List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1975–1979): Difference between revisions
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→1976: June - YAH-63 crash |
→1976: 1 March - F-4C Phantom II crash at Edwards AFB kills X-24B pilot Michael A. Love |
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*30 January - A [[Convair]] [[F-102 Delta Dagger|PQM-102A Delta Dagger]], belonging to the [[Fairchild Corporation]] according to a press report, crashed on landing at [[Bob Sikes Airport]], [[Crestview, Florida|Crestview]], Florida when the landing gear collapsed. Airframe destroyed by fire. [[Sperry Corporation|Sperry Flight Systems]] pilot, Earl C. Pearce, was unhurt.<ref> |
*30 January - A [[Convair]] [[F-102 Delta Dagger|PQM-102A Delta Dagger]], belonging to the [[Fairchild Corporation]] according to a press report, crashed on landing at [[Bob Sikes Airport]], [[Crestview, Florida|Crestview]], Florida when the landing gear collapsed. Airframe destroyed by fire. [[Sperry Corporation|Sperry Flight Systems]] pilot, Earl C. Pearce, was unhurt.<ref> |
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Fort Walton Beach, Florida: Playground Daily News, Monday, 2 February 1976, page 2A.</ref> |
Fort Walton Beach, Florida: Playground Daily News, Monday, 2 February 1976, page 2A.</ref> |
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*1 March - Lt. Col. Michael A. Love, 37, chief USAF test pilot on the [[X-24B]] program, is killed in the crash of an [[McDonnell F-4 Phantom II|F-4C Phantom II]] on a dry lakebed at [[Edwards AFB]], California, after takeoff on a proficiency flight. Navigator Maj. E. B. Underwood, Jr. ejects before the crash and is hospitalized in stable condition. After serving in the [[lifting body]] program as chase pilot on various [[Northrop M2-F3|Northrop M2]] and [[Martin-Marietta X-24|X-24A]] flights, Love made his first X-24B flight on 4 October 1973, and piloted the plane to its fastest speed - better than 1,860 kph - before terminating the program with a hard-surface runway landing at Edwards on 20 August 1975. <ref>Washington Star, 2 March 1976, page A-5.</ref><ref>Washington Post, 3 March 1976, page A-20.</ref><ref>http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1984NASSP4021.....R&db_key=AST&page_ind=42&plate_select=NO&data_type=GIF&type=SCREEN_GIF&classic=YES</ref> |
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*June - The first prototype of the [[Bell YAH-63]], ''73-22246'' <ref>[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/ah-63.htm YAH-63 at GlobalSecurity]</ref>, first flown on 1 October 1975, crashed in June 1976, but a static test prototype was brought up to flight standard and, along with the second prototype, ''73-22247'', entered the flyoff against the Hughes entry, the Model 77, [[Boeing AH-64 Apache|YAH-64]]. <ref>[http://www.vectorsite.net/avcobra_1.html First Generation Cobras], Greg Goebel's Vectorsite, 1 December 2008.</ref> The U.S. Army ultimately selected the AH-64 over the Bell entry, naming it the Apache. |
*June - The first prototype of the [[Bell YAH-63]], ''73-22246'' <ref>[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/ah-63.htm YAH-63 at GlobalSecurity]</ref>, first flown on 1 October 1975, crashed in June 1976, but a static test prototype was brought up to flight standard and, along with the second prototype, ''73-22247'', entered the flyoff against the Hughes entry, the Model 77, [[Boeing AH-64 Apache|YAH-64]]. <ref>[http://www.vectorsite.net/avcobra_1.html First Generation Cobras], Greg Goebel's Vectorsite, 1 December 2008.</ref> The U.S. Army ultimately selected the AH-64 over the Bell entry, naming it the Apache. |
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*9 August - [[UH-60 Blackhawk|Sikorsky YUH-60A UTTAS]], ''73-21650'', first prototype to fly, fully loaded with 14 Army personnel during testing, makes emergency landing at 2315 hrs. in a wooded area of [[Fort Campbell]], Kentucky, due to vibration caused by outer skin of a main rotor blade coming loose. Due to heavy mist, pilot CW2 Charlie Lovell believes he is landing in a cornfield but instead comes down in a pine forest. Main rotor scythes down 40 pines, some as large as five inches in diameter, as it lands, but main rotor blades do not shatter. Only injury is to a soldier who bumps his head against a truncated pine as he egresses the helicopter. After cutting down stumps around the aircraft, and replacing the main and tail rotors, the now-nicknamed "Phoenix" is flown out of the site three days later. US Army, duly impressed by the crash survivability shown, will award the UTTAS contract to Sikorsky and the design will be named the Blackhawk.<ref>Leoni, Ray D., "Black Hawk: The Story of a World Class Helicopter", American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., Reston, Virginia, 2007, ISBN 978-1-56347-918-2, pages 171–176.</ref> This airframe will be destroyed in a crash on 19 May 1978. |
*9 August - [[UH-60 Blackhawk|Sikorsky YUH-60A UTTAS]], ''73-21650'', first prototype to fly, fully loaded with 14 Army personnel during testing, makes emergency landing at 2315 hrs. in a wooded area of [[Fort Campbell]], Kentucky, due to vibration caused by outer skin of a main rotor blade coming loose. Due to heavy mist, pilot CW2 Charlie Lovell believes he is landing in a cornfield but instead comes down in a pine forest. Main rotor scythes down 40 pines, some as large as five inches in diameter, as it lands, but main rotor blades do not shatter. Only injury is to a soldier who bumps his head against a truncated pine as he egresses the helicopter. After cutting down stumps around the aircraft, and replacing the main and tail rotors, the now-nicknamed "Phoenix" is flown out of the site three days later. US Army, duly impressed by the crash survivability shown, will award the UTTAS contract to Sikorsky and the design will be named the Blackhawk.<ref>Leoni, Ray D., "Black Hawk: The Story of a World Class Helicopter", American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., Reston, Virginia, 2007, ISBN 978-1-56347-918-2, pages 171–176.</ref> This airframe will be destroyed in a crash on 19 May 1978. |
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