Fighter bomber cuts cable

[Jeff0500]

About 8 years ago there was an incident in the news on a fighter bomber flying low in the Pyrennese or Alps. The news reports wrote that the tail severed the cable (wire rope). Can this be true?

 

[mrnolmts]

Yes, I remember the incident. Sad, but true.
Here's a link to the story:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/jan-june99/marines_2-3.html

 

[ms6073]

It was an EA-6B Marine Prowler stationed at the U.S. air base in Aviano, Italy - http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9802/03/italy.cablecar.update2/index.html

 

[LearLove]

On a sorta of related note:

Did anyone ever catch the line on the Sopranos episode about this incident?

It was the one where Tony, Pauly and Chris go to Italy. The old Italian guy on the street says to Pauly, in italian, - "Nato, you guys cut our ski lift".

 

[Jeff0500]

Thanks for the links. Read them. If the aircraft hit the ropes as described, with enough force to derope the rope off the towers or cut the rope. It's hard to think the plane can continue flying?

 

[Steve]

The Pilot was found not guilty of the charges. Nav was kicked out of the USMC for destroying evidence.

 

[Foxcow]

I talked to an AME about that incident. Can any military pilots elaborate on the fucntion of "go-pills?"

 

[millhouse21]

The pilot spent time in jail for destruction of evidence. The plane kept flying because Grumman built them like tanks. Those guys didn't know they had hit a cable until after they landed and the corps had turned over to the italian police. They thought they'd had a midair with a helicopter.

 

[Jeff0500]

The pilot spent time in jail for destruction of evidence. The plane kept flying because Grumman built them like tanks. Those guys didn't know they had hit a cable until after they landed and the corps had turned over to the italian police. They thought they'd had a midair with a helicopter.

I was working aerial lifts at a skii hill when the news broke. It attracted conversation in the maintaince shop. The talking about it (for lack of a better phrase) leaned towards a strike on the rope that began a symathetic harmony. Like troops in step on a bridge. Knowing Grumman for its strength in frames my postulation seems right. The ropes had slack at the towers and de-roped. The deropment guards didn't catch the lateral movement of the rope in this instance. I think.

 

[Jeff0500]

The pilot spent time in jail for destruction of evidence. The plane kept flying because Grumman built them like tanks. Those guys didn't know they had hit a cable until after they landed and the corps had turned over to the italian police. They thought they'd had a midair with a helicopter.

I was working aerial lifts at a skii hill when the news broke. It attracted conversation in the maintaince shop. The talking about it (for lack of a better phrase) leaned towards a strike on the rope that began a symathetic harmony. Like troops in step on a bridge. Knowing Grumman for its strength in frames my postulation seems right. The ropes had slack at the towers and de-roped. The deropment guards didn't catch the lateral movement of the rope in this instance. I think.

 

[Fugawe]

I talked to an AME about that incident. Can any military pilots elaborate on the fucntion of "go-pills?"[/quote

]

'Go pills' are simply an approved stimulant for a pilot to take to avoid drowsiness on long-haul flights. Usually used by single-seat guys (or small crews/non-augmented crews) on long deployment flights. You can't break out the thermos and have a cup of coffee, so you swallow a couple 'go pills'.

There are probably other approved applications that I'm not aware of.

Fugawe

 

[Foxcow]

I talked to an AME about that incident. Can any military pilots elaborate on the fucntion of "go-pills?"[/quote

]

'Go pills' are simply an approved stimulant for a pilot to take to avoid drowsiness on long-haul flights. Usually used by single-seat guys (or small crews/non-augmented crews) on long deployment flights. You can't break out the thermos and have a cup of coffee, so you swallow a couple 'go pills'.

There are probably other approved applications that I'm not aware of.

Fugawe

Yeah thats basically what he said. He also said that those guys had been up for approx. 20 hours at the time of the incident because they were using these pills.

 

[JimNtexas]

Yeah thats basically what he said. He also said that those guys had been up for approx. 20 hours at the time of the incident because they were using these pills.

They were on a routine peacetime training mission. Unless the USMC is a lot different than the USAF they would not have been given go pills just to fly a practice low level.

I think you're getting this accident mixed up with some of the friendly fire incidents in Desert Storm where go pills may have been factors.

 

[agpilot34]

They were on a routine peacetime training mission. Unless the USMC is a lot different than the USAF they would not have been given go pills just to fly a practice low level.

I think you're getting this accident mixed up with some of the friendly fire incidents in Desert Storm where go pills may have been factors.

Negative, it's not a mix up. I remember all the hoopla surrounding this incident, and the "go pills" were talked about extensively, it was just never proven that they were a contributing factor in that case.

 

[JimNtexas]

Negative, it's not a mix up. I remember all the hoopla surrounding this incident, and the "go pills" were talked about extensively, it was just never proven that they were a contributing factor in that case.

I am sure there was hoopla about the pills because that's something the press always speculates about anytime there is a military crash. But I don't think the crew actually took go pills before they flew that mission.

 

[JCJ]

I am sure there was hoopla about the pills because that's something the press always speculates about anytime there is a military crash. But I don't think the crew actually took go pills before they flew that mission.

This accident occurred in Feb, 98.

Naval aviation (which I would presume includes USMC for this purpose since they use the same flight surgeons) approved a "go pill" plan in 2000, but it wasn't implemented until late 2002.

reference http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3071789/

Also, as pointed out they were on a peacetime training mission.

The pilot was acquitted of charges related to the accident itself, and charges were dropped against the nav. Both were punished, however for obstruction of justice for destroying a videotape of the accident.

If the videotape had not been destroyed, maybe the outcome of the accident-related charges would have been different, maybe not.

The PIC is of course, ultimately responsible but it sounds the entire organizational environment was lacking. Without necessarily supporting or condemning the flight crew or the overall organization, this does point out the very real difficulties of maintaining a force that is expected to be the meanest dude on the block in wartime, but provide a safe and politically correct training environment in peacetime.

 

[Fugawe]

The USAF, and most probably the USN/USMC and Army and CG, had go pills long before this time (2000-2002). I tested (required before use) on them in the 80s, and they were nothing new then.

Perhaps the media and public is just discovering this and treats it like something new -- no surprise there.

Most likely many operatives including regular military, special ops, FBI, CIA, civilian law enforcement, etc use some time of 'go-pills'. The nature of many missions requires alertness in BSOC (back side of the clock) ops.

You do what you gotta do.


Fugawe

 

[agpilot34]

Naval Aviation might have "approved" the go pill plan in 2000 and implemented it in 2002, but the pills were around and in use long before that time. Maybe not officially, but they were used none the less. I have an uncle that was a Navy pilot in the late 70's and early 80's, and he's mentioned using them before.

 

[SB Diver]

It was a routine training mission and the crew were not on go-pills.

 

[AdlerDriver]

Negative, it's not a mix up. I remember all the hoopla surrounding this incident, and the "go pills" were talked about extensively, it was just never proven that they were a contributing factor in that case.

Negative, it's not a mix up. I remember all the hoopla surrounding this incident, and the "go pills" were talked about extensively, it was just never proven that they were a contributing factor in that case.

I have to agree with JimNtexas and SBpilot. This was not a go pill incident. The only "hoopla" regarding go-pills surrounding an incident was the Springfield, IL ANG pilots who fratted some Canadian troops in Afghanistan a couple of years ago.

You can't just grab go-pills from a candy dish on the ops desk before you go fly a training mission. The EA-6 that cut the cable in Italy was on a training mission. They don't use go-pills on training mission. The "hoopla" about this mission was the fact that they killed 20 Italians and Italy wanted to put them in jail. It also was complicated by the fact that the cable was lower than the altitude the pilots should have been flying at and the previously mentioned destruction of evidence (the mission tape? I think).

Go do a google search on go-pills and military accidents and I think the only link you'll find is the the Afghanistan accident. If you still insist that the EA-6 guys were on go-pills then show us some links to your proof. If there was so much "hoopla" about it, there must be some old news stories with your claim supported.