Wayward Thunderbirds Cause Air Scare By Don Phillips and Thomas E. Ricks Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, May 24, 2000; Page A01

The Air Force's precision flying team threw the Washington air traffic control system into confusion Monday morning when four of the eight-plane squadron unexpectedly fanned out in different directions in some of the country's busiest airspace and forced air traffic controllers to divert several civilian planes.

One member of the Thunderbirds, flying at 350 knots--about 390 mph--was heading toward a 3,500-foot ridge in the Blue Ridge Mountains before controllers determined his location and warned the pilot to climb immediately. Two of the team's planes, high-performance F-16s, apparently violated restricted airspace over Vice President Gore's house.

Surprised air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport scrambled to get civilian airplanes out of the way and make radio contact with the F-16s. The Thunderbirds were supposed to simply fly in formation through the area on their way home to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

At one point as the broken squadron flew west, controllers managed to warn an F-16 pilot flying at 3,000 feet that he was approaching the 3,500-foot Skyline Drive at high speed, ordering him to climb immediately to 6,000 feet. His speed of about 350 knots was apparently a violation of a Federal Aviation Administration 250-knot limit for low-level flights. Another F-16 was located inexplicably flying west over Fredericksburg, 50 miles south of the squadron's intended course.

At another point, controllers at Dulles ordered an American Airlines MD-80 to climb and make a 90-degree right turn, passing one mile horizontally and 700 feet vertically from one F-16. A private plane, a Mooney, passed an Air Force plane within 1.8 miles and 100 feet. Both are violations of the standard separation of three miles horizontally or 1,000 feet vertically.

"It was chaos," one controller said yesterday. "I've never seen anything like that."

Eliot Brenner, a spokesman for the FAA, said the agency had "communicated our concern to the Air Force."

Brenner said controllers did a masterful job under difficult circumstances, and that one F-16 pilot called and "assumed all responsibility and thanked our controllers for their professionalism."

"We're still piecing the story together," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Dave Moody, commander of the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base. He said it was the first time he had ever seen the Thunderbirds fail to accomplish that type of departure.

Controllers' jobs were made unusually difficult because pilots on most of the squadron had not turned on their transponders, which allow controllers on the ground to identify planes on radar and determine their altitude. If the F-16s had remained in formation, only one transponder is necessary under FAA rules, but four of the planes flew far beyond the squad leader and his plane's transponder.

The FAA said the squadron began taking off from Andrews at 11:36 a.m. The flight plan of the squadron, buried in thick clouds, called for the aircraft to fly a mile or more apart in a straight line--called "ducks-in-a-row"--at 3,000 feet. Once airborne, they were to gather into two close formations. They were to be under the supervision of civilian controllers as they made their way home from a weekend of air shows.

The first four, including the jet piloted by squadron leader Lt. Col. John Venable, appeared to gather into a formation as planned and followed the prescribed course over National and Dulles. The Air Force said the squadron, which later made a stop at Scott Air Force base near St. Louis, was still en route to Nellis yesterday and its pilots may not be aware of the FAA's concerns.

As the aircraft passed over National, controllers noticed something odd. Scattered in the miles behind the formation were several large "primary radar hits"--meaning that several unidentified aircraft were in the area with no operating transponder.

When a radar beam hits an operating transponder, the device automatically reports the plane's identity, altitude and other information. Without a transponder, the plane shows up on radar screens as a bright blob called a "primary hit."

Brenner said a National controller asked, "You guys all together?" The squadron commander answered that they were. This apparent misunderstanding caused more confusion.

Meanwhile, F-16 No. 5, flown by Maj. Dean Wright, a former F-117 Stealth pilot, lost radar contact with the first four planes after takeoff, Moody said.

"As a result, he flies a little bit to the northwest of Andrews," Moody said in an interview. "He becomes a little bit disoriented. He begins a slight climb."

Not all the data has been pulled together, he said, but it appears that Wright flew to the north of his planned route, apparently passing over Washington at about 3,000 feet and at a speed of about 350 knots. While that speed appears to be in excess of FAA rules for low-altitude flight in the area, Moody said, the Air Force is allowed to operate F-16s at higher speeds because the aircraft's flight manual calls for that.

The situation became more confused when air traffic controllers addressed Wright as "Thunderbird Four," rather than five, Moody said. "He doesn't know they're talking to him," Moody said, so Wright didn't answer.

Meanwhile, F-16 No. 6 had joined him. By the time controllers figured that the two F-16s were in the area and persuaded them to turn on their transponders, they were over Northwest Washington on a path that likely meant they had violated restricted airspace that includes the sky over the vice president's house.

F-16 No. 7, also without an operating transponder, flashed over Dulles and headed for the mountains. By the time the pilot tuned his transponder to an emergency frequency, a controller saw he was at 3,000 feet with a 3,500 ridge dead ahead. The controller ordered him to climb to 6,000 feet.

The last to take off, F-16 No. 8, somehow flew far to the south. Controllers finally located him flying west almost directly over Fredericksburg.

Eventually, air traffic controllers directed the first six aircraft together at about 11,000 feet. The last two aircraft eventually joined the first six west of Dulles.

Moody emphasized yesterday that the Air Force isn't blaming the FAA for the problem. "The air traffic control guys did a super job," he said.

As for the Thunderbirds, Moody said he didn't see any clear need for a change in procedures. But he added, "We're going to look at our training programs and see if there is anything we can improve

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59188-2000May23.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 24, 2000