THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 24, 1996 TAG: 9602240353
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE ADDIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
The only F-14 Tomcat fighters allowed in the air thundered into Oceana Naval Air Station late Friday afternoon, returning from six months of operations from the flight deck of the carrier America.
Thursday, after the third F-14 crash in less than a month, the Navy ordered a three-day halt to F-14 flights for a series of safety briefings. The jets from Oceana-based squadron VF-102 were the only exception.
The concerns over their F-14Bs seemed secondary, though, to the two dozen pilots and radar intercept officers from 12 fighters who were treated to a boisterous welcome home from a long deployment to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.
A stubborn fog that refused to burn away pushed the fly-in from early morning until late afternoon. The jets began to hit the runway just before 4:30 p.m., more than six hours later than scheduled.
``We had to wait awhile for the weather to clear, but we all made it safe,'' said Cmdr. Steve Voetsch, the squadron's commanding officer.
Of the safety stand-down for all F-14 squadrons, he said, ``We're not even going to talk about that because we don't know that much about it.
``We're just happy that we made six months, we broke all the records, we flew over 7,000 hours (in 1995). For the cruise we flew over 2,000 sorties, and we're 11 years mishap-free. And that's what I'm telling people.''
Relatives awaiting the fighter crews' return echoed that.
``That's one of the safest planes made,'' said Don Price, a retired aerospace engineer from New Jersey, who was waiting to greet his son, Lt. Cmdr. John Price, an F-14B pilot and squadron operations officer. ``And I'm very critical, especially with my son flying them. He's logged thousands and thousands of hours in that plane.''
F-14 air crews aboard the carrier George Washington - the America's replacement in the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean - said Friday they plan to spend their 72-hour stand-down reviewing safety procedures, catching up on paperwork, and maybe getting some sleep.
``I'm a bit peeved about it,'' said one pilot from Fighter Squadron 143, based at Oceana. ``They're having a problem on the West Coast, not here. We're flying just fine.''
The stand-down affects the entire fleet of F-14s, including the dozen assigned to the George Washington.
Pilots aboard the Norfolk-based ship said they had been flying almost daily since arriving in the Mediterranean earlier this month and have no doubt that their aircrafts are performing well.
Aboard the America on Friday, just hours before VF-102 was scheduled to make the final fly-off from its flight deck, the ship's executive officer, Capt. J. Michael Denkler, an F-14 radar intercept officer, said, ``This is a challenging business, with risks. There have been numerous crashes in the F-14, dating back to the 1970s, and I think they're probably all unrelated.
``We have stand-downs like this all the time. The Navy just wants to see if there are any common threads to the three most recent incidents.
``Pilots make mistakes. Things break. You're in a profession where you're paid to minimize the risks and do your job the best you can. That's why we train, practice and prepare as much as we do.''
Also returning Friday was squadron VAW-123, who flew their E-2C Hawkeyes into Norfolk Naval Air Station. MEMO: Staff writers Charlene Cason and Jack Dorsey contributed to this
report.
MORE
Carrier America pulls in at 2 p.m. today at Pier 12/A8
Arrival times and piers for other ships/A8
ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
FOR F-14 PILOTS, A RETURN TO THE GROUND
STEVE EARLEY
The Virginian-Pilot
At Oceana Naval Air Station, pilots return Friday after six months
of operations aboard the carrier America.
HUY NGUYEN
The Virginian-Pilot
F-14s from squadron VF-102 are prepared for return home Friday. The
jets were temporarily exempted from the standdown so they could fly
home.
A sailor aboard the America looks out into the Atlantic Ocean
Thursday as the ship heads towards Norfolk.
HUY NGUYEN
The Virginian-Pilot
by CNB