Fate of the remaining T-3s rotting away at Hondu now decided:
T-3A fleet will be destroyed
Colorado Springs Gazette September 9th
The Air Force’s fleet of 110 T-3A Firefly aircraft will be destroyed after the airplane’s short but deadly run in the service’s pilot training program during the 1990s, the Air Force said Friday.
The British-made T-3 replaced the T-41 aircraft in 1993 but was grounded in 1997 after three Air Force Academy cadets and their three instructors died in separate crashes in consecutive years.
“We critically challenged ourselves as to what was the right moral policy and economical and legal decision and were led to completely salvage these airplanes, because we no longer have a mission for this aircraft,” David Smith, news division chief with Air Education and Training Command’s public affairs office, said Friday.
The aerobatic training planes will be scrapped, with contractor, TOTALL Metal Recycling Inc., of Granite City, Ill., paid only scrap value, plus $12,000 to transport four T-3s from Edwards Air Force Base to Hondo Airport, Texas, for destruction.
TOTALL will start destroying the 106 aircraft at Hondo Monday and complete the contract by Sept. 25.
The Air Force considered selling the planes for parts or refurbishing them to Federal Aviation Administration standards for resale to the public but decided to junk them.
Smith said rehabilitation would have required replacing engines and reskinning the horizontal and vertical stabilizers because of hail damage.
“The aircraft has been sitting for nine years, so to get them to FAA certification, you’d almost have to rebuild the airplanes,” he said. “It was found to be totally cost-prohibitive.”
The Air Force bought the planes for $32 million and spent $10 million trying to fix the planes after they were grounded.
The Slingsby T-3A was used in the Enhanced Flight Screening Program. From 1993 to 1995, 113 aircraft were delivered to Hondo, Texas, and the academy.
On Feb. 22, 1995, Capt. Daniel Fischer, 28, of Jupiter, Fla., and Cadet 2nd Class Mark Dostal, 20, from Moraga, Calif., were killed when their T-3A crashed near the El Paso-Elbert County line. The plane went down during a spin maneuver. Air Force officials blamed pilot error.
On Sept. 30, 1996, Capt. Clay D. Smith, 29, of Tampa, Fla., and Cadet 1st Class Dennis P. Rando, 21, of East Bridgewater, Mass., were killed in a crash on the prairie of El Paso County. An investigation found the plane’s engine quit while the cadet was simulating a forced landing.
On June 25, 1997, Capt. Glen A. Comeaux, 31, of Yorktown, Va., and Cadet 1st Class Pace Weber, 20, of Miami, died when their plane stalled and went into a spin two miles east of the academy. The Air Force blamed the pilot for failing to recover control of the plane.
In July 1997, the service grounded the T-3A fleet and placed the aircraft in storage.
In September 1999, the plane was declared excess to the training command’s needs.
Although in 2000 the Air Force chief of staff requested a new mission be found for the T-3A, a study completed in 2002 didn’t recommend a use.
The aircraft were stored without maintenance at the academy and the Hondo Airport. In 2002-2003, the academy’s 53 aircraft were dismantled and trucked to Hondo.
In late 2002, a federal appeals court upheld a 2001 Florida jury verdict that said the T-3A is unsafe. The jury directed the plane’s British manufacturer to pay $4 million to Weber’s family. Another victim’s family settled out of court with the company.
The decision to destroy the planes was delayed by litigation involving Air Force claims against the manufacturer, Smith said.
I/C