Nellis’ T-birds in scary air incident over D.C.

Wednesday, May 24, 2000 | 10:59 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Bad weather and miscommunication played a part in two of the Air Force's elite Thunderbirds demonstration jets veering off course and flying too close to a passenger jet and a small private plane, Air Force officials said Tuesday.

The officials said the Thunderbirds, based at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, violated Federal Aviation Administration airspace rules Monday near Washington's Dulles International Airport. They described the incident as inadvertent.

Before approaching Dulles, the same two F-16s apparently flew in prohibited airspace over the U.S. Naval Observatory, the official residence of the vice president, FAA spokesman William Shumann said.

The Thunderbirds, F-16 fighter aircraft, were flying in an eight-plane formation after taking off from Andrews Air Force Base, Md. The Thunderbirds had performed in an air show and were returning home to Nellis, when the incident occurred.

Captain Guy Hunneyman, public affairs officer for the Thunderbirds, said that the formation took off in bad weather, and the pilots were using radar to stay in formation.

"Aircraft five, seven and eight were unable to make radar contact with the planes in front becoming disorientated," Hunneyman read from a prepared Air Force statement. "FAA controllers also confused the call signs of the fourth and fifth aircraft relaying information meant for one to the other."

Shumann said two of the F-16s came within 100 feet vertically and 1.83 miles horizontally of a single-engine, four-seat private plane near Dulles. FAA regulations require minimum spacing of 1,000 feet vertically or 3 miles horizontally.

The two Thunderbirds also were within 700 feet vertically and 0.9 of a mile horizontally of an American Airlines MD-80 jetliner in the same vicinity, Shumann said.

American Airlines spokesman John Hotard said an air traffic controller at Dulles noticed the Thunderbirds coming into Dulles airspace and ordered American Flight 1604 from Dallas to climb 700 feet and make a right turn. Hotard said the maneuver was so gentle that passengers never noticed.

Shumann said another F-16 from the same formation also was off course. He reported his position at an altitude of 3,000 feet, 25 miles west of Andrews, and was told by FAA controllers to climb to 6,000 feet in order to avoid hitting a 3,500-foot ridge in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The problems began when one Thunderbird pilot became slightly disoriented shortly after takeoff from Andrews in heavy cloudcover, Air Force spokesman Maj. Jon Anderson said. The pilot dropped out of the formation for safety reasons, and "that threw a few people off" in the rest of the formation, Anderson said. The jets split up and then reformed with the help of FAA radar tracking west of the Dulles airport.

An investigation into the return flight of the planes is ongoing, and the Air Force and FAA are working closely on it, Hunneyman said.

Shumann said it was up to the Air Force to decide whether any disciplinary action is taken against the pilots. If they had been civilians, the punishment could have ranged from letters of reprimand to lifetime suspension of their pilots licenses.

The Thunderbirds will continue their performance schedule this weekend at an air show at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, Hunneyman said.