Kara Hultgreen

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Kara Hultgreen
Lieutenant

Kara S. Hultgreen

F-14 Tomcat crashed into the sea on final approach to USS Abraham Lincoln
.

Early life

Hultgreen was born on October 5, 1965, in Greenwich, Connecticut, the granddaughter of Norwegian immigrants on her father's side.[3] She was raised in both Chicago and Toronto, then San Antonio from 1981 on. She attended Alamo Heights High School and received a congressional nomination to the United States Naval Academy but did not get an appointment. She graduated in 1987 from the University of Texas at Austin, where she majored in aerospace engineering.[4]

Military career

Hultgreen was commissioned through the

Aviation Officer Candidate School at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where she was a Distinguished Naval Graduate.[4]

Upon graduation she was assigned to Training Air Wing 4 at

NAS Chase Field, Texas.[citation needed
]

Following designation as a

NAS Miramar, California.[citation needed
]

While with Pacific Fleet F-14

VF-213) and began preparations for deployment to the Persian Gulf.[citation needed
]

Her call signs were "Hulk" or "She-Hulk", for her ability to bench press 200 pounds (91 kg), her 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) frame,[1] and a play on her surname. Following a television appearance in which she wore noticeable makeup, she received the additional call sign of "Revlon".[5]

Death

Video of F-14A-95-GR's crash
Grave at Arlington National Cemetery

On October 25, 1994, Hultgreen died when her F-14A-95-GR,

NATOPS flight manual warned against excess yaw. Loss of an F-14 engine results in asymmetric thrust, which can exceed rudder authority (the degree of control exerted over the aircraft), especially at low speeds.[citation needed
]

After aborting the approach, Hultgreen selected full afterburner on the remaining engine, causing an even greater asymmetry. This, combined with a high

radar intercept officer in the rear seat, Lt. Matthew Klemish, initiated ejection for himself and Hultgreen as soon as it was apparent the aircraft was becoming uncontrollable. First in the automated ejection sequence, Klemish survived. However, by the time Hultgreen's seat fired 0.4 seconds later, the plane had exceeded 90 degrees of roll, and she was ejected downward into the water, killing her instantly.[7]
: 168–169 

On November 12, 19 days after the crash, the Navy salvaged the plane and recovered Hultgreen's body, still strapped into the ejection seat, from a depth of 3,700 feet (1,100 m).[6] On November 21, she was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, with full military honors.[citation needed]

The F-14A lost in the crash, BuNo 160390, had been one of the two aircraft involved in the

NAS Oceana, Virginia, and embarked with Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) aboard USS Nimitz.[8]

As with most approaches to a carrier landing, Hultgreen's incident was videotaped by two cameras. The tape shows an overshooting turn onto final, then apparent engine failure, followed by an audible wave-off and gear-up command from the landing signal officer. Segments shown on broadcast television concluded with the rapid sequence of aircraft stall, roll, crew ejections, and impact with the water.[citation needed]

Accusations of unqualification

Hultgreen's death has been used by activists who believe the Navy has put political considerations ahead of safety and morale concerns and who oppose women flying combat aircraft.

Carey Dunai Lohrenz, were repeatedly continued through training despite unusually low scores and mistakes that would have washed out male trainees.[10][11] Lohrenz subsequently brought a suit for defamation against the CMR but lost because the court determined that, by virtue of her status as one of the first women to attempt to qualify as a carrier combat pilot, she was a "public figure" and had to prove malice on the part of those who published the charge of favoritism. She appealed, but her appeal was denied with a statement that "Our conclusion about Lt. Lohrenz's public figure status does not suggest that she was not a good Naval aviator trying to do her job, and it does not penalize her for acting with 'professionalism.'"[12]

According to an Accuracy in Media article, three Navy flight instructors alleged that Commander Tom Sobiek, the commanding officer of Fighter Squadron VF-124, said of the four female pilots in his squadron, "The women are going to graduate regardless of how they performed" and "the Navy was in a race with the Air Force to get the first female fighter pilot". It quotes Sobiek denying making any such statement: "That is a flat **** [sic] lie," he said. "And whoever told you that, if they were under oath, should be taken to task."[13]

A fellow F-14 pilot, Francesco "Paco" Chierici, would later say that "the treatment [Hultgreen] received after her death has always stayed with me as one of the greatest injustices witnessed during my naval career," and that her squadron's executive officer crashed in a flight simulator 97 percent of the time when faced with similar problems.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Manegold, Catherine S. (January 1, 1995). "LIVES WELL LIVED: KARA S. HULTGREEN; The Short Flight of a Fighter Pilot". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  2. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  3. ^ "Obituary for Dagny A. Hultgreen – Vincent Funeral Homes".
  4. ^
    ISBN 1-55750-809-7
    .
  5. ^ Thompson, Mark (August 17, 2010). "Navy Man Claims Aviator Call Signs Get Too Personal". Time. Archived from the original on August 18, 2010. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
  6. ^ a b Stamford, Lincs., UK: Air Forces Monthly, compiled by Dave Allport, January 1995, Number 82, pages 58–59.
  7. ISBN 9781524731595
    .
  8. ^ "F-14A-95-GR". HOME OF M.A.T.S. - the most comprehensive Grumman F-14 Reference Work - by Torsten Anft!. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  9. ^ Priest, Dana (June 21, 1997). "GROUNDED FEMALE NAVY PILOT IS RETURNED TO FLIGHT STATUS". Washington Post. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  10. ^ Donnelly, Elaine (December 1, 1995). "Safety Last?". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  11. ^ Special Report: Double Standards in Naval Aviation, Center for Military Readiness, June 1995
  12. ^ Kirkland, Michael (December 12, 2003). "Court rejects ex-F-14 woman pilot's case". UPI.
  13. ^ Irvine, Reed (September 1997). "'Smear' or Safety? Navy Aviatrix scared peers". Accuracy in Media. Archived from the original on April 16, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  14. ^ Rogoway, Tyler; Chierici, Francesco. "Confessions Of A Navy F-14 Fleet Pilot Turned F-5 Aggressor". The War Zone. The Drive. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023. Retrieved May 18, 2021.

External links

Further reading

  • Sally Spears (1998). Call Sign Revlon: The Life and Death of Navy Fighter Pilot Kara Hultgreen. Naval Institute Press.
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