Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - F-16 crash kills pilot in air show

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Monday, March 20, 2000

F-16 crash kills pilot in air show
Jet goes down during NAS Kingsville event
By Darren Barbee
Caller-Times

Associated Press

Smoke and flames rise from the site where pilot Brison Phillips, 35, of Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina was killed after his plane went down. Phillips did not eject from the aircraft.

KINGSVILLE - An experienced pilot flying an Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon at an air show crashed into a muddy field Sunday, sending up a plume of smoke and flames and killing the pilot.
   The pilot, Brison Phillips, 35, was a major in the 9th Air Force's 78th Fighter Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base near Sumter, S.C. Phillips had more than 2,700 flight hours, about 2,300 of which were in the F-16 Falcon.
   There were no other injuries at Air Show 2000, a free event that drew between 10,000 and 15,000 spectators, said Master Chief Jim Rostohar, public affairs officer for Naval Air Station Kingsville. The event was canceled.
   Rostohar said investigators from the Air Force arrived Sunday night to begin searching for debris strewn along a half-mile swath. A Federal Aviation Administration representative assigned to the base and another representative who observed the air show will assist with the investigation, Rostohar said.
   Rostohar said local officials photographed the scene and marked some of the debris. Spectators who videotaped the accident were asked to give their tapes to base officials.
   "Most of the debris is in fairly small pieces," Rostohar said.
   The Air Force's crash investigation team is comprised of six members and includes a pilot, flight surgeon, legal official and maintenance person, said 2nd Lt. Paula Kurtz of Shaw Air Force Base.
   "They can also call any other experts as they see fit for the case," Kurtz said. She said the investigative board would issue a final report in 60 to 90 days.
   The privately owned field where the F-16 crashed is about five miles from the base. Rostohar said recent rains have soaked the field, but that muddy conditions had not impeded officials from reaching the crash scene.
   Originally from Dallas, Phillips was a former instructor pilot at Shaw Air Force Base and is a veteran of Desert Shield and Desert Storm with 130 combat sorties.
   The ROTC graduate from Texas A&M University was the sole member of the base's demonstration team, a highly sought-after position he was assigned to in October 1999, said Master Sgt. Mark Sanders of Shaw Air Force Base.
   "The whole base is kind of shocked by this," said Maj. Laurent Fox, public affairs officer for Shaw Air Force Base. "We're all taking this pretty hard."
   'A big ball of flames'
   Phillips was about three-quarters finished with his air acrobatics when he pulled up to begin a flight maneuver called a split S. A split S is a stunt in which the pilot rolls the aircraft onto its back, then pulls back on the stick to complete a half-loop. At the end of the maneuver, the plane is headed in the opposite direction from where it started.
   Matt Dick, a 28-year-old student naval aviator at the base, said the F-16 Falcon looked to have just completed its maneuver and was leveling off at about 6,000 feet.
   Dick said he's training to fly jets similar to the F-16 Falcon.
   "We were sitting there, and it looked like everything was going OK," Dick said. "It's hard to see. It puts a pit in your stomach."
   Joey Johnson, 14, said he watched the F-16 skid across some trees before bursting into flames.
   "It was a big boom and then there was this big ball of flames," he said. "You could feel it, like the bass in your speakers."
   Corpus Christi resident John Rubino and his family watched the plane go down from their front row, box seats.
   "He was descending, it looked like he was coming in at an unusual angle and then he hit," Rubino said. "There was a bright, red and orange fireball. After about a second and a half, you could hear it and feel the shock of the concussion. It felt like someone hitting you in the chest."
   Iftekher Tymus, a Texas A&M University-Kingsville student volunteering at the air show Sunday, said the plane appeared to be diving too steeply.
   "I didn't see any parachute," Tymus said. "I didn't see where he crashed but then a big flame went up. The sound followed a little after."
   People in the stands were stunned, Tymus said.
   "There was no sound at all," Tymus said. "No one shouted. Nothing happened."
   When the plane went down, the crowd, and the announcer, fell quiet, Rubino said.
   "He just stopped talking, then he started telling people to stay put, not to leave and to make room for all of the emergency vehicles to come through," Rubino said.
   "People were just in shock. It was very somber. Women were crying. Kids didn't know what was going on."
   City in shock

Felicia Rubino/Special to the Caller-Times

Spectators watch as an F-16 Falcon jet crashes and explodes on impact while performing a demonstration flight at Air Show 2000 just north of Naval Air Station Kingsville.

   A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter quickly hovered over the crash site, which was just north of the main runway, and crash trucks arrived in seconds.
   Kingsville Mayor Phil Esquivel said his city was stunned by the crash.
   "It's certainly a heartfelt situation happening in our own backyard," Esquivel said. "Any loss of life affects a community in one way or another. But, to have them here for an air show as a national showcase and this tragedy being in our own backyard, it really hurts."
   "I want to express my deepest sympathies to the (pilot's) family and the military family as well," Esquivel said. "As a representative of Kingsville and a citizen of our nation, I want to say it's really unfortunate this incident happened. We take things for granted sometimes. We take life for granted sometimes. I have the deepest respect for the pilots."
   Base's first air show accident

David Adame/Caller-Times

Capt. Patrick J. Twomey, commanding officer of Naval Air Station Kingsville, listens during a news conference where details of the crash were released Sunday afternoon.

   Sunday's accident was the first mishap during an air show at the base. The last crash connected with the base occurred in 1998, when a T-45 training jet crashed on the USS John F. Kennedy, killing the pilot. In 1994, two airmen ejected from a TA-4J Skyhawk from NAS Kingsville.
   The F-16, a single-engine fighter with both air-to-air and ground attack capabilities, entered operational service on Jan. 6, 1979. The plane, which can fly as fast as twice the speed of sound, or 1,500 mph, can carry a 20mm cannon, air-to-air missiles, ground attack missiles, with some versions able to carry the Harpoon anti-ship missile.
   The jet, built by Lockheed Martin, was designed as a lightweight, relatively low-cost fighter. It was one of the first aircraft in the Air Force with a fly-by-wire system - replacing control cables with electrical signals - and has been continually upgraded and modified.
   When Russell Broussard saw the plane coming in fast and low, he rose to his feet from a folding chair he'd brought with him.
   "I thought, 'Wow! He sure is cutting it close,'" Broussard said. "Then there was this large, orange fireball. Just one poof of rolling ball of flame."
   He stood with the crowd a short while but then decided to go home.
   "I thought that was enough for me," Broussard said. "I'd seen enough air show for one day."
   But Rostohar said Sunday's crash at NAS Kingsville probably wouldn't prevent the base from holding future air shows.
   "Hopefully this will not have an impact on our desire and ability to put on the show," Rostohar.



Staff writers Michael Hines, Stephanie L. Jordan, Dan Parker and Paige Ross contributed to this report. Staff writer Darren Barbee can be reached at 886-3764 or by _e-mail at barbeed@caller.com

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