Air Force investigator: F-15 spun 20 times before July crash

By Mary Manning

Monday, Nov. 24, 2008 | 6:59 p.m.

Courtesy Nellis Air Force Base

Lt. Col. Thomas A. Bouley

A July 30 jet crash that killed one pilot over a remote area of the Nevada Test and Training Range during a training exercise resulted from several factors that sent the F-15 into a spin that lasted about a minute and a half, an Air Force review panel concluded Monday.

Imperfections in the F-15's nose cone and an imbalance in the jet's fuel tanks contributed to the crash that killed Lt. Col. Thomas Bouley as he tried to recover, concluded Brig. Gen. Robert Otto in a 32-page investigative report.

The jet spiraled about 20 times in 87 seconds before Bouley recovered his bearings and ejected, Otto's report said.

But by the time Bouley ejected roughly 20 miles northwest of the tiny town of Rachel, he had lost too much altitude for his parachute to open, Otto said. A back seat observer pilot from the Royal Air Force successfully ejected from the jet's rear seat four-tenths of a second earlier and was rescued, Otto said.

The jet cost more than $38 million and aircraft and equipment were destroyed in the crash. No civilian casualties or additional damage was done, the report said.

The crash occurred in an uninhabited area belonging to the Bureau of Land Management.

Otto was appointed on July 31 to lead the Air Force accident review board. The review was conducted at Nellis Air Force Base.