{"id":36243,"date":"2018-09-20T20:34:32","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T20:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/09\/20\/watch-your-deck-the-story-behind-last-summers-tiger-ii-crash\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:38:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:38:47","slug":"watch-your-deck-the-story-behind-last-summers-tiger-ii-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/09\/20\/watch-your-deck-the-story-behind-last-summers-tiger-ii-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018WATCH YOUR DECK!\u2019 The story behind last summer\u2019s Tiger II crash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Routine flight training nearly turned deadly last year when a F-5N Tiger II tactical <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2017\/08\/09\/navy-fighter-aircraft-crashes-near-key-west\/\" target=_blank>fighter<\/a> stalled out before inverting and plummeting toward the sea, according to an investigation obtained by Navy Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy reservist pilot was able to eject safely from the jet before it crashed into waters off the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2017\/08\/11\/navy-finds-crashed-jet-off-florida-keys-decides-to-leave-it\/\" target=_blank>Florida Keys<\/a> on Aug. 9, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But a redacted copy of the mishap reveals a harrowing few minutes for the uninjured pilot and offers a firsthand look at the frantic realities of parachuting into open waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It does not blame anyone for the mishap or recommend discipline against the aviator but notes that he was flying at an altitude where certain aerial maneuvers are prohibited when the jet lost control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll reasonably available evidence was collected and revealed no adverse line of duty or misconduct determination,\u201d the investigator wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The pilot \u2014 whose name is redacted in the report \u2014 was flying a standard training mission for the \u201cSun Downers\u201d of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.navair.navy.mil\/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.PhotoGalleryDetail&#038;key=6A21677A-2530-4DD6-B091-6DA8AEA760C9\" target=_blank>Fighter Composite Squadron 111<\/a> that day, playing the role of an aerial adversary, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2017\/11\/29\/pilot-error-cited-in-super-hornet-crash\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635698783252888487-fa-18fboeingjpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Miscommunication cited in Super Hornet crash<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The pilot barely had time to eject before the jet crashed into the Celebes Sea, just south of the Philippines, according to a Navy report.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The flight seemed routine until after he heard the call of \u201cFights On\u201d and he &#8220;pulled the nose toward vertical \u2026 and noticed the nose tracking slow\u201d at about the 70-degree mark, according to his official statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He tried to keep the nose from \u201cgetting parked close to vertical,\u201d but the right rudder input seemed sluggish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI do not recall an altitude or airspeed as I was looking at my opponent at this time,\u201d he said. \u201cThe aircraft departed controlled flight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That laconic statement belies the chaos that ensued over the coming seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The jet inverted, slicing and rolling left before kicking into a fully inverted left spin, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cKnock it off, Viper 2, watch the deck,\u201d his colleague in the other jet warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the jet continued to fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Upside down, the pilot recalled seeing \u201ca number of items from the cockpit collect on the canopy above me.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think the pens came out of my g-suit pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the altimeter reading between 8,000 and 9,000 feet, he said that he tried to apply procedures to right the aircraft. He moved to roll the jet upright but failed, a sign he believed that the plane was gyrating after the stall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe situation was unbelievably disorienting as I was \u2018hanging in the straps\u2019 and waiting for control effectiveness to return,\u201d the pilot said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2017\/08\/11\/navy-finds-crashed-jet-off-florida-keys-decides-to-leave-it\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-660584824.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Navy finds crashed jet off Florida Keys, decides to leave it<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The U.S. Navy has found a jet that crashed off the Florida Keys, but the aircraft might be staying at the bottom of the ocean.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWatch your altitude,\u201d the other pilot warned again. \u201cWATCH THE DECK!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI remember thinking I was rapidly losing the opportunity to eject as my altitude decreased,\u201d the pilot said. \u201cI grabbed the handles and commanded ejection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next few seconds became a blur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI remember seeing the canopy fly away immediately and then remember the jolt of the seat firing,\u201d he said. \u201cI recall the feeling of being weightless or free fall and thinking about the parachute.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It inflated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI remember being incredulous at the state of the situation and hardly able to form coherent thoughts as my mind reeled through the events of the last few minutes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The jet\u2019s debris began splashing in the water below him. He braced for impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His life preserver deployed and the chute draped in front of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI remember waves forcing water in my mouth 4-5 times as I struggled with the resistance of the chute,\u201d the pilot recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He fought to get free of his parachute but soon heard flying overhead and was comforted by the sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After struggling to inflate his raft and being annoyed by the fact it \u201cdidn\u2019t just have RAFT printed on it in big bold writing,\u201d he hooked an arm into it and worked to untangle the parachute cords knotted around his legs and back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis was difficult and not always possible with one hand,\u201d he said. \u201cAt one point I remember the raft starting to get out of my reach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally free of the cords, he timed a large swell to finally hoist himself over the hump of the raft to safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI took a small moment to rest and again thank God for my small success,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The unidentified pilot entered the naval aviation jet training pipeline in 2004 and completed initial Super Hornet instruction the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He transitioned from active duty to selected reserve in 2012, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He had accrued nearly 2,512 hours of total naval aviation flight time \u2014 1,248 of them spent in the Tiger\u2019s cockpit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A helicopter soon arrived and a rescue swimmer helped get him onto the basket and out of the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe exchanged some conversation amidst asking if I would like to go to base or the hospital,\u201d the pilot said. \u201cI answered base, but about a minute later was told we were going to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Parts of the jet were recovered soon after the crash, but most of the aircraft sank beneath 3,000 feet of water. Navy officials say they\u2019ll <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2017\/08\/11\/navy-finds-crashed-jet-off-florida-keys-decides-to-leave-it\/\" target=_blank>leave it there<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cKnock it off, Viper 2, watch the deck.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":69980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"4":{"categories":["daily-news-roundup","newsletters","your-air-force","news"],"primary_category":"your-air-force"}}},"categories":[101,23,88,12,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3355],"class_list":["post-36243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"IPPHJNRVGVA43FQL7MELWQGSIQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/09\/20\/watch-your-deck-the-story-behind-last-summers-tiger-ii-crash\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018WATCH YOUR DECK!\u2019 The story behind last summer\u2019s Tiger II crash - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cKnock it off, Viper 2, watch the deck.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018WATCH YOUR DECK!\u2019 The story behind last summer\u2019s Tiger II crash\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cKnock it off, Viper 2, watch the deck.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/09\/20\/watch-your-deck-the-story-behind-last-summers-tiger-ii-crash\/\" 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