Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.
Nellis Air Force Base officials expect to know this week the status of the Thunderbirds air demonstration team for upcoming air shows after one of the group's F-16s was destroyed in a crash in Idaho on Sunday.
A Thunderbird demonstration scheduled for this weekend in Wichita, Kan. has already been canceled, and the rest of the unit's schedule, including a performance at Nellis' November air show, is in doubt.
Maj. Gen. Steve Wood, commander of the Air Warfare Center at Nellis, said that with the pilot of the downed plane uninjured, the focus will turn toward investigating what happened at Mountain Home Air Force Base's "Gunfighter Skies 2003" air show.
"My first thoughts were for the pilot and the crowd, and now we'll try to get through the accident investigation very quickly, because there is a safety issue involved," Wood said at a news conference Monday.
Wood said he could not speculate on whether the crash was caused by a mechanical failure or pilot error, but said that a board of investigators is already looking into the crash. It is possible that the cause could be something that would require carefully investigating the other Thunderbird planes and other Air Force F-16s, but Wood said it was too early to tell.
Capt. Chris Stricklin, the pilot of the $23 million F-16 that crashed Sunday, ejected safely and remains in Idaho with his teammates. The remaining dates on the team's schedule, including Nellis' "Aviation Nation" show scheduled for Nov. 15-16, are in limbo, Nellis officials said.
Wood said that the Thunderbirds have not been grounded but are pausing in their schedule of demonstrations while senior Air Force officials evaluate the impact the crash will have on the team's performances.
"At this point I can't say whether (the Thunderbirds) will perform or not at our air show," Wood said. "We do plan on going forward and having a great air show."
The Nellis air show is scheduled to honor the 50th anniversary of the Thunderbirds. The unit moved to Nellis from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., in 1956.
"Even if they can't fly a demonstration the Thunderbirds will be a part of the air show in some way," said Master Sgt. Chuck Ramey, a Nellis spokesman.
The Thunderbird planes could be used as a static display on the ground if they can't perform. There will be air demonstrations involving both military and private aviators including Navy F-14s and FA-18s as well as Air Force A-10s and F-15s. The new FA-22 fighter will also be on display at the air show that is expected to bring more than 300,000 people to the base.
The Thunderbirds fly six planes in their shows, and the unit behind the planes totals about 130 people. The unit has 12 officers, eight of whom are pilots, with six of the pilots flying the demonstrations. The remaining two pilots serve as a safety officer and the narrator who calls out the team's maneuvers over a microphone to spectators.
The unit has a total of 11 F-16s assigned to it.
Stricklin, 31, flies plane No. 6 in the Thunderbird show, also known as the "opposing solo." While four of the F-16s do different maneuvers while flying in a tight formation, Stricklin and another pilot known as the "lead solo" fly maneuvers in which they pass by each other at high speeds.
Stricklin is in his first season with the Thunderbirds, and has more than 1,500 hours as an Air Force pilot. Stricklin, who is from Shelby, Ala., crashed his F-16C while performing a "Split S," a maneuver that forces the pilot to barrel roll and then go into a dive mimicking the shape of the letter "S."
The crash occurred around 3:15 p.m. Sunday as 85,000 spectators looked on.
"The ejection device worked just as it was supposed to," Wood said. "(Stricklin) is in good spirits and anxious to come home."
There have been other close calls for Thunderbird pilots. In April 1999 the team was grounded for five weeks after two of the F-16s bumped wings in midair at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.
Both pilots managed to land their planes safely in that incident.
One of the deadliest military crashes in Southern Nevada involved the Thunderbirds in 1982. The so-called "Diamond Crash" occurred on Jan. 18, 1982 at Indian Springs when four Thunderbird pilots crashed and were killed.
The four were flying T-38 jets, in a diamond formation, when they crashed.
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