Mountain Mentor
Due to an error in the schedule-writing process and personal neglect, a squadron’s most experienced T-34C Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standards (NATOPS) evaluator launched solo on an out-and-in, although he was fresh from leave and out of currency to fly by himself. The pilot, who six months earlier had weathered a human factors board based on his declining level of professional effort, cancelled his Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) clearance and proceeded Visual Flight Rules (VFR) shortly after takeoff. After performing several practice landings at two civilian airfields, the pilot continued northbound toward his intermediate stop, skirting ridgelines along the way. As the pilot started a turn around the final peak, he focused his attention on the radio console. Just as he finished dialing in his intermediate stop’s tower frequency, he felt the aircraft shudder. He immediately noted that he had developed a huge rate of descent. He pushed the throttle to its limit and tried to turn away from the oncoming mountain. Realizing impact was imminent, the pilot intentionally stalled the airplane, electing to land uphill instead of crashing downhill and potentially tumbling.
The T-34 hit the rocky slope with almost no forward speed. The pilot managed to crawl out of the wreckage in spite of a broken hand and ankle. Perched above the crash site and away from a small fire that had started in some nearby vegetation, he attempted to use his PRC-90 but was unable to communicate over the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) beacon. He managed to fire one pencil flare. Hurt, cold and exhausted, the pilot waited for somebody to rescue him. A long time passed. The pilot wondered if he’d survive a night on the mountain.
Several hours later a nearby forest fire observer saw smoke. He activated a U.S. Forest Service spotter plane that, in turn, found the crash site. Another plane dropped a line of fire retardant near the wreckage, inadvertently coating the downed pilot in the process. A medevac helicopter lowered a medic who administered first aid. As the rescue helo hovered above the pilot and medic, embers from the fire were blown onto the crash site, for the most part torching the stricken T-34 that had remained intact. As the fire consumed the trainer, the pilot was hoisted off the mountain.
