Kara Hultgreen
Encyclopedia
Kara Spears Hultgreen was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy
, and the first female naval carrier-based fighter pilot. She was killed just months after she was certified for combat, when her F-14 Tomcat
crashed into the sea on final approach to . A formal investigation found that the cause of the crash was primarily pilot error
following an engine failure.
, and raised in both Chicago
and Toronto
. Hultgreen moved to San Antonio, Texas
in 1981. She attended Alamo Heights High School
, and received a Congressional nomination to the Naval Academy
, but failed to win an appointment. She attended the University of Texas at Austin
where she majored in Aerospace Engineering
.
at Naval Air Station Pensacola
. Upon graduation (ranked third of seven in her class) she was assigned to Aviation Training Wing Four based at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi
, Texas. Following designation as a Naval Aviator
, she received orders to fly EA-6A Prowlers with VAQ-33 at NAS Key West, Florida. Upon the Navy's integration of women in combat in 1993, LT Hultgreen was selected to be among the first female pilots to undergo F-14 Tomcat training at Miramar Naval Air Station, San Diego.
While with Fleet Replacement Squadron
VF-124
, Hultgreen failed her first attempt at carrier qualification. Hultgreen successfully carrier-qualified during a second period aboard USS Constellation (CV-64)
in the summer of 1994, becoming the first "combat qualified" female Naval Aviator. She was assigned to the Black Lions of VF-213, and began preparations for deployment to the Persian Gulf
.
Her call sign
s were initially "Hulk" or "She-Hulk
", for her ability to bench-press 200 lb, her 6 feet (1.8 m) frame, and a play on her surname of Hultgreen. But, after a television appearance in which she wore detectable makeup, her colleagues bestowed a new and more feminine call sign, "Revlon
."
the aircraft. This led to the left-hand engine suffering a compressor stall
and lost power—a well known deficiency characteristic of the TF30-P-414A engine when inlet air was no longer flowing straight into it. The F-14 NATOPS
flight manual warned against excess yaw for this reason. Loss of an F-14 engine results in asymmetric thrust, which can exceed rudder authority, especially at low speeds.
After aborting the approach, Hultgreen selected full afterburner on the remaining engine, causing an even greater asymmetry. This, combined with a high angle of attack
, caused an unrecoverable approach-turn stall
and rapid wing-drop to the left. The Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) in the rear seat initiated ejection for himself and Hultgreen as soon as it was apparent that the aircraft was becoming uncontrollable. First in the automated ejection sequence, the RIO survived. However, by the time Hultgreen's seat fired 0.4s later, the plane had rolled past the horizontal, and she was ejected downward into the water. She was killed instantly. The entire event unfolded in less than twenty seconds.
On November 12, 19 days after the crash, the Navy salvaged the plane and recovered her body, still strapped into the ejection seat. The wreckage was in 3700 feet (1,127.8 m) of water. She was buried in Arlington National Cemetery
with full military honors
.
(JAG) and Naval Safety Center Mishap investigations were conducted. The JAG report cited mechanical malfunction as the primary cause, and this became the official Navy position to the public.
The Mishap Investigation Report (MIR) came to a different conclusion, however, citing pilot error as the primary factor. Navy MIRs (now called Safety Investigation Reports) are rarely made public. Rumors abounded that the investigation had found pilot error to be a contributing factor, despite a Navy press release to the contrary. The privileged report was later leaked by someone with access to it.
As with most approaches to a carrier landing, Hultgreen's incident was videotaped by two cameras. The tape shows an overshooting turn onto final, then apparent engine failure, followed by an audible wave-off and gear-up command from the Landing Signal Officer
. Segments shown on broadcast television concluded with the rapid sequence of aircraft stall, roll, crew ejections, and impact with the water.
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, and the first female naval carrier-based fighter pilot. She was killed just months after she was certified for combat, when her F-14 Tomcat
F-14 Tomcat
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is a supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental program following the collapse of the F-111B project...
crashed into the sea on final approach to . A formal investigation found that the cause of the crash was primarily pilot error
Pilot error
Pilot error is a term used to describe the cause of an accident involving an airworthy aircraft where the pilot is considered to be principally or partially responsible...
following an engine failure.
Youth
Hultgreen was born on October 5, 1965 Greenwich, ConnecticutGreenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
, and raised in both Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. Hultgreen moved to San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
in 1981. She attended Alamo Heights High School
Alamo Heights High School
Alamo Heights High School is a secondary school located in the city of Alamo Heights, Texas and is the only high school in the Alamo Heights Independent School District....
, and received a Congressional nomination to the Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
, but failed to win an appointment. She attended the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
where she majored in Aerospace Engineering
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
.
Military career
Hultgreen was commissioned through the Aviation Officer Candidate SchoolOfficer Candidate School (U.S. Navy)
The United States Navy's Officer Candidate School, currently located at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, provides training to become a commissioned officer. Attendance is one possible way for civilian college graduates with no military experience to earn a commission as a U.S. Navy officer...
at Naval Air Station Pensacola
Naval Air Station Pensacola
Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola , "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United States Navy base located next to Warrington, Florida, a community southwest of the Pensacola city limits...
. Upon graduation (ranked third of seven in her class) she was assigned to Aviation Training Wing Four based at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi
Naval Air Station Corpus Christi
Naval Air Station Corpus Christi , also known as Truax Field, is a naval base located six miles southeast of the central business district of Corpus Christi, in Nueces County, Texas, USA.-History:...
, Texas. Following designation as a Naval Aviator
Naval Aviator
A United States Naval Aviator is a qualified pilot in the United States Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard.-Naming Conventions:Most Naval Aviators are Unrestricted Line Officers; however, a small number of Limited Duty Officers and Chief Warrant Officers are also trained as Naval Aviators.Until 1981...
, she received orders to fly EA-6A Prowlers with VAQ-33 at NAS Key West, Florida. Upon the Navy's integration of women in combat in 1993, LT Hultgreen was selected to be among the first female pilots to undergo F-14 Tomcat training at Miramar Naval Air Station, San Diego.
While with Fleet Replacement Squadron
Fleet Replacement Squadron
A Fleet Replacement Squadron , is a unit of the United States Navy and Marine Corps that trains Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers on the specific front-line aircraft they have been assigned to fly...
VF-124
VF-124
Fighter Squadron 124 was a fleet replacement squadron of the United States Navy. Known as the Gunfighters, they were active from 1958 through 1994...
, Hultgreen failed her first attempt at carrier qualification. Hultgreen successfully carrier-qualified during a second period aboard USS Constellation (CV-64)
USS Constellation (CV-64)
USS Constellation , a Kitty Hawk-class supercarrier, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the "new constellation of stars" on the flag of the United States and the only naval vessel ever authorized to display red, white, and blue designation numbers...
in the summer of 1994, becoming the first "combat qualified" female Naval Aviator. She was assigned to the Black Lions of VF-213, and began preparations for deployment to the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
.
Her call sign
Aviator call sign
An aviator call sign or callsign is a nickname given to a military pilot or other flight officer. This call sign is a substitute for the officer's given name, and is used on name tags, planes, and radio conversations....
s were initially "Hulk" or "She-Hulk
She-Hulk
She-Hulk is a Marvel Comics superheroine. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in Savage She-Hulk #1 ....
", for her ability to bench-press 200 lb, her 6 feet (1.8 m) frame, and a play on her surname of Hultgreen. But, after a television appearance in which she wore detectable makeup, her colleagues bestowed a new and more feminine call sign, "Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
."
Death
On October 25, 1994, Hultgreen was killed when her F-14A, BuNo 160390, crashed on approach to USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of San Diego after a routine mission. Finding herself overshooting the centerline, Hultgreen attempted to correct her approach by yawingAircraft principal axes
An aircraft in flight is free to rotate in three dimensions: pitch, nose up or down about an axis running from wing to wing), yaw, nose left or right about an axis running up and down; and roll, rotation about an axis running from nose to tail. The axes are alternatively designated as lateral,...
the aircraft. This led to the left-hand engine suffering a compressor stall
Compressor stall
A compressor stall is a situation of abnormal airflow resulting from a stall of the aerofoils within the compressor of a jet engine. Stall is found in dynamic compressors, particularly axial compressors, as used in jet engines and turbochargers for reciprocating engines.Compressor stalls result in...
and lost power—a well known deficiency characteristic of the TF30-P-414A engine when inlet air was no longer flowing straight into it. The F-14 NATOPS
NATOPS
The Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization program prescribes general flight and operating instructions and procedures applicable to the operation of all US naval aircraft and related activities...
flight manual warned against excess yaw for this reason. Loss of an F-14 engine results in asymmetric thrust, which can exceed rudder authority, especially at low speeds.
After aborting the approach, Hultgreen selected full afterburner on the remaining engine, causing an even greater asymmetry. This, combined with a high angle of attack
Angle of attack
Angle of attack is a term used in fluid dynamics to describe the angle between a reference line on a lifting body and the vector representing the relative motion between the lifting body and the fluid through which it is moving...
, caused an unrecoverable approach-turn stall
Stall (flight)
In fluid dynamics, a stall is a reduction in the lift coefficient generated by a foil as angle of attack increases. This occurs when the critical angle of attack of the foil is exceeded...
and rapid wing-drop to the left. The Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) in the rear seat initiated ejection for himself and Hultgreen as soon as it was apparent that the aircraft was becoming uncontrollable. First in the automated ejection sequence, the RIO survived. However, by the time Hultgreen's seat fired 0.4s later, the plane had rolled past the horizontal, and she was ejected downward into the water. She was killed instantly. The entire event unfolded in less than twenty seconds.
On November 12, 19 days after the crash, the Navy salvaged the plane and recovered her body, still strapped into the ejection seat. The wreckage was in 3700 feet (1,127.8 m) of water. She was buried in Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
with full military honors
Military funeral
A military funeral is a specially orchestrated funeral given by a country's military for a soldier, sailor, marine or airman who died in battle, a veteran, or other prominent military figures or heads of state. A military funeral may feature guards of honor, the firing of volley shots as a salute,...
.
Investigation
As is standard practice in fatal mishaps, separate Judge Advocate GeneralJudge Advocate General's Corps
Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, refers to the legal branch or specialty of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called Judge Advocates. The Marine Corps and Coast Guard do not maintain separate JAG Corps...
(JAG) and Naval Safety Center Mishap investigations were conducted. The JAG report cited mechanical malfunction as the primary cause, and this became the official Navy position to the public.
The Mishap Investigation Report (MIR) came to a different conclusion, however, citing pilot error as the primary factor. Navy MIRs (now called Safety Investigation Reports) are rarely made public. Rumors abounded that the investigation had found pilot error to be a contributing factor, despite a Navy press release to the contrary. The privileged report was later leaked by someone with access to it.
As with most approaches to a carrier landing, Hultgreen's incident was videotaped by two cameras. The tape shows an overshooting turn onto final, then apparent engine failure, followed by an audible wave-off and gear-up command from the Landing Signal Officer
Landing signal officer
Landing Signal Officers are naval aviators specially trained to facilitate the "safe and expeditious recovery" of naval aircraft aboard aircraft carriers. Originally LSOs were responsible for bringing aircraft aboard ship using hand signals...
. Segments shown on broadcast television concluded with the rapid sequence of aircraft stall, roll, crew ejections, and impact with the water.
See also
- Modern US Navy carrier air operationsModern US Navy carrier air operationsModern United States Navy aircraft carrier air operations include the operation of fixed wing and rotary aircraft on and around an aircraft carrier for performance of combat or non-combat missions. Modern United States Navy aircraft carrier flight operations are highly evolved, based on experiences...