F-16CM Thunderbird accident investigation released

[Nesher]

 

http://www.acc.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/5725/Article/1029543/f-16cm-thunderbird-accident-investigation-released.aspx

[+streakeagle]

Accidents happen. Fortunately, in this case the pilot lived. What the articles don't say is whether the pilot is being punished in any way for this accident. The real problem was the idle stop interlock failure, which wasn't really the pilot's fault. But someone is usually held accountable for the loss of a multi-million dollar aircraft, and it is often the pilot, especially when his own action, the "inadvertent" movement of the throttle, ultimately caused the loss. I know what it is like to make a mistake and be held accountable... it doesn't feel very good. 

[JediMaster]

A case could be made that this was a failure of the maintenance team, and ultimately the crew chief, to properly notice the throttle was out of spec in a potentially (and in this case definitely) critical way.

 

Now if the chief had noted in his logs the issue and had perhaps scheduled a replacement, or some sort of maintenance, and it was postponed due to circumstances outside his control, then he's likely safe. I doubt it played out that way, though. This seems more of an oversight by the one with oversight.

[+streakeagle]

Well, it seems after all these years, there was no procedure for detecting or preventing this problem. But in my experience in the Navy, the military never allows the blame to not be assigned to someone even if a rational person would place the blame on circumstances beyond anyone's control. There will be a "root cause" and he will have a name. The detent is a safety to prevent the pilot from making a mistake, but the pilot still inadvertently moved the throttle per the report. So to place the blame on a tech that had no procedure to detect or prevent this problem... and it probably failed at this very moment, or it could have been noticed by the pilot on the ground during preflight/takeoff/flying the show. In a just world, such a situation would be a "lesson learned", but in the military someone will be part of the "root cause" and punished in some way. On a sub, the captain usually pays the price when anyone under him fails in a way that has catastrophic results.