![]() ![]() The F-100, on the other hand, represented a new generation of fighter aircraft, the first to make use of the knowledge gained by the Bell X-1 and Douglas D-558 supersonic research programs. The aircraft we had been flying-T-33s, F-84s, even F-86s-were either designed or conceived during World War II. My classmates and I, at Nellis to master the first of the now-legendary Century Series fighters, were at the bottom of a steep learning curve. I'm flying the North American F-100A Super Sabre for the first time. My instructor's aircraft is behind me and I ease the throttle back and start a shallow right turn so he can join up. I pull the throttle grip inboard to bring the engine out of the afterburner at 300 knots and get on the climb schedule-a strictly prescribed flightpath with specific altitude and airspeed callouts-that I was taught only a day before. The runway falls away behind me, and I steepen the climb to reduce airspeed. Pull back on the stick, rotate the nose up about 15 degrees as the fighter becomes airborne. But suddenly, there is a tremendous bang behind me and I'm nailed back in the seat as the afterburner kicks in. As my instructors warn me, there is an immediate loss of thrust, and I go forward against the harness. I flick the throttle grip outboard to light the afterburner. The acceleration presses me back in the seat as my eyes dart down to check the instruments again. I look ahead, down the expanse of the two-mile runway at Nevada's Nellis Air Force Base, release the brakes, and advance the throttle to 100 percent. I glance at the engine gauges, then look to my right, at my instructor's airplane. I've been briefed that setting the thrust any higher while holding the brakes is dangerous because the tires could rotate around their rims. The National Transportation Safety Board is continuing to investigate Saturday’s crash.POWER IS SET AT 80 PERCENT. It’s unclear who had control of the aircraft when it crashed, Fazio said at the time. The “Sky Combat” package allows the participant to fly the plane while the pilot teaches “air-to-air combat” techniques. Fazio said the passenger had paid for the “Sky Combat” experience offered by the company, and that the crash happened as they were returning to the hangar. In that incident, a student passenger and an instructor pilot were performing “air combat” maneuvers when they crashed near Las Vegas. He later taught competitive aerobatics, emergency maneuver training and spin training.Ī similar fatal crash involving the same company occurred in April 2016. After graduating from the University of Virginia, he worked at Lockheed Martin with the Skunk Works, an experimental engineering group that develops aircraft and associated technologies. Gillcrist is the chief pilot for Sky Combat Ace’s San Diego location, according to the company’s website. ![]() It also said that “air combat and low-level flying comes with an inherent amount of risk that cannot be entirely eliminated without jeopardizing the inherent nature of the experience.” 1 priority, and stressed that the planes are expertly engineered and that pilots go through rigorous training. The company said on its website that safety is its No. The aircraft, which was built in 2009, had up-to-date certification and was categorized for normal and acrobatic flights, federal records show. Some flight packages allow the student to control the aircraft. It’s unclear which experience Engler had purchased or who was flying the plane at the time. You are a steely-eyed fighter pilot at the controls of your very own ‘fighter jet,’ pulling Gs and squeezing the trigger to ‘get the kill,’ ” the company’s website reads. “You’re not just a passenger on a joy ride. Sky Combat Ace, which operates out of Las Vegas and San Diego, sells a variety of flight packages that include aerobatic and simulated “air combat” experiences. “To our knowledge, there were no distress calls made prior to the accident,” Fazio said. ![]()
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