit?

[@LongbowPilot]

Army Aviation saying is “checklists are written in blood” good story and analysis.

[@edwardrichardson5567]

That is a saying in all corners of Aviation not just the Military. Airlines has same saying as well.

[@chrisperrien7055]

Operator's Manuals are all written the same way.

[@Edgy01]

The important take away-we learn from our mistakes, so we don’t do it again. Otherwise-no excuse!

[@dmeemd7787]

If the same in drag racing and pretty much anything unfortunately, quite unfortunately I should say

[@krashd]

@@edwardrichardson5567 It is a saying in everything, aviation, industry, marine, it's more of common sense than a saying.

[@robertmaybeth3434]

Ward Carroll, for a simple monologue video it's obvious you still have a whole lot of wisdom to dispense. You flew the F14 for 17 years, and it is obvious why the Navy trusted your skill and experience for so long. You still have a lot of knowledge to give, not just about naval aviation but about life in general. Your videos are very good.

[@akalksander9184]

I've heard from a veteran pilot that landing an aircraft on a carrier at night is one of the most difficult things to accomplish in aviation.

[@DrCruel]

Putting the plane on the deck isn't so hard. It's walking away afterwards that's tricky.

[@koborkutya7338]

I read somewhere the stress levels of pilots were measured and the highest possible level of stress was sensed at carrier pilots landing at night in combat conditions and that was higher than even while they were being shot at by SAM or other aircraft. That is telling a lot.

[@bobjordan69]

Second only to landing on the carrier in the Top Gun NES game

[@johnf3111]

Hello pilots landing on destroyers at night on a deck the size of a one car garage - while the deck is rolling 15 - 20 degrees. I've seen both. Navy held pilots are the macho pilots.

[@phillyphilhouse79]

I did it all the time on the TOPGUN video game. It ain’t shit. I don’t see what everyone is complaining about. LoL

[@kennethpaulson6540]

I remember this mishap. I was stationed in San Diego at the time at Point Loma. While I did hear a lot of comments about her flying the Tomcat, what I didn't hear was that she crashed because she was a woman. What I most remember was several senior officers commenting that the Navy was pushing too fast for the integration of female fighter pilots and that mishaps like this happen when a program is pushed too hard and too fast. Even before the investigations results came out there people saying that it wouldn't have happened if they'd given her more time. Time to learn the aircraft and the procedures. Thank you Ward for your completely factual explanation and leaving the politics out of it, as it should be. I was lucky enough during my service to never have been involved in a mishap, though I met a few who had. Hearing from them, and what they'd gone through after the fact, was a very pointed lesson.

[@WorldTravelA320]

She and Lohrenz ( the other female aviator who was picked by the Navy out of a hat) were given more time than their male counterparts, and even more chances. Both were sub-par, and Lohrenz was especially proud of being "the bottom of the top" even going on record about it, and then when she got pulled from flight duty, she cried it was "the good ol boys club" instead of her LACK of skill.

[@russkydeutsch]

@@WorldTravelA320 liberals are destroying our country in so many ways. Liberalism is a cancer, along with progressivism. There's nothing discriminatory about this. You can either safely fly, or you cannot. Unfortunately liberals caused Hultgreen's death, and coward military leaders didn't stand up against liberal progressivism so they could get that next rank.

[@eschelar]

Right. She didn't die because she as an individual was a woman, but because the ideology of feminism became more important than actual pilot competence. She wasn't incompetent because she was a woman, she was incompetent because she wasn't a very good pilot as an individual. She died because she was put into a situation that was more than she as an individual pilot could handle. Because of feminism ideology being implemented over merit. When feminism kills.

[@chrishusing227]

I was a US Air Force historian around the time of this tragic incident. My boss told me that on the Air Force side there was a feeling that the Navy had been pressured by the Clinton administration to rapidly integrate female pilots into combat roles.

[@duane356]

@@WorldTravelA320 It goes back further. I've seen a few articles mention Amelia Earhart's serious lack of ability. Of course, what mattered to the press and sponsors, was that she was breaking 'boundaries'.

[@aname5455]

It was 1980. We were on Gonzo Station. It was a perfect morning for ops. I was in the waist bubble. I just got to the ship via a supplier USS MARS. I was getting a first hand look at flight ops, since I was assigned to the V2 dept. It happened exactly how this guy described it. They didn't even look for the guys. The Air Boss was screaming at everyone to get back to their stations. I'm 62 years old now and I'm not ashamed to admit it brought tears to my eyes. It happened so quick. That was the first of a few that I witnessed. Not always the Hollywood version. It's great that they study each incident so detailed to learn from it. Sometimes it's easy to play Monday morning QB though. Just my right to say. What I saw was the TOMCAT'S STARBOARD ENGINE FOD out. When it cleared the cat the aft section dropped down putting it into a full on stall attitude. It hesitated for just a couple seconds then rolled quick. The guys ejected at about the 4 O' CLOCK POSITION, With their rockets burning. To my knowledge, they were not recovered. Suddenly the Navy was more than just an adventure.

[@jerrybandy3827]

I got on board right after the ship got back to Pier 12. I never heard about the F-14 crash. Of course we all heard about the EA6B crash later on because it caused so much more damage.

[@erickborling1302]

FOD = Foreign Object Debris(?) That is, damage from inhaling something. More likely on takeoff than landing. Pilots dubble check your fuel caps! Compressor stall means the fan blades exceed the angle of attack, not the same thing as "it ingested something left on the runway." We understand that the problem of compressor stall is mostly a design issue, solved by things like variable inlet guide vanes, bleed air, and variable stator vanes. Did I get that right?

[@californiadreaming9216]

Aname thanks for sharing your story. Old saying... experience isn't the best teacher, it is the ONLY teacher.

[@aname5455]

@@jerrybandy3827 Well, I don't remember guys talking much about planes we lost at sea. We just didn't. I remember that one the most because it was the first one that I personally witnessed. I didn't even know the crew, but still it teared me up. We all assumed that it picked up something from the deck,or something in the engine broke. I get it. We were in a potential war zone but it just seemed heartless to just keep right on going. We did do a massive heel turn. That whole ship was shaking like a magnitude 8 earthquake was on us. All that I could see was the Tomcat perfectly upside down in the water and very slowly sinking like a plate in a sink. The good Ole "NUMB NUTS".

[@aname5455]

@@erickborling1302 Yes sir. That is correct, as I know it to be. Thank you. The first incident he mentioned was referencing a take off, a Cat Shot as we called it. I just happened to be standing next to the "shooter" when the incident occurred. All of the shooters were Carrier Qual'd flyers as well. He immediately called for an end speed report from below deck. I was a good end speed. The tape was secured as evidence for the investigation, as routine protocol. Thank you.

[@jackal7610]

I'm enlisted aircrew in the Air Force. I appreciate the maturity and professionalism you brought to all the aspects of this topic. I wish more leaders in and out of the military could handle such subjects as well as you did. We need to always demistify mishaps.

[@WilliamRNicholsonLST-1195]

Thx Ward ! You remind me of all the hours I spent watching recovery of Tomcats while in all weather conditions at night aboard USS Ranger. I was constantly amazed at Cats hitting precisely on the wire for a purrfect arrest. When we had pea soup for night recovery's one night , I watched the flights as usual from the observation deck & glad I did not have a weak bladder .......... Pilots constantly made me stare in awe at the precision while unable to see much thru the pea soup . Last time I watched in the soup & all had come home safely , I went through Officers Country pretending I was going to check on my radars But I made sure I thanked the pilots I saw that were whiter in the face than my best bedsheets . Last one I saw quit looking dead in the eyes after I thanked him for an excellent recovery ......... he never said a thing 'cept his eye's came alive again & that said enough for me ...... I still don't know how Seals & Pilots stay so silent moving , when they have those Big Brass Ones ........ why don't they Clank ? ?

[@timmoore6055]

From my experience with Seals, they are not Brass - they are Titanium.

[@jackshittle]

I served as a Naval Aircrewman as an Inflight Ordnanceman on board P-3C Orions from 1990-1995. After basic training, my first school was Aircrewman Candidate School in Pensacola. That's when I got my first taste of "all is not equal". The O-course has the time requirements based on age and gender (of course I'm referencing how the women get to go slower then a man to pass). Also, I had to negotiate an 8 foot wall (with no rope), for the women, they got to negotiate a 5 foot wall (with no rope). I had to also get over a 12 foot wall w/ a rope. Women got to run up to it, touch the wall, then run around it. Huh? What? How is that fair? Then once I arrived to my squadron in Brunswick, ME myself & two friends that I went through all my schools with quickly realized that the female AO's were almost worthless. Every sentence started with "I can't". I can't hoist this 2000 lb mine, I can't push the bomb cart, I can't lift the tow bar, I can't torque this bomb rack, I can't un-torque this bomb rack, I can't undo this cannon plug, I can't lift this sonobuoy, etc. Yet, on their evals it would start with something like "Petty Officer Smith is a critical asset to workcenter 230. Without her expertise blah blah blah." One day we were at the hot spot loading AGM-84's & the females jobs were to prep the bomb racks, remove blank off plates, install the Harpoon wiring harnesses, etc. It was a complete cluster bumble. My pilot (as we stood at the nose of the aircraft facing the situation) turns to me and says (quote) "This is when I wish I had my video camera with me so I could film this and send it to our congressman." It was totally unsat and after just 5 years, I was over it. We got used to doing all of our jobs and then half of theirs.

[@jackshittle]

@@Jon-pl3hr I agree. Funny you mentioned the construction/flag holding thing. As a little kid when riding around with my grandfather (WW2 vet & retired as the Captain of the Detective Bureau in our town) would say to me (as we were waiting in traffic because of construction) "I bet you when we finally get a little further down the road you'll see the men working machinery, using shovels, etc. and there will be women holding the flag & directing traffic." Of course he would be right almost every time & he would get a kick out of that. He told me as well that when he came on the police force that there was a height requirement - but they ended up getting rid of it because of female applicants. The other thing with my job in the Navy (when I was flying, they still didn't have female pilots/NFO's or Aircrewman on the P-3C Orion platform - so that was good, standard crew on a P-3C is 12) is when I wasn't flying and had to hump bombs, rockets, missiles, mines, torpedos, nuclear depth bombs, etc. - that the females would never take part in the role of actually lifting the weapon (with hernia bars) or the manually cranked hoist. Watch videos on KZbin of "Aviation Ordnanceman" loading weapons and you'll see they are involved, but with the super light duty stuff, like arming the weapon, doing a stray voltage test, stabilizing the weapon with their hands so that it doesn't teter totter on the way up to the bomb rack, reading the check list etc. The only time you'll see them on a hoist is if it is the gas operated one. Meaning you just pull a trigger like on a hedge trimmer and the cable will rise the weapon up to the rack. The manual hoist? Forget it. You'll see the guys doing all the moving, handling & struggling with the weapon & you'll see them behind the guys just watching but pretending that they are serving in some phase of the operation. BTW - I just saw the Army's new recruitment video. I'm sure the Chinese & Russians are shaking in their boots now.

[@gerryaldridge6504]

@@jackshittle ĺ

[@humanbeing2420]

@@Jon-pl3hr There is "protesting" and there is "violently breaking and entering the US capitol while calling for the execution of government officials." The first is still protected by the First Amendment. The second is not, and it should be punished accordingly. The reason Democrats and Republicans can't see eye to eye anymore is that the latter refuse to act and speak in accordance with objective reality.

[@mikeblocker5720]

@@humanbeing2420 Democrats and objective reality 😂. This must be a joke.

[@humanbeing2420]

@@mikeblocker5720 Objective reality: Biden won the 2020 election decisively; Republican claims of fraud were rejected in over 50 courts of law. Republican reality: Trump won the 2020 election in a landslide; Biden stole it through fraud committed in multiple states, and we have proof.

[@davidrobins4025]

Thanks for the clear, understandable description of this tragic incident. In her life, Kara served well. And in her death she provided an amazing teaching point for ALL future F-14 pilots. God bless all of our military personnel for their dedicated service.

[@zx9mel]

The teaching point was already known . . .

[@CoDWiiPS3Gameplay]

@@zx9mel Known? Yes. But to see it happen for real on video is something on a different level entirely.

[@mba1776]

F-14’s were decommissioned in 2007

[@steveperreira5850]

Yep, here’s what I learned, there should be no pilot whatsoever in combat aircraft, they should be fully automated, and they will be more mission capable, far fewer will crash, and we illuminate the possibility of future prisoners of war begging for their life, and if they are female prisoners of war, lucky for them, they will also be raped. Isn’t that a great solution I have offered? It should have been decades ago that this was done, all of the technology was available then

[@gregknipe8772]

I watched this twice, the second time to pick up on your fair play speech style and pattern. factual, non judgmental, integrity, compassion, and honesty come to mind. qualities I admire and do not embody frequently enough. this is a acquired muscle memory of a quality instructor, coach and human being.

[@touristguy87]

Lol it's always that way if you agree with it. Never if you think it's wrong.

[@acmarmon]

I flew with a former flight instructor of Ms Holtgren at NAS MERIDIAN MS. He said she was fine as a student. She was assigned a Utility Sqdrn, probably never over 30deg angle of bank, and several years later was spun up to fly the Tom in the fleet. That is a steep learning ENVIRONMENT. RIP.

[@glennquagmire3258]

"Every outcome has a chain of events that explains how some things happened." This is true for every incident involving a plane. It is a chain of events. It starts before the plane begins its takeoff. As an accident investigator for 25 years of working for the civil side of things via the NTSB, this has been true for every accident, incident, or crash, I have investigated. Usually, one thing affects another, which affects another, etc., etc...

[@jbman413]

I sorta of followed this stuff for 4+ decades. My last day in boot camp 25sep78 in the morning a buddy and I were posting up to the fan tail of the USS Never Sail. When I performed the boot camp sin of looking up. I saw the white puff of smoke at the wing root and watch the aircraft roll to a crash landing. I departe next day bought the paper at the airport. I was absolutely impressed by the crash landing. The Pilates put that bird down on the center line of a suburban street. Houses on both side of street were lost, but the ones behind them were not. PSA felt 182 135 souls? Felt the same way on the crash recovery at Cecil Field walking the grooves in the runway VP-50. The pilot saved the aircraft and crew. BZ to all who instinctively do the right thing.

[@jbman413]

After the puff of smoke I saw it burst into flame...

[@jbman413]

Pilots dang spell checker!

[@dlc710]

True of almost every incident involving a plane. Malaysia Airlines MH370 and China Eastern Airlines MU5735 flights seem to be missing a final write-up. Been waiting for 9+ and 1+ years for the final reports.

[@JC-uk7tf]

I need to move that coaster back fully on the table.

[@dixonpinfold2582]

Ruined the whole video. ;)

[@claudelindsay4270]

If you would have listened you would know that the coaster doesn’t care what gender you are, it will stay on the table.

[@panzerabwerkanone]

It's not unusual to stack coasters on the flight deck with their tails hanging over the water. That is normal.

[@kuizatz]

@@panzerabwerkanone LOL I knew there would be a good explanation, thanx, I can sleep again...

[@manuelkong10]

YES!!!! me too!!! HHAHAHAHAHA

[@BobJones-ww4sx]

Outstanding, professional presentation Ward. I flew FJ4B's, F9F-8's and A4's 1956-1964, watching your presentation actually increased my heart rate after all these years! After 68 years as an active pilot my four years of deployments on Ranger, Oriskany and Lexington, based out of NAS Miramar, plus three years as a RAG instructdor, were the high point of all my flying including 31 years of airline flying through the B 747's. Outstanding presentations, I enjoy them all. Keep it up, you are appreciated.

[@budbuddybuddest]

First time watching. As a nonpilot citizen civilian this elevated my already very high regard for military pilots. Skills, training, instant response, risk, dedication, all of it and ground crew. Thank you all.

[@Holdit66]

"Air safety improves one crash at a time."

[@linanicolia1363]

sadly so.

[@mikemyers7317]

My dad and Ed Andrews used to show such reels on our garage wall in Virginia Beach with the other pilots after such tragedies. I remember as a kid the looks on the pilots faces were so grim. Thanks for sharing, and your service.

[@jayduke8554]

Marine helicopter pilot here. I wasn’t good enough for jets. I’m 66 and was good enough at my skills to survive everything. God bless all Naval Aviators😊

[@Sniperboy5551]

I’ve heard that flying a heli is even harder than flying a jet.

[@michaelsumners1977]

Where do USMC helicopter pilots go to flight school? I know that Army guys go to Rucker (I'm from Alabama, so that's always been a neat thing here.) My dad was in an artillery unit with the USMC-Reserves and the stories he used to tell me were crazy. I'm sure you can relate. Can you tell us what helicopter you flew? A little off-topic, but... my dad got me some "Red Dog" beer signs when I went off to college at Auburn around 1995, and almost 30 years later, I don't really have room for that stuff anymore. I saw something about the "Red Dogs" squadron of HMLA-773 and their squadron logo is identical to the neon sign and other stuff that I have. Because they are USMC Reservists like my dad was (he's no longer with us), I thought it would be a great tribute to donate the stuff to the squadron, and I'm sure they would love to have it. I've tried to find contact info for the unit and squadron, but it's confusing because they seem to have multiple locations. I don't have any idea how to go about getting these things to them, or if that might possibly even be against some rule somewhere. Do you happen to know anybody that could point me in the right direction about this? (sorry for the long post🤭😀)

[@tidepride86]

​@@michaelsumners1977 What part of Alabama?

[@michaelsumners1977]

@@tidepride86 Birmingham

[@tidepride86]

@@michaelsumners1977 i gotcha. I'm down in Mobile.

[@anthonymiller3392]

Excellent discussion - thank you, CDR. One day as a Student Naval Flight Surgeon learning mishap investigation, I attended a lecture by a senior CAPT from the Safety Center. He used Kara Hultgreen’s mishap to teach us the importance of digging deep without preconceptions to learn as much as possible from a mishap so that others don’t have to repeat it. I still have vivid memories of that lecture 25 years later.

[@johnshirley8099]

@Anthony Miller.,.just curious if you knew my first cousin Robert P Randolph. He was also a Navy Flight Surgeon. He was the first full time FS assigned to the Blue Angels, if that rings a bell Unfortunately he passed away rather suddenly a few months ago. I guess he's "keeping them flying" somewhere up in the clouds now. I chose to drive aircraft for the USAF, but always have fond memories of sailing on the USS Ranger in another life. Stay safe

[@anthonymiller3392]

@@johnshirley8099 I’m sorry for your loss. I don’t believe that I ever met your cousin, but his name is familiar to me. (The Navy FS community is small.) I have fond memories of Air Force acquaintances: I deployed twice to a Naval Air Facility located on the USAF base in Misawa, Japan. Stay safe.

[@elizabethgray8856]

Retired Aviation FA18 Hornets for over 26 plus years. I was in the hangar where two men ejected themselves into the hangar bay. I was there when we had a mid air collision and the only man to land an FA18 hornet with no hydraulic systems and landed purely on IFR. These aircraft do not discriminate and they will pull crazy in a split second. They used to show us her crash video to demonstrate what not to do during aircraft carrier mishaps. Back then there was a deep push to get women trained. and also there was a deep push to get us put out..as in we did not belong..I remember being told I dont belong..but I never listened. We can all learn from mishaps..even the most seasoned experienced pilots can be put in situations that could make the aircraft unrecoverable. I will be the first to tell anyone this is not for everyone you have to be extremely passionate about doing it and wanting to fly these jets because the required training will take you beyond your limits. My first training jet an A7, then an F14 and then and FA18 I have 7 different platforms that I qualified on..it is unforgiving..you have to know the books you have to know the training and you do not get in that Jet unless you meet those requirements. Thank you so much for a great podcast on this and safety training and flight training. The Navy owes you my friend.

[@willl7780]

do you believe we should have quotas are strictly merit based?

[@TheSniperGTO]

Strictly merit based. That’s not how it’s done, for diversity and inclusion. But it should be. Imagine if professional basketball had quotas. So the Chicago Bulls hire a tall black, a short Mexican, an average height Navajo Indian, an average white guy, and a black woman who is transgender and prefers to be call Tedarius Lamar Jackson. Fine. What happens when they play the LA Lakers who only hire tall black dudes. How do you think that quota system looks when you are losing games 143 to 11.

[@Andreas-gh6is]

@@TheSniperGTO The talk about "Merit Based" anything is bullshit and just shows you know nothing about discrimination. For one thing, the discriminated class really doesn't have it any easier, in fact, they have it harder to meet the "merits" in the first place, mostly because whatever existing system there is makes it harder for them. For another, there weren't all that many female pilots around at all, and picking from a smaller pool means lower average quality. The general attitude of "you don't belong here" doesn't help either. On the other hand, would female pilots ever have had a chance if the higher ups hadn't put pressure on the system? They had to prove themselves, and they did.

[@TheSniperGTO]

@@Andreas-gh6is No. that’s a very leftist, democrat, dangerous ideology. Our military should be based strictly on merit, and who is best at that job. Not giving quotas to certain races and genders (of which there are only two by the way) to meet a requirement. Kind of like letting females into Ranger school and Special Forces. None of them really passed. They all had standards lowered to LET them pass. How does that make us safer? How does choosing someone less qualified for a job based strictly in their race, gender, religion or any other system make that position better than if the person best qualified for it? If that female pilot can meet all the standards, or exceed them, and it turns out that, ala Starship Troopers, females are much better pilots, then if all pilots are female based on their performance only, I’m fine with that. Excluding pilots, if any profession, especially the profession of arms, where your job is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy, gives slots to less qualified people based in quotas, that’s wrong. If you were desperate for bread, and bread production was critical, and most of the bread makers where female dwarves, who for some reason, could bake 10 loaves an hour, would you hire a white guy who could only bake 7, just for diversity reasons? If so, you are crazy.

[@hippylong]

Thank you for your service... you rock!

[@tomtolentino7575]

I distinctly remembered this tragic event.....ships company, IM4 division. Went up to the crows nest to observe flight ops as a way of getting some whoosa time from work. Unfortunately saw all this happen, and just couldn’t believe how it all was over so quickly. May she Rest In Peace 😕🙏🙏⚓️

[@Kerry0101]

In my former self as V-3 on the USS Ranger CV-61 the crows nest was so awesome to see even at night. It was the ballet of the seas. Our ship had a F-14 come in and rip out the number 3 wire, because it was set for an F-18. The Pilot and RIO lived. Then we had a A-6 intruder the tail hook broke on catching the number 2 wire. Turned the A-6 toward Cat 1 and 3 F-18 in the path. Pilot and Bombardier punched out one landed in front of the island and was almost dragged off the ship until the one who directs the plane to cut off power when they successfully land saw it come toward him so he ran towards the front of the island and saw the ejection and whomever it was overhead. He then jumped on the parachute to save his life. The other one landed in his seat on the deck. Both survived. The plane hit the first F-18, pushed it into the second F-18, then spun around and hit the 3rd F-18 and then it hit the catwalk and took out 6 45 man life preservers. This was my first underway time I was new into the US Navy. I found out the meaning Danger Ranger just then. Both happened during the day on Carrier Quals, I was in the hanger bay.

[@nperry77]

I was in the shower by the forward mess decks.

[@Kerry0101]

@@nperry77 wow small world.

[@jpbates591]

I was in the MARDET watching the Plat.

[@daveflower6702]

I was on the USS Chancellorsville CG-62 behind the Abraham Lincoln when that happened. Sad day for all.

[@jimdenning5301]

My dad was a Rio on F-4s and F-14s and CO of the Diamondbacks. We Talked about this a while back and he felt bad for her family because he felt she was pushed through and if she was assigned a different plane, she likely would have had an outstanding career.

[@Steven9675]

I pray she did it on her own with performance. I like to think that she did have an outstanding career.

[@Keifsanderson]

​@@Steven9675The facts are that political considerations weighed on her short career. Was it a direct factor in hee mishap? Hard to say. Buy I can say that when factors beyond performance enter the equation, the product must be less that it would be otherwise.

[@dcole7092]

True not only in Aviation but other combat and special ops career fields.

[@influentialgurning]

Has the Air Force now stopped using this type of plane because it was unusable?

[@maxpuckerfactor]

@@influentialgurning USAF never used the F-14, their budget buster in the 70's was the F-15. BTW - the USAF is still using F-15E and now playing with an F-15-X

[@rooseveltburnside8378]

Former Diamondback Plane Captain here, it's great to see that emblem on a flight suit once again. Great work, sir!

[@terryhurst4823]

I fueled a lot of Diamondbacks and Starfighters on board the America from 87-91, great planes and crew!

[@stevemolina8801]

Never been anything close to being a aviator I served in the Navy as a GMG. I stumbled upon this as I roamed looking for interesting videos. You grabbed my from the start and explained everything in detail but it was also to where I understood everything Thank you and Well Done. RIP Kara and all other aviators who left this earth early.

[@WardCarroll]

Thanks, Steve. Glad you stopped by.

[@thumper9633]

DDG-8, Mount 51, Gun Captain. Good to meet you!

[@renatosureal]

@@WardCarroll @Ward Carroll The AIRPLANE does not care if the pilot is FEMALE or MALE, right ?! So then... let's **PUT THOSE WOMEM ON front line INFANTRY, if they are so ... **_integrated_** !!!**

[@knoahbody69]

@@renatosureal You need to do a search before you post, dood. This was eight years ago. Where have you been? kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4axe6BsgKl-hpI

[@USSBB62]

I favor 5" 38's From BB 62 to Framed Fletcher's Watched a lot of landings and touch and go's while on plane guard. Thank God no mishaps. Picked up a few sailors blown overboard by Jet wash though.

[@morganjohnson539]

That LINCOLN crash was one of my last carrier deployments of my career. I've seen the videos many times since then but this is the first time I seen a proper incident breakdown from a TOMCAT driver's perspective. Thank you very much for that. I was a Navy Nuke and I have taught everywhere, inside and outside of the community and even since retiring ,that there are no accidents. Only unfortunate outcomes from acquired bad practices.

[@yukikodavila4907]

I was on board when this happened. Her quick decisions saved the lives of many sailors that day.

[@supercarblondie1048]

@@yukikodavila4907 T°°h°°°a°°n°°k y°°o°°u for your* *c°o=°m=°m=°e=°n=°t and view°,....***...*** The... boat.... ...is...really.. cool*"..I..know...you'll..love..it...😍😍..and...again.. before...I'll...forget..{[(n^o^w^^that^^bItcoiN^^is^a little bit lower}])/ >(Text.).. CLARABELLA.... W^h^a^t^s^a^p^p^+1(4^2^4^5^2^3^8^6^2^1^)^she^^has^^(the)^^••(b^e^st•)•^^^^ strategies••in^••t^r^a^d^e^{••¢rypto^^^}••tell^••her^..that^>=I>=>r^e^c^o^m^m^e^n^d^e^d••y^o^u^$^^

[@Endlesspathable]

@16:30 is the sum of this entire story regarding the facts. The solution to this known aircraft situation was established and trained for. The problem lies with whether the student learned those lessons.

[@allenl.2437]

I'm a retired Senior Chief Avionics Technician with several, including the maiden workups/deployment on the Lincoln. I remember the integration of females flying the 14 and this incident, and while not on the Abe when it happened, I do remember this being a huge talking point/discussion around the Mess. I've heard rumors, speculation, aka 'Scuttlebutt' around what had happened and had always wondered the exact details surrounding the incident. I just want to say thank you for the honest and unbiased editorial on the event. Love the channel. Thanks.

[@kolt46]

@K L "She wouldn’t qualify in the Air Force. Even you know this." Because it is so hard to land on a huge stationary runway?

[@e.conboy4286]

@@kolt46 Yeah!

[@allenl.2437]

@K L Sorry, have to respectfully disagree there. I spent many years in Naval, mostly carrier based and although I have a huge amount of respect for Air Force pilots (Spent several years contracting for Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistsn) So having been in combat theaters with both services I have no doubt Navy and Marine Corp pilots are generally more skilled aviators than your typical Air Force pilot.

[@billinca9274]

Ward, I was a Simulator Instructor (in a Different Community at Miramar, in San Diego) when Kara had her Mishap. Sim Instructors in her Community, Indicated the Feminatzis were Pushing her to be Carrier Qualified. She needed More Sim Time, before going to Qualify at "The Boat" It's the Politically Oriented Feminists, who actually got her Killed. {Bill in CA}

[@upnywhiteb]

Listening to you makes me feel like I'm in college again being instructed by someone who really knows what they are talking about. Mostly over my head, but I do feel smarter.

[@Hosstache]

I was on board the 72 when this happened. A very sad day at sea for us all that day. We were glad to hear at least one of them made it home.

[@andyleotell]

I was TAD from Nimitz… this was my very first day ever underway… we were barely out of SD harbor and I believe she was the first approach… Kara was from my home state of CT as well…

[@fast71bug2]

I was in the airwing and on the ship when this happened. I was in VF-114, VF-213s "sister squadron" a couple years before. I heard a lot of talk of her being pushed through and the ending was very unfortunate.

[@baaamakingbaaaa]

A friend of mine does training with new hires for one of the big airlines. He said there are people being pushed through right now based on factors other than their ability. What you look like and your bedroom playtime preferences mean more than skill right now. He said if there was ever a time to be concerned about taking a commercial flight, now is the time and it's only getting worse.

[@fast71bug2]

@baaamakingbaaaa I know there is a huge shortage of airline pilots, according to a buddy of mine who flies, so I'm sure they're pushing people through. How they choose who I don't know....

[@alexdarcydestsimon3767]

​​@@fast71bug2if you're a male pilot applying you have likely less chances than a blondie with big smile and big boobs.

[@baaamakingbaaaa]

@@fast71bug2 apparently they are not choosing based on skill or qualifications like they used to because that would be racist or homophobic. Why would they hire based on skill when they don't have to? The vacancies are filling up very fast now apparently . The shortage of pilots is coming to an end. Thank goodness!! As a frequent flyer I am excited that all the delays I've been experiencing due to the pilot shortage is coming to an abrupt end. They are filling those front 2 seats as fast as they can. I don't really care who they are as long as my plane takes off in time.

[@abark]

Guess you might care when you plane with Indian spaghetti code piloted by diversity hires takes off on time and crashes.@@baaamakingbaaaa

[@dkeberhard]

as a former Air Force Instructor Pilot in multiple aircraft, I find Ward's knowledge impeccable.

[@GintaPPE1000]

Thank you for keeping this apolitical and sticking to the facts. We need more people like you, not just in defense circles or the military, but society in general.

[@Skandalos]

I disagree. It's the core principle of the left that everything is political including the most private of matters. For them there is no neutral or apolitical. The more youre trying to prove your neutrality the more they will pressure you, exploiting your lack of courage and understanding of their tactics.

[@briancrawford8751]

@@Skandalos I agree with OP. I disagree with you. Go grind your ax somewhere else.

[@russkydeutsch]

@@briancrawford8751 The facts are that liberals, and progressivism pushed by the left were the cause of Hultgreen's death. She failed MULTIPLE times on carrier qualification ops. But the left pressured coward military leaders to push her through. All in the name of "feminism" and "progressivism." Hultgreen was a danger to herself, and her RIO, and because of politics, and coward military leaders not standing up against progressivism, she lost her life. Liberalism is a mental disorder.

[@just_one_opinion]

Sucks for everyone involved...especially if it could of been avoided.

[@just_one_opinion]

@@russkydeutsch Yessir.

[@Doubleelforbes]

Guy is waving a Tomcat at me with a Rickenbacker and a Gibson peeping in the back, next to the Marshall stack and the Abbey Road pictures. Fastest subscribe in YT history!

[@kurtfoulke5130]

The pictures on the wall have changed but the hardware hasn't. He doesn't always drink beer. But when he does, he prefers Dos Equis !

[@patrickcooper2760]

I absolutely love the old Richenbacker basses! I've played B.C.Rich Warlocks for the last 30+ year's but have dreamed of owning and playing a Richenbacker like the one Cliff Burton played.

[@mrivantchernegovski3869]

I saw that to,i was just watching a episode on Rickenbacker guitars on 5 watt world .Great channel 5 watt world .

[@mikeshelley4862]

What about the Taylor in the room?

[@tarasbulba3190]

@@mrivantchernegovski3869 Saw that vid!👍

[@dannyc.6744]

Mooch, I'm commenting on the first F14 mishap that you described with subsequent NATOPS procedures. I was driving an A6E located right behind the JBD when my friend Jack (Last name will be omitted for privacy) lost control of his F14. Just as the F14 went down the stroke, #2 had a burner can blow out. The rest happened exactly as you described. Jack reefed the nose up departing the plane and it rolled rapidly to the right. The canopy came off about 90 degree's and because of the rapid roll rate, they ejected straight down into the water. There was a great splash in front of the ship (USS Nimitz) and we rolled right over them. The JBD went down and they were directing me onto the CAT. My knee's were shaking. I was a nugget and pretty shaken up. I said to my B/N, "Aren't they going to stop flight ops? What about search and rescue?" My Beener replied "Shit happens. You are in the big leagues now. Concentrate on your job." Little did I know, this was one of many friends of mine who would buy the farm over the next few years. As you know, we have survived a tough business. In regards to Lt Kara Hultgreen mishap. It's late and I didn't watch your entire video. I'm a former LSO and, if I remember right, the controlling LSO's frantically were waving her off. She did not respond to any of their calls. I am a former GA, military and Part 121 instructor and on occasion, I have seen this type of reaction / behavior. It's usually caused by someone who is totally overwhelmed by the circumstances. They are so absorbed by the situation they literally do not hear or see anything going on around them. On a couple of occasions, I had a crew member (B/N and a B737 co-pilot) totally zone out during an emergency situation. They were in a paralyzed comatose state. It was really freaky to witness.

[@michaelvorderkunz2936]

Ward. Just wanted to say thank you for giving all of us in youtube land your time to tell us your stories and knowledge of times past. I'm sure many of us watching, including myself, watched every documentary we could find on naval aviation and none of that compares to actually hearing it from someone who lived it. So thanks again for doing this Hope you have a good one.

[@WardCarroll]

Thanks for watching, Michael. That’s what makes the effort worth it.

[@danrespicio1213]

Agreed Michael!!!!

[@josephkelley8641]

@ 16:45 "If you don't LEARN from THAT mishap, you're likely to REPEAT the mistake again..." Goes for all of us -- and in every facet of our life/lives.

[@nperry77]

I was stationed on Lincoln when this happened. I remember where I was when the call came over the 1MC "NAVY Blue, NAVY Blue, aircraft in the water"

[@touristguy87]

I'm not sure why you felt the need to post that comment. What exactly is it that you got out of saying that?

[@bigcatdaddy76016]

@@touristguy87 He said " i remember where I was when"...talking about the call of incident happening,...that's why he's posting.

[@Chase-Man]

@@touristguy87 take a shower and go outside...

[@touristguy87]

@@Chase-Man you've clearly spent too many months at sea crammed into a boat with a bunch of other men

[@Chase-Man]

@@touristguy87 I get some daddy issues vibes from you

[@davidisner718]

I read a review of the accident. The pilot was rated "average" based on her landing scores on this cruise. It was noted she had a frequent tendency to over shoot the line up when turning base to final. It was written she did this again on this approach and yawed the nose to try to intercept the glidepath, and in doing so, she disrupted airflow over the yawned nose and compressor stalled the left engine. Then the events occurred as you describe. What you omitted was the finding her poor airmanship caused the stall ... at least that's what I read...

[@RevMishka]

I’m a former ATC Tower Marine...although land based (MCAS Yuma) I witnessed a lot during my tour...I commend you Ward for your professionalism and truthfulness in this video. May God Bless and Protect our Aviators!

[@drewm4914]

When I see Ward upload a video, I feel like I used to waking up on Christmas morning.

[@WardCarroll]

Ha! Thanks, Drew.

[@hogflies3208]

Same

[@robkobain2822]

Ward a.k.a Mooch, (maybe now) Kris Kringle Carroll. When I get a ding, ahhh kinda like Christmas. Always an exciting time watching new videos.

[@WardCarroll]

@@robkobain2822 Hard to change a callsign once you've got one, but I like it, Rob!

[@robkobain2822]

@@WardCarroll I hear ya. But, love all your content so far. Interesting to hear from the aircrew member’s perspective. Thank you.

[@michaelchristensen6884]

I was in an A-6 Intruder squadron out on the ship when they sent Kara Hultgreen out to do her first CQ qualification with the tomcat. Everyone on the flightdeck knew it was her coming in because the AIR BOSS was announcing on the flightdeck PA system when she was inbound to the ship. I do not remember what the passes looked like, but I remember each pass was waived off by the LSO because of the way she was flying the plane. Every one of the approaches were announced by the AIR BOSS. She was waived off each of the four times that she tried to land. Which from my understanding meant she was headed back to the shore as a failed attempt at landing because she failed to land in the four attempts. She went up and hit a tanker while I guess some people talked about the situation. The AIR BOSS came onto the PA system and announced that they were going to give her a 5th try at landing the plane. To me, this is where it went wrong. They should have sent her back to shore for more training if that is what it would have taken to help her gain the flying skills needed to land the tomcat or fail her and send her to an easier aircraft to fly. She put it onboard the ship on the 5th extra try. I do not remember seeing her again that same day after she took the catshot off the ship. I have several pictures of her on CAT 1 a few days later that I took from the catwalk and the forward right angle where all the final checkers hang out waiting for their planes. I took the pictures because it was being made into a huge deal by the Navy about making female fighter pilots in deploying squadrons. To me, the Navy killed Kara because they were pushing so hard and fast to get women into these fighter billets that the high ups wanted to happen. She was lacking in the slow speed landing environment of flying the Tomcat. She seemed to be always behind the curve (ball) in what she was supposed to do while aviating the plane. Did some of this inability come from her prior platform? I am unsure about the EA-6A Intruder and its landing profile and weight. I know the regular A-6E and KA-6D were fairly easy to get about the ship due to their high wing lift to weight ratio. Could her memory have went back to those old skill sets of the Electric Intruder while she was in an emergency and possibly panicking? We will never know.

[@erikd2256]

This new woke military is going to see a huge drop in quality due to filling positions based on race or gender instead of skill and ability. The military is not the place for this. Someone who isn't able to meet regular standards shouldn't be in the military and even worse shouldn't be able to lead soldiers that do meet those standards. Any positions that require you to be on or near the front line in a fighting situation even if they are non combat should meet those normal standards not some watered down ones. Do you think that some foreign force is going to allow us a safe space to cry in? I'm glad I'm not likely to be around when shit hits the fan. I'm too old to learn chinese or some other foreign language...

[@eutha6]

Excellent presentation- this reasserts what is known about training- you train until you dont have to think about it, you just do it. Always horrible to lose an aviator,hopefully this assisted in training others at the time.

[@konanoobiemaster]

enlisted marine corps veteran here. I did 3+ years as an supply admin in 1st MAW MAG12 Iwakuni, Japan. We supported all the F-18, harrier and prowler squadrons rotating in and through on deployment. The number of pilot deaths, mishaps and emergency landings I witnessed as a daily flight-line observer was more than enough to dissuade me from getting my privates pilots license. I've loved aviation my entire life and the one thing I learned was that aviation is deadly game that should only be played be the very elite - a lot of aviators out there have absolutely no business flying aircraft.

[@raymorrison8957]

Ray Morrison I was a LSO spotter on CVA-64 from 1966 to 1968, Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club. Very well described and good description of Kara Hultgren's F-14 Tomcat Mishap. Witnessed 16+ accidents while on the Connie. Was out their for the Oriskany and Forrestal fires. I've loved watches lots of your video's, Thankyou . . . .

[@robjohnson8522]

Your video reminds me of of one my many epiphany moments during training, "Remember, the only control surface not affected by AOA is the rudder! USE IT!

[@jimfox9719]

I was an Air Force IP and safety investigator and it is very unfair to have a simulation where the team knows exactly what is coming vs a real life instantaneous failure with fractions of seconds to respond correctly. Bold face is a huge help, but if the worst case situation occurs at the worst moment, we all learn we are mere humans.

[@youtubeaccount9058]

Once the flameout occurred it was dire. But didn't she cause the flameout by trying to save a bad approach with too much rudder?

[@operator8014]

I'd love to see how many top pilots can save that situation in a simulator when they don't know it's coming. Just have them do touch-and-go landings for 6 hours with no faults then throw this in there and see how many can save it. I assume it's somewhere around 75% of the top F15 aviators can save it 50% of the time.

[@uwillnevahno6837]

So is the root cause The Navy didn't train her to the muscle memory standard, she didn't learn it or she didn't have enough flight hours in a learning scenario beforehand?

[@dimakhidarkovskiy2175]

@@operator8014but navy don fly f15, Air Force does, landing aircraft on the moving carrier is a “ bit” different then just on stable surfaces of airport

[@fluffysheap]

This isn't like a sudden, random mechanical failure. It's a pilot induced loss of power, in a situation and aircraft in which you should be extremely aware of this possibility. The F-14 problem with compressor stalls is hardly a secret. It was big news when the plane was new. And it's something all qualified pilots should be thinking about. Kind of how Cessna pilots know not to slip with flaps deployed.

[@MrAlligam]

I was on shore duty when this happened. I remember a lot of discussion in the office about the mishap and of the many factors that you addressed regarding integration and how that may have complicated the situation. Having come from a CVN where I watched a F/A-18 take a CAT shot with the parking brakes on, I knew that mishaps can happen any time -- to anyone.

[@jbman413]

Roger that Literally “Sh_t happens”

[@flexmasterson4297]

So true, but they are less likely to happen to a pilot who meets the standards and is held,over for additional training when she fails the same scenario more than ice in flight school. I see her as a courageous sacrifice and her death completely avoidable.

[@teddyjackson1902]

@@flexmasterson4297this is what no one will say. This ideology has a costs in lives that can be counted, but never will be.

[@songjunejohnlee2113]

Pure gold is what Ward and his channel are delivering to us aviation fans. The access to the inner sancta of Tomcat cockpit and squadron ready room is of such value that it can only be rivaled by its scarcity. What a world we live in.

[@TheBelrick]

There was zero logical reasons for integrating female pilots . Instead there were political reasons that stemmed not from native local support but from hostile forces that knew what happens to societies that empower and put women at risk. People think that the Adam and Eve story is about creation. Instead it is actually a warning about the chaotic natures of women and what they will do to paradise if unchecked. We are witnessing that ourselves first hand today. Are you all prepared for the coming years? 2020 was just a prelude.

[@jamesunger6892]

Are you a veteran? If not, shut up and sign up.

[@navblue20]

@@TheBelrick Stick it in your ear. You sound like the same type of people that 60 70 years ago they said that black soldiers would not fight. And I'm not saying that as a liberal or anything like that I'm saying it's a 24 year veteran of the United States Navy who is a hospital corpsman who had both men and women flying in combat and would trust any of them way more than I ever would you!

[@TheBelrick]

@@jamesunger6892 The empowerment of women was done by hostile forces across all of society not just within the armed forces. Hence why you don't need to be a veteran to comment on the gross stupidity of armed forces gender quotas and lowered standards

[@Patchman123]

@@TheBelrick True! You are on the money, but you could be less preachy with the religious stuff. This is not about religion!

[@GA-1st]

Referred here by the Blancolirio channel. Not a pilot, but I find this subject fascinating! Love your clear, objective, and comprehensible to a layperson approach to a complex problem. R.I.P. to Lieutenant Hultgreen - thank you for serving your country. Great stuff!

[@daitoryu]

Loved the explanation of the difference between an accident and a mishap. You nailed it, brother!

[@jtully79]

You’ve hit a million views! Awesome work Ward. I’ve been following you for a while as you’ve grown the channel. Your content is 1st class so really happy for you. There are plenty more viral episodes to come I’m sure

[@randystephan9950]

After all this time , I finally heard an opinion from a Commander who has 1000 plus hrs in the Tomcat. Well done Sir.

[@lorig9173]

He's a RIO, not a pilot.

[@12345fowler]

@Bob If a RIO is a Commander, it wouln't be of any aircraft does it ? Not the diminish any merit from any individuals here.

[@quackbury9413]

@@12345fowler Uh, you know Commander is a Naval rank, right?

[@12345fowler]

@@quackbury9413 I have no idea what he had in mind when he wrote that "Commander" thing. I understood it along the line of beeing an "aircraft commander" like a PIC if you wish. Looks like that is the same interpretation that triggered the other comment.

[@fazole]

@Bob It matters because RIOs don't learn to fly. There are not even any flight controls in the back seat of an F-14! Some aircraft like the 2 seat F-18s do have duplicate controls and most pilots all the RIO to get some stick time, BUT they are NOT carrier qualified. Commander is a Naval rank, equivalent to Lt. Col. in the Air Force, it does not denote pilot in command of an aircraft.

[@charlestiegges85]

Ward Sir, great video! Thanks for not dumbing it down and keeping it technical. As a General Aviation pilot who loves military aviation, the most I've had to commit to memory is recovering from a spin, and it is about 4 or 5 steps. Man she was dealt a bad hand! She's turning to port, and her port (inside) engine stalls. She add's power (as the LSO called for) which agravates the asymetrical thrust. And, the RIO controls the ejection. All those factors come together, she didnt stand a chance (unless she tuned out the LSO and executed the NATOPS procedure- I suspect tuning an LSO out is close to impossible!). One last factor I'd love to hear your input on is-- I sensed the LSO was a bit harsh to Kara. In General Aviation, we only deal with ATC and Control Towers, and both can often "make or break" an unfolding situation based on their tone. I sure wouldnt want that tone in my ear during an emergency. Awesome video, now I think I have a much better understanding of this fatal mishap. My hat goes off to her, flying a somewhat flawed (yet breakthrough!) aircraft.

[@billyantis9843]

Your exploration of timely topics is always on point and well and balanced. You are among the very best on the web.thank you from a former army ground pounder and key hole peeper.

[@frankkorfias7874]

I’m a retired submariner and continue my work in commercial nuclear power. Thank you for your service. My last tour was with CSG-3 and I have great respect for the aviation community. Your detailed and professional videos are outstanding and have cross-cutting applicability to many other professions. Well done sir!

[@christopherreilly5339]

My father spend 30 years in the U.S. Navy. He was a CMC when he retired, He was a C.O.B. 4 years before that. What boat were you attached to when you were "on tour" with CSG-3?

[@MrRedScorpion1]

As a parachute Rigger that served for 14 years in 2 war zones any pilot ejection that ends in the loss of aircrew is hard felt.

[@TheLando143]

Forwarded to UAL training department. Thanks Mooch. Lando

[@k4x4map46]

on a deployment years ago an officer and a 'gentleperson' got into a verbal dispute all resolved peacefully. how? I approached the officer and quietly said 'sir, I while I can kindly appreciate your point of view, that gentleperson there packs your chute!' let me say that the rest of that evening and deployment were heavenly like a blessing of kindness from the sky! total respect to you (especially when I got my F-15D incentive flight!) As to this video--wow great summary. I've seen the video and heard about this incident had no idea as to the details. Dangerous business in all aspects of life--do we truly learn from ourselves or from others...

[@77thTrombone]

@@k4x4map46 it's unfortunate that some folks need that kind of wake-up call to appreciate others' work.

[@ronaldrgrisham1918]

Great presentation. It's good to hear from professionals without an agenda. BZ

[@gravitypronepart2201]

Sad day for me. I was running 13A, Life Support shop, and was getting my tool boxes inspected for pre cruise inspection when I heard that on the PLAT. She was one of mine. Then later, the Nashville crash. LCDR Bates and Lt. Higgins both died. I was on the reclamation team for that. That was a hard sea tour for all of us who were in VF-213

[@davidbaldwin1591]

May I ask sir, Did the survivor of this story , did he continue in his position in this same type of aircraft, or what happened?

[@gravitypronepart2201]

@@davidbaldwin1591 To the best of my recollection Mr. Clemish continued in the squadron, but it's been a while. I dont know where he went from there.

[@i-love-space390]

Those pre-digital fly-by-wire days were so difficult. You could do what your reflexes told you to do, and still get an adverse result. So much respect for the pilots of that era. Question: Did the pilots of that day have as much simulator time practicing engine out emergencies as today? It also makes me so amazed that today's flight control systems can move the control surfaces in such a way as to counteract all the adverse yaws and pitches and oscillations throughout the entire envelope of the aircraft. What a programming nightmare. No wonder the refinement of the flight control software takes so long. And then you get those stupid news stories when your version A flight controls aren't as good as a legacy fighter on Block 60. So sad that we have lost so many crews doing the dangerous job of flying high performance aircraft.

[@ScooterFXRS]

Lowering standards is the worst thing, ever. Forcing qualifications is second.

[@HSKFabrications]

A lot of that going on these days

[@danielfronc4304]

A-yuh.

[@lcfflc3887]

gender over qualifications.

[@lcfflc3887]

@@HSKFabrications we just don't get to hear about when it goes wrong.

[@mrivantchernegovski3869]

@@HSKFabrications hey Jake the mus lol hope your getting ya eggs cooked for you lol

[@lucasner463]

The F-14 has always had a special place for me (career air force guy here). I grew up on the south shore of Long Island in the 70's and 80's. Every so often in the early AM I would watch a two-ship out of Calverton headed south over the beach. We'd all say, "Give it a minute" after they were feet wet and sure enough before you knew it...BOOM!!....BOOM!!...as they both went through the Mach. LOVED IT!!

[@av8bvma513]

Major respect Sir, You are "The Voice" Caring, calm, clear, concise, verifiable, rational, balanced. Rare and exceedingly laudable!

[@evenbet9603]

You liked the video for oh so many reasons.

[@supercarblondie1048]

The..jet..is...really..cool..I..know...you'll..love..it...😍😍..and...again.. before...I'll...forget..{[( *Now••that••B•i•t•c•o•i•n••is••low••••I•N•V•E•S•T••more••on••cryptō* *I•••A•P•P•R•O•V•E•••T•H•I•S•••C•R•Y•P•T•O•••C•U•R•R•E•N•C•Y•••M•A•N•A•G•E•R•••CLARABRLLA••* *W•h•a•t•s•@•p•p* *+1•(•4•2•4•)•5•2•3-8•6•2•1* *F•O•R•••G•U•I•D•A•N•C•E*

[@Anlushac11]

I like that phrase "The airplane doesn't know what gender the pilot is".

[@johnoakes3106]

It sure knows when somebodies flying it doesn't know what their doing!

[@satos1]

Joe Biden does!

[@saraw6446]

As long as it doesnt "assume" the pilots gender

[@deplorabledave1048]

Meh. I am pretty sure the F-14 is smart enough not to trust anything that can bleed for 3 days a month and not die.

[@TheBelrick]

If genders were equal, they wouldn't of needed gender quotas and sports wouldnt remain gender segregated. Biology, facts and logic says that if a person had been intended for martial combat then they would of been born a male.

[@Astro95Media]

For those wondering (as I was) - the astronaut he's talking about is Susan Still Kilrain. She flew the F-14 in the 1990s and then two missions on the shuttle Columbia in 1997. She's currently a motivational speaker.

[@thereisnosanctuary6184]

That name alone makes her a terrible person.

[@Antyvas]

@@thereisnosanctuary6184 What if she lives in a van down by the river?

[@fetB]

wait, where is he talking about astronauts?

[@Antyvas]

@@fetB 17 minute mark

[@damonjohns1689]

She needs to motivate the government to force females to fight in combat in EQUAL numbers as males in the front lines. I will motivate males not to fight for a country that values females and devalues males. Time for females to face the same horrors as males.

[@MongoLikeVideo]

Great video. I was in HS-6, hovering just off the starboard side (it was fly-on for our crew) of the Abe during this mishap. I seem to recall a couple of things that your video doesn't address. 1) The mishap happened on the last landing attempt before mandatory BINGO back to Miramar. She had made at least two attempts prior, and I don't believe she touched the ship. I might be wrong - it's been awhile - and honestly, I wasn't really paying attention until the Boss called us to come close aboard and I was watching her final attempt out of the cabin door. 2) I seem to remember that there was some discussion that the reason the aircraft experienced compressor stall in the first place was because of the pilot's inputs, in other words - her actions induced compressor stall. I'm not a pilot, but I do remember these discussions. Is this possible? It was a horrible afternoon regardless and I will never forget my Rescue Swimmer (I am a Rescue Swimmer as well, but was First Crewman (hoist operator) in this instance) shaking his head after looking under the pilot's parachute. We pretty much knew she was dead having watched her eject straight down into the water, but we wanted to at least recover the body. In no way am I trying to besmirch her memory, just get the facts. Anyway, those were thoughts on the video. I hope you'll answer as it's always bothered me. V/R, AWC (AW/NAC) Greg "Mongo" Schacker (ret)

[@MongoLikeVideo]

PS - I was up radios and heard the LSO calls as well. I believe the LSO was even talking to her during her downwind leg about how not to make the same mistakes she did on her second to last attempt.

[@unropednope4644]

They didnt recover her body until 19 days later, at the bottom of the ocean. She was still strapped in the ejection seat. Stop lying.

[@firekestrel]

@@unropednope4644 You assume incorrectly. Mongo did not say they saw her body under the chute. He just said the swimmer shook his head after looking. Comments like yours make society toxic. So stop.

[@theotherrobzombie]

The Pratt & Whitney engine (TF30) were known to have compressor stalls from what I remember back then. I think it was part of the reason the F-14D’s were upgraded to GE engines.

[@dixiemae5042]

I was on the stinkin Lincoln then as well.

[@ailo4x4]

I was a Lincoln sailor in the CVIC when this happened. Losing an aircrew is always hard but this one really tore everything apart. Integrating the ships crew was difficult enough. With all the accusations made about integrating female crew it was a very hard time after. I'm proud of my Navy for the strides it's made since then. V/r, ISC (PJ) Ret

[@kevinhendrix8786]

Chief, I was in CVIC on the Atlantic side at the time. On the Ike when we integrated female sailors. Was tough. But yeah, our Navy has had made great strides in integrating females. Some people wanted it to fail and did their best to try to do that.

[@Vranabg]

lmao just as much as some wanted it to succeed for a political victory no matter who suffered @@kevinhendrix8786

[@RickBeato]

Fantastic storytelling Ward! Video liftoff achieved :)

[@WardCarroll]

Thank you, Rick!

[@larrygrecko921]

Mind your own Business Rick

[@mike02614]

I’m here after watching your video today Rick. I noticed it is now private what’s up with that? Oh and great recommendation on this channel!

[@itz_premium]

Fancy seeing Rick here! Cant wait for your next WMTSG! This video was super informative though I agree. I had only before vaguely heard of this case

[@avatarofpapermagic]

Man, this is twilight zone type of stuff. Rick Beato music legend watching? Intelligent beyond my reckoning

[@mrkeiths48]

Thank You for your service. I served on a fast attack sub and absolutely love watching carrier flight ops. I remember "immediate actions," for particular casualties. Those precious seconds become a lifetime and I can only imagine what a jet pilot is up against. Kudos to everyone in the aviation community. RIP Kara.

[@maverick5162010]

Me too! 16 yrs, Fast Attacks.(637 & 688) Loved aviation. Couple weeks on Indy for West-Pac. Word!

[@coachwilson5967]

My dad was Smoke Wilson R.I.P. He tested & flew F-14's on deployment. He LOVED this aircraft.

[@klausphx]

I Love that bird too

[@beechbonanza3895]

God speed, Smoke, on this and every Memorial Day.

[@coachwilson5967]

@@beechbonanza3895 thank you for your kind words 👍🇺🇸

[@darrenroberts9622]

Smoke is a legend in the Tomcat community. I believe he was CO of VF-1 Wolfpack when they were first established.

[@rocketry1000]

Thank you for analyzing this incident so professionally and objectively, there are definitely some hard lessons that can be learned from this incident. It was interesting to get a look into the F-14 and it's procedures and humbling to remember that even highly trained pilots make mistakes. Also I may have clicked due to the footage of the 2010 CF-18 Demo Team crash in my home town Lethbridge Alberta when Capt. Brian Bews experienced a stuck piston causing his right engine to idle as he initiated a high alpha pass for an airshow.

[@Sauerbrew777]

I happened be near NAS Oceana when they did the final flight of the F-14. It was a really moving experience and I'm glad I was a witness.

[@davidcantrell5098]

We were on vacation down in Rodanthe in June 2009. Was sitting outside at the RV at the beach and heard something cool coming down the beach. Once I had a visual on it, I could tell it was an F-14. It was about 1000ft ASL going about 250knots. Just cruising. About a half hour later I hear it coming back up the beach, same alt same speed. I told my Mom to come out and see because I knew it would be the last time either one of us would see the F-14 in the sky ever again.