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Navy aviators disciplined over air phallus after Coronado hearing

by Carl Prine

The Navy’s “Air Boss,” Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, has disciplined two aviators involved in a Nov. 15 incident of phallic skywriting in Washington.

The unnamed male pilot and his backseat aviator from the “Zappers” of Electronic Attack Squadron 130 at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, received administrative punishment on Nov. 22 following a Field Naval Aviator Evaluation Board hearing on North Island before Shoemaker.

Pronounced “fee-nab” in the Navy, the administrative panel is designed to evaluate the performance, motivation and future potential for uniformed aviators. That it occurred on North Island, headquarters of Naval Air Forces, signaled the importance the military assigned to addressing the stunt. Typically, these hearings are convened at the squadron or wing levels and can end the career of Naval aviators.

“When they came down, the aviators were apologetic,” said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Ron Flanders. “The aviators admitted that they had done it after it occurred. When they appeared before the (Field Naval Aviator Evaluation Board) they were contrite. They realized that this was an embarrassment to Naval Aviation and the entire Navy. This sort of conduct is contrary to the core values of the Navy.”

Flanders said that the Navy is barred by federal privacy laws from identifying the aviators or detailing their punishment but the results of the board were obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune. Details were circulated earlier in an email to Navy leaders sent out by Rear Adm. Roy “Trigger” Kelley, the commander of Virginia-based Naval Air Force Atlantic.

Shoemaker determined that the aviators’ actions were “impulsive and immature” but both were “forthright and remorseful.” Although they risked losing their coveted wing insignia, the endorsing authorities urged the Navy to retain them as aviators and place them into a “probationary” status in case they slip up again.

Shoemaker concurred with the recommendations but specified the probationary period would last six months and any transgression on land or in the sky that showed a “similar lapse of judgment” or violated the Navy’s core values would lead to a loss of the insignia.

A career aviator, Shoemaker ordered them to address their fellow crews on Whidbey Island in a series of “Change the Culture” briefs describing the “ramifications and the embarrassment it caused” while “contrasting their actions with the excellence and discipline” of other sailors worldwide. He also wanted them to explore the potential “strategic effects” their conduct might have.

The pilot, who has pending instructor orders to the training squadron at Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi, will conduct a similar presentation to both fellow instructors and students.

The Navy has only indicated that the pilot of the two-seater EA-18G Growler is a male lieutenant and that he used the contrails of the jet to sketch a phallus in the air during a routine training exercise, a floating image that became an internet sensation when it was photographed and shared on social media platforms.

The Navy has not released the rank or gender of the backseat flight officer tasked with suppressing enemy radar and communications.

Both aviators continue to face a separate inquiry from their Virginia-based Carrier Air Wing 3. Called a “JAGMAN” investigation, it’s an administrative probe that analyzes all available information about a relatively minor incident. Its findings of facts, opinions and recommendations often help improve a command’s leadership, promulgate lessons for the rest of the fleet to avoid similar incidents and aid superiors making determinations about the future flight status of an aviator.

The investigators also can indicate whether they believe violations of military law have occurred, potentially triggering criminal proceedings.

The Navy has not indicated when the JAGMAN will be finished but says the officers have not been arrested and charged with a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

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