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McDonnell-Douglas QF-4S+ Phantom II, BuNo 155749 crashed at the Pt Mugu Airshow on April 20, 2002, killing its crew of two.
The Navy has released their report about the accident. "The cause of this tragic accident was the failure of the pilot to manage the energy state of the aircraft, and then to recognize a departure from controlled flight at low altitude, and apply the NATOPS recovery techiques."
Shortly after the accident, some people made statements to the press suggesting that the crash was the result of problems with the QF-4 maintenance program at Pt Mugu. The press unquestioningly published those irrelevent claims before a proper investiation of the accident could be performed. Maintenance was not an issue in this crash.
A flight of two F-4 Phantoms and
two Grumman F-14 Tomcats was making an afterburner break into the
landing pattern after a formation pass.
One Phantom and the two Tomcats broke formation
in sequence. The second Phantom began to trail smoke or unburned
fuel after it passed the crowd and broke into the turn.
I was concentrating on shooting the F-14s as
they pulled gs in afterburner, generating plumes of vapor from
the leading edges of the wings.
I turned to shoot pictures of the Phantom and saw it belch an unnatural bright orange flame for a moment. It wasn't a normal afterburner flame and something was clearly wrong.
2-1/2 seconds after the initial
explosion, the QF-4S+ Phantom II had rolled inverted.
It descended, still nearly
inverted.
Navy Commander Michael Norman
managed to get the Phantom upright again for a moment, but it
immediately rolled to the right again.
Radar Intercept Officer Marine
Captain Andrew Muhs ejected just 200 feet above the ground.
Commander Norman's ejection was not
triggered before the Phantom hit the ground, 5-1/2 seconds after
the initial explosion.
Captain Muhs' parachute had not
opened when the seat carrying him disappeared into the expanding
fireball.
Composite image of the crash.
Afterward, nobody in our group could remember hearing anything when the plane hit.
The Ventura Sheriff's helicopter
took off and flew directly across to the crash site.
The Ventura County Sheriff's Bell
212 leads a parade of emergency vehicles to the crash site.
A troop of soldiers marched across
the front of the crowd line to take position for crowd control.
The rest of the day's performances and Sunday's show were cancelled.
A trust fund for Norman's children has been set up and contributions may be made to the Michael Todd Norman Memorial Fund through any Washington Mutual Bank.
Donations to a fund for Muhs will benefit military and Marine Corps charities and should be sent to the Andrew D. Muhs Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 4266, Port Hueneme, CA 93044-4266.
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