Kara Hultgreen

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Kara Spears Hultgreen
October 5, 1965 – October 25, 1994
Kara Hultgreen with an F-14 Tomcat
Place of birth	Greenwich, Connecticut
Place of death	Killed in plane crash off San Diego, California
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1987-1994
Rank	Lieutenant

Kara Spears Hultgreen (October 5, 1965 – October 25, 1994), a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, was the first female naval carrier-based fighter pilot. She was killed just months after she was certified for combat, when the left engine of her F-14 Tomcat failed on final approach to USS Abraham Lincoln. A formal investigation found that the cause of the crash was a combination of mechanical failure and pilot error.

1 Youth
2 Military career
3 Death
4 Investigation
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading

[edit] Youth

Hultgreen was born on October 5, 1965 in Greenwich, Connecticut, and raised in both Chicago and Toronto. Hultgreen later moved to San Antonio in 1981 after her parents divorced. She attended Alamo Heights High School, and received a congressional nomination to the Naval Academy, but failed to win an appointment. She attended the University of Texas at Austin where she majored in Aerospace Engineering.

[edit] Military career

In order to pursue her dream of becoming an astronaut, she enrolled in aviation officer candidate school in Pensacola's Naval Air Station. Upon her graduation (ranked third of seven in her class) she was assigned to Training Wing Four based at NAS Corpus Christi, TX. She completed primary flight training as an average student and was "selected" for jets. Following her designation as a Naval Aviator she received orders to NAS Key West and flew A-6 Intruders. Her callsign was "Incredible Hulk", probably due to her last name, and her above average height (6'). Though the combat ban for women was officially repealed in 1991, the Navy did not implement the changes until 1993. Deciding she wanted something more than ground attack aviation, she enrolled in the F-14 Tomcat program at Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego. While with Fleet Replacement Squadron VF-124 Gunfighters, Hultgreen failed her first attempt at carrier qualification — not uncommon in naval aviation. Upon her landing on Constellation in the summer of 1994, she became the first qualified female F-14 pilot. She was assigned to the Black Lions of VF-213, and began preparations for the Persian Gulf. Some of her commanding officers and peers said she was a skilled pilot, ranking "Average" to "Above Average" on everything she did. After a television appearance in which she wore detectable makeup, she received a new call sign: "Revlon."

[edit] Death

On October 25, 1994 Hultgreen was killed when her F-14A (Serial Number 160390) crashed on approach to the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of San Diego after a routine mission. Finding herself overshooting the centerline, Hultgreen attempted to correct her approach by yawing the aircraft to induce a sideslip in order to lose altitude. In combination with an engine fault characteristic of the TF30-P-414A engine, this led to the left-hand engine suffering a compressor stall and losing power, as air was no longer flowing straight into it. The F-14 flight manual warns against sideslips at any time for this reason.

At the time of this accident, a majority of the F-14s in service were the F-14B and D models, which were powered by F110 engines with more power and better resistance to compressor stall. Loss of an F110 engine results in assymmetric thrust which can exceed rudder authority, especially if the pilot is slow in applying proper rudder input.

After aborting the approach, Hultgreen selected full afterburner on the remaining engine. The engines on the F-14 are mounted far apart and Hultgreen needed full opposite rudder to compensate for the off-center thrust. While distracted by this, the proximity of the sea, and the engine failure, she raised the nose of the aircraft too high as she tried to climb away, resulting in an unrecoverable stall and rapid wing-drop to the left. The Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) in the rear seat initiated ejection for himself and Hultgreen as soon as it was apparent that the aircraft was becoming uncontrollable. First in the automated ejection sequence, the RIO survived. However, by the time Hultgreen's seat fired 0.4s later, the plane had rolled past the horizontal, and she was ejected downward into the water, killing her instantly. The entire event unfolded in less than twenty seconds.

On November 12, 19 days after the crash, the Navy salvaged the plane and recovered her body, still strapped into the ejection seat. The wreckage was in 3,700 feet of water. She was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

[edit] Investigation

The Navy's Mishap Investigation Report (MIR) for Hultgreen's crash was sealed, and rumors abounded that the investigation had found pilot error to be a contributing factor, despite a Navy press release to the contrary. The report was later leaked over the Internet and is now readily available, confirming that Hultgreen was assigned partial responsibility for the engine flameout and subsequent failure to retain control and recover from the problem. It also described known mechanical problems with the plane flown that day that could increase the likelihood of flameout, concluding, "although not sufficient alone to stall the eng[ine], this malfunction, combined with reduced throttle setting and sideslip, contributed to left eng[ine] comp[ressor] stall."

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.