ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 152998
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| Date: | Monday 14 July 1980 |
| Time: | 13:45 |
| Type: |  General Dynamics F-111D Aardvark |
| Owner/operator: | United States Air Force (USAF) |
| Registration: | 68-0139 |
| MSN: | A6-55 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Cannon AFB, New Mexico -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Cannon AFB, NM |
| Cannon AFB, NM | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Crashed and destroyed at 13:45 hours MST, on 14 July 1980 near Cannon AFB, New Mexico. Both crew - Major Ulysses S. 'Sam' Taylor and 1st Lt Paul E. Yeager - were killed. Another F-111D was flying them home on the IFE (In Flight Emergency) in formation about 100 higher when 68-0139 crashed.
According to Maj Philip Westfall (USAF Ret.): "I recall the accident occurred when Sam got an engine oil-hot light shortly after take-off. He declared an IFE, stayed in the pattern, reduced power to idle on the "bad" engine, but light remained on. Then, following the bold face procedures, he shut down the engine and tried to bring it in for a landing while still heavy. On final, the single engine wouldn't get him to the runway, and with his sink-rate increasing he punched out - too late, unfortunately. I don't recall whether he tried to relight the "bad" engine (definitely NOT the normal procedure). We had oil-hot lights frequently during the summer, and most of us knew these were mostly due to the sensors, not the oil temperature itself - but "bold-face" is "bold face."
According to the brother of Major Taylor: "On July 14, 1980 my brother "Sam" Taylor and his WSO Paul Yeager were killed after ejecting from their F-111D, 12 flight hours after major overhaul & modification by the a/c manufacturer - General Dynamics. The major maintenance "mistakes" which caused this fatal a/c accident would have resulted in prison time for the "AFLC technicians", if they had committed the same quality of work on a civilian aircraft."
"To begin with, the capsule's kick motor propellant grain was fractured, should have been x-rayed while at AFLC prior to return to service and failed to function properly (fuel chunked) during the ejection sequence. Thirty six (36) bolts were missing from their starboard engine inlet duct, the resulting engine inlet air within the airframe causing such severe buffeting to the capsule's main parachute that it friction galled to itself and its container."
"There was over 2 pounds of metallic grit from improperly manufactured & cleaned tubing found in the a/c hydraulic system, corroded canon plug pins on the afterburner fuel control valve caused their remaining engine to fail to provide sufficient thrust when called upon to maintain altitude on that hot dry New Mexico day."
"But the most callous words that I have ever heard uttered were by the General Dynamics attorneys, "It's cheaper to pay off the families than it is to fix the airplanes."
Sources:
1. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1968.html
2. http://www.f-111.net/t_no_D.htm
3. http://web.archive.org/web/20170921070650/
4. http://www.ejectionhistory.org.uk:80/Aircraft_by_Type/F_111/F-111.htm
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 02-Feb-2013 18:40 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 29-Apr-2021 10:41 | Aardvark | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Operator] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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