N16518

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On June 19, 1996, at 1448 central daylight time (cdt), a Department of the Navy F/A-18C, Buno Number 165189, leased and operated by McDonnell Douglas Aerospace (MDA), was destroyed after it impacted the terrain while performing a reverse one-half Cuban eight maneuver during a practice airshow at the St. Louis Regional Airport, Alton, Illinois. The commercial pilot sustained fatal injuries. The local 14 CFR Part 91 flight was operating in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan was on file. The practice airshow flight departed St. Louis Regional Airport, Alton, Illinois, at 1447 cdt.

On the morning of the accident, the airplane preflight was initiated by the launching Quality Assurance (QA) inspector. Another QA inspector began to preflight the cockpit and the ejection seat. This inspector was called away to perform a final go/no-go inspection on another airplane that was ready to depart.

This inspector stated that while at the other airplane, he received a call, from another McDonnell Douglas inspector, inquiring if he had finished his portion of the preflight. He replied that he still needed to run the seat up and inspect the cockpit lights. By the time this inspector returned to the airplane the pilot had already pulled the ejection seat and canopy pins. The pilot had given the pins to the ground crew to be stored in the 14L door for use upon landing at the St. Louis Regional Airport, if needed. The inspector stated this was not normal procedure and that the pilot should have waited for his return. This procedure is enclosed with the report under the Maintenance Group Chairman's item 14, Aircraft Flight and Inspection Release Form. The preflight was completed and the airplane was taxied to the runway where the go/no-go inspection was performed.

The accident occurred during the second demonstration flight for the pilot on June 19, 1996. The first flight on June 19, 1996, was a functional check flight followed by a high altitude practice airshow sequence while en route from the McDonnell Douglas plant (Lambert International Airport, Bridgton, Missouri) to the St. Louis Regional Airport.

The airplane departed Lambert Field at 1318 cdt and proceeded to a test area north of St. Louis where the pilot performed some routine inflight systems checks due to recently completed maintenance on the airplane. After performing a partial practice airshow sequence north of Alton, Illinois, the airplane arrived at the St. Louis Regional Airport. The tower cleared the airplane from 500 feet above ground level (agl) to 8,000 feet agl with a 3 mile radius around show center (approximately the center of the airport). The pilot then entered at 1,000 foot agl baseline into the practice airshow routine. The airshow routine, established by MDA in 1993, included the following sequence of events: Takeoff, gear down roll, slow loop, reverse one-half Cuban eight, high speed roll, inverted pass, roll over break, maximum g turn, immelmann, high AOA turn, high AOA pass, high AOA roll, minimum radius 180 degree turn, square loop, barrel roll, and landing. While nearing the top of a loop, the pilot broke off the maneuver because of a cloud that moved over the airport. After a few minutes, the remainder of the practice airshow routine was completed and the airplane landed at 1350 cdt. The airplane was refueled with 6,600 pounds of Jet A. The pilot had invited his family and some friends to watch his practice airshow demonstration and some were in attendance at St. Louis Regional Airport. The pilot met with family and friends both before and after his debrief/brief with the MDA Chief Test Pilot.

The second practice flight departed the St. Louis Regional Airport at 1447 cdt. The routine began with a maximum afterburner takeoff, followed by a dirty roll (landing gear extended). After the aircraft completed the roll, the landing gear was retracted and a slow loop was executed. The slow loop was followed by entry to a reverse one-half Cuban eight. The airplane was observed to be low by the Chief Test Pilot who was acting as a safety observer on the St. Louis Regional Airport Air Traffic Control Tower catwalk. He called abort on a hand held radio to the pilot. The transmission of the abort was not acknowledged by the pilot. He did see that the airplane had a positive AOA before impact. Videotape of the accident indicates the airplane impacted the ground at the bottom of the reverse one-half Cuban eight. The time of the impact was approximately 1448 cdt.

OTHER DAMAGE

Multiple trees, one telephone pole, and a residential garage were damaged during impact sequence.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The pilot was born May 22, 1952. He was the holder of a commercial certificate with single/multi engine land and instrument ratings. The pilot also held a acrobatic competency certificate level two issued on May 20, 1996, with an altitude limitation to 250 feet agl. The acrobatic certificate included the following airplanes; Beech D17S, Beech BE-33C, and a Pitts Special. He held a second class medical issued on June 13, 1996.

His most recent biennial flight review was on March 26, 1996. He had accumulated a total of 6,218 hours of flight time.

The pilot was trained as a United States Naval Aviator and qualified in the F/A-18. During his military flying career he accumulated approximately 2,255 hours in the F/A-18 airplane prior to coming to MDA Flight Operations in March of 1996. The pilot was also a graduate of the Naval Test Pilot School, located at Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland. The pilot had the following 30/60/90 day flight hour totals in the F/A-18: 3.0/3.9/10.7 hours. The pilot had the following 30/60/90 day simulator hour totals in the F/A-18: 9/27/37 hours.

AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

The airplane was a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C, serial number 165189. The airplane had accumulated 20.8 hours time in service at the time of the accident. The engines had 26 hours total hours in service. The most recent continuous inspection was conducted on June 19, 1996.

FLIGHT RECORDERS

The Deployable Flight Incident Recorder Set (DFIRS) was salvaged from the wreckage. The data was printed out and down loaded prior to NTSB involvement with the accident investigation. The data was loaded into the recovery analysis and presentation system (RAPS) program for visual display of the data collected. In addition, a visual 8MM tape of the right Digital Display Indicator (DDI) showed the Flight Control System (FCS) status display selected with no warnings displayed prior to impact with the terrain. The left 8MM tape was destroyed by the post-crash fire.

The DFIRS data was broken down into the four parts of the reverse one-half Cuban eight;

Pull-up 180 degree roll Top Bottom

1. Airspeed (knots) 236 176 180 144 2. Baro Alt (ft agl) 1212 1192 2008 472 3. Radar Alt (ft agl) 576 1408 invalid 0 4. AOA (degrees) 25.2 14 12.6 40.6 5. Pitch (degrees) 16.8 58.8 -7.0 22.4 6. Power Lever Angles Left/Right (degrees) 128.1/127.4 full after burner position though out the complete maneuver.

The briefed target parameters were;

Pull-up 180 degree roll Top Back side

1. Airspeed (knots) 260-280 280-200 200-230 250-270 2. Baro Alt (ft agl) 700-800 2700min 3500min 2000min 3. Radar Alt (ft agl) 700-800 Invalid Invalid Invalid 4. AOA (degrees) 25max 20 0-10 25max 5. Pitch (degrees) 50-55 50-55 0 -90 6. Power Lever Angles Left/right (degrees) 90-102/90-102 Military power position (maximum power needed without afterburner at low airplane weights)

See four graphs enclosed with this report.

At impact the DFIRS recorded the following throttle and engine parameters;

Left Engine Right Engine

1. Power Lever Angle: 128.1 degrees 127.4 degrees 2. High Press Rotor: 16256 RPM 16256 RPM 3. Low Press Rotor: 13568 RPM 13632 RPM 4. Fuel Flow: 9280 Lbs/Hr 9280 Lbs/Hr 5. EGT: 896 Degrees C 896 degrees C 6. Exhaust Nozzle: 68 percent 68 percent

At impact the airplane parameter's were recorded by DFIRS;

1. Airspeed: 144 knots 2. Angle of attack: 40.6 degrees 3. Pitch: 22.4 degrees nose up 4. Roll: 9.8 degrees to the left 5. Vertical Velocity: -3840 feet per minute

WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION

The NTSB on-scene investigation began at 0830 on June 24, 1996. There were questions immediately following the accident regarding the ownership of the aircraft and who had responsibility for the investigation. Before the NTSB took over the investigation, a joint investigation between the Naval Safety Center and MDA was in progress. The wreckage had already been removed from the accident site and placed in a MDA hangar. Several inspections of the airplane's components were being performed by the U.S. Navy, MDA and its vendors.

The accident site was surveyed by the U. S. Air Force Air Mobility Command, based at Scott Air Force Base, O'Fallon, Illinois. A copy of the survey is attached to this report. The airplane flight path angle at impact was calculated to be minus 16 degrees. This value was calculated from the survey data of the initial impact point and a tree that was struck by the airplane prior to ground impact. The airplane slid between two houses, impacting a telephone pole, several trees and a detached garage structure before breaking up and coming to rest approximately 360 feet from the initial impact point. Evidence o...