F-117 Nighthawk crash at the Maryland Airshow.

Intro: At one time being a combat pilot was at one time one of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous professions. During the peak of Battle for Britain, fighter pilots had a life expectancy of just 11 minutes in combat. The expectation was that he would be able to make a kill in those 11 minutes, or at least distract the German pilots long enough for the experienced pilots to do the job. Since then there have been a lot of changes, and now a pilot can expect to serve on active duty into his forties. Unfortunately more pilots have been lost in the past decade by the US and Canada to crashes than to enemy action. The reasons for the accidents vary widely from pilot error to mistakes on the part of the maintenance engineer.

Main One: The particular incident I would like to talk to you about is the September 14, 1997 crash of an F117 Nighthawk at the Chesapeake Airshow. The pilot on that day was Maj. Bryan Knight, he had over 2, 770 hours of total flight time, with over 500 in this aircraft. He had just made several low level passes over the field and was completing his last pass with a 15 degree of bank climb, when about 2.5 feet of his left wingtip broke off. The aircraft rolled 90 degrees and then pitched to a high angle of attack. It almost immediately lost forward momentum, stalled out, and began to tumble. Maj. Knight ejected about five seconds before the plane impacted the ground.

Main Two: In all there were 4 people hurt none seriously, Maj. Knight sustained minor neck and back injuries, also one man and two women were injured at the scene of the crash. Maj. Knights injuries were the result of ejecting while his head was pressed down by the high Gforces that resulted from the sharp pitching of the aircraft. As he ejected his head was pressed even harder down by the rapid acceleration and resulting in strain on the back and neck. The reason that he ejected so late was because he was trying to fly the aircraft into the river which was close by in order to avoid bystanders. The aircraft did destroy a house, a garage, two cars, and damaged two other homes.

Main Three: The cause of the crash was traced to four missing fasteners in the left elevon and the required inspection of those fasteners which was missed six months earlier due to contractual and budgetary constraints. Without the fasteners the elevon is prone to flutter, which as a result over-torqued the wingtip and snapped it off. Since there was already a Time Compliance Directive in effect for those fasteners (Hi-lok) no further action was taken.

In conclusion, the cause of this incident can be traced to negligence on the part of the maintenance crew, and demonstrates the need to comply with all directives issued no matter how insignificant they may seem. There was no long term impact on regulation since they were already in place, though one interesting result of this crash was that it was the last airshow in Maryland.