Salute!
Well, Okie, this might be one of the rare times for a unit to cease operations. We do not know what happened, and back in the early days of the Viper it was not unusual to step back and take a deep breath and look for some design problem or a basic mechanical failure.
I fully agree with all here and from other countries besides the U.S. that promote more flying time to reduce accidents. Sounds backwards, but it ain't. If anyone here has not had a "close call" due to a poor decision or "bad day centering the ILS needles", be my guest. When we had the first fatality at Hill, it seemed obvious that something had gone wrong with the FLCS, as we had two episodes within a few weeks/months that had not been resolved. That's when you stop flying and try to find out what the jet is doing or not doing.
I was blessed to start my fighter career in ADC where we flew in all kindsa weather compared to the giys over in TAC. And an extra bonus for me was my squadron's policy of getting the newbies 30 hours a month in the UE. GASP! My buddies in the Hun and Thud and Double Ugly were getting 10 to 15 hours. And those hours were mostly in VFR so they could use the gunnery range. ADC also let us fly another plane besides the UE jet, so I got 10 or 15 hours each month in the T-33. So I can tell all that the experience my first two years paid off in spades.
So here's another nickel on the grass, and maybe we'll meet up one night at that hootch bar in the sky.
Gums sends...