VS-32 Mauler down near NAS Jax

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A Navy S-3B Viking jet crashed into woods just
west of Naval Air Station Jacksonville at midday Wednesday.

According to Jacksonville Fire-Rescue, the jet went down in woods near
the Westside Regional Park in the 6500 block of Roosevelt Boulevard.

"There was a large flash, like lightning, only brighter. Then we heard
a big 'kaboom,'" witness Donna Wells told Channel 4 in a special report
just before 1 p.m. "Just a few minutes later, a big cloud of black
smoke came up over the trees."

http://www.news4jax.com/news/5002073/detail.html

Jacksonville Times Union reporting two bodies found in wreckage.
Interestingly, same article reports two chutes found *two miles* from
crash site.

It's hard to imagine rear chutes getting high enough to drift two whole
miles, while the front seats didn't even get out of the plane. I can't
help but wonder if that's correct.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-onlin...et_plane.shtml

Rick wrote:
Jacksonville Times Union reporting two bodies found in wreckage.
Interestingly, same article reports two chutes found *two miles* from
crash site.

It's hard to imagine rear chutes getting high enough to drift two whole
miles, while the front seats didn't even get out of the plane. I can't
help but wonder if that's correct.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-onlin...et_plane.shtml

Depending upon the plant's altitude at the time of the ejection, it
could have gone a mile or two before impact. I don't think it had that
much altitude -- just sayin'.

What we really have here is early reports, unconfirmed. The bodies in
the plane have not been confirmed, nor has it been confirmed that the
'chutes were even from this incident.

Although I'm a Times-Union alum, for the moment I'm putting more stock
in the Channel 4 report that an eyewitness saw two people punch out.

--
John Miller
Co-Founder, Pensacola Press Club

Multiple press sites now reporting two killed, incl. the TU, Ch4 & Ch12.

Crew ID'd

The Navy released the the names Thursday of the two pilots that died
when their jet plane crashed Wednesday into a wooded area on an
approach to the runway at Jacksonville Naval Air Station.

Lt. Cmdr. Thomas E. Blake, 33, of Spencer, Neb., and Lt. Cmdr. Scott T.
Bracher, 33, of Malverne, N.Y., died when their S-3B Viking crashed at
Westside Regional Park on 120th Street, just a block from the base on
Roosevelt Boulevard, the Navy said.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-onlin..._plane5p.shtml

In the Master Eject mode, rear seats (empty) would have gone .5
seconds (one half a second) prior to the front seats going out. If
the co-pilot waited too long to initiate ejection, I would guess the
back seats went, then impact less than a half second later.

Just guessing though...

Keep us posted on this please...
Regards,

On 21 Sep 2005 11:48:32 -0700, "Rick" wrote:

Jacksonville Times Union reporting two bodies found in wreckage.
Interestingly, same article reports two chutes found *two miles* from
crash site.

It's hard to imagine rear chutes getting high enough to drift two whole
miles, while the front seats didn't even get out of the plane. I can't
help but wonder if that's correct.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-onlin...et_plane.shtml

Yeah, they would have been in group eject, but if they initiated so low
that only the rear seats got out, would the rear chutes have come down
two miles away? If that distance is correct, it sounds more like the
fronts simply didn't fire -- a virtual impossibility.

Storm cells were moving through the area at the time of the crash. The
chutes may have been blown for awhile, lacking any significant weight. If
the seats were empty, what is the SOP for pinning them ?


"Rick" wrote in message
ups.com...
Yeah, they would have been in group eject, but if they initiated so low
that only the rear seats got out, would the rear chutes have come down
two miles away? If that distance is correct, it sounds more like the
fronts simply didn't fire -- a virtual impossibility.

Empty rear seats would still fire with chute deployment. The results
would be nothing more than a canopy and risers, so I suppose it's
possible it would drift some distance in a storm.

Cranky One wrote:
Storm cells were moving through the area at the time of the crash. The
chutes may have been blown for awhile, lacking any significant weight. If
the seats were empty, what is the SOP for pinning them ?


"Rick" wrote in message
ups.com...
Yeah, they would have been in group eject, but if they initiated so low
that only the rear seats got out, would the rear chutes have come down
two miles away? If that distance is correct, it sounds more like the
fronts simply didn't fire -- a virtual impossibility.