A report by the Nationwide Transportation Security Board launched Thursday concluded that the possible reason for a single-engine aircraft crash that killed the legendary U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat pilot, Capt. Dale “Snort” Snodgrass, final July, was pilot error.
Snodgrass was the lone occupant of the SIAI-Marchetti fixed-wing plane when it crashed round midday throughout takeoff on the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport on July 24, 2021.
In an in depth report, the security board mentioned Snodgrass was trying to take off at about midday, “when, shortly after the airplane turned airborne it pitched up aggressively, rolled left and descended into the bottom in a nose-down perspective.”
The next investigation didn’t reveal any proof of malfunctions or failures of the flight management system and there was no proof to point that the pilot’s seat had moved.
Though Snodgrass was reported to be extraordinarily thorough about performing preflight checks, the report mentioned, on this occasion he didn’t carry out an ample preflight inspection and flight management verify earlier than taking off.
Snodgrass didn’t “take away the flight management lock earlier than departure, which resulted in a lack of airplane management and impression with terrain. Contributing to the accident was his failure to carry out an ample preflight inspection and flight management verify earlier than takeoff,” the report mentioned.
The flight management lock is a tool that holds the rudder of the plane within the impartial place however nonetheless permits for near-full motion of the rudder and tailwheel by way of the rudder pedals.
Medical examinations following his dying didn’t reveal any contributing well being elements to Snodgrass’s failure to carry out the preflight inspection.
“There was no video proof to supply perception into the period and scope of the pilot’s preflight inspection; nevertheless, omission of the preflight management verify was uncharacteristic given his in depth flight expertise, and the rationale it was not carried out couldn’t be decided,” the report mentioned.
Thought of one of many biggest fighter pilots of all time, Snodgrass’s army profession started within the early Nineteen Seventies and ran for 26 years. He gathered greater than 4,800 hours within the F-14 in each struggle and peace, greater than some other pilot.
Many admirers known as him the actual “Maverick,” the decision signal for the character portrayed by Tom Cruise within the blockbuster “Prime Gun.” And like Maverick, Snodgrass was well-known for his low-level flybys. However in contrast to that unruly fictional character who obtained in bother for such unauthorized antics, Snodgrass obtained his thrills by the e book.
One such flyby was captured in a surprising 1988 photograph taken by Naval photographer Sean E. Dunn from the flight deck of the USS America plane provider. Thought of one of the well-known aviation photographs of all time, it reveals Snodgrass’s F-14 with its wings vertical, seemingly far too near the ship and the crew members seen within the foreground.
And opposite to rumors that he was grounded for the maneuver, Snodgrass wrote in 1998 that the “banana go” (named for its curved trajectory) was accredited as a part of the airshow part of a Dependents’ Day Cruise for the households of provider personnel.
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