April 5, 2012 Howard Pardue Killed In Bearcat Crash Email this article |Print this article By Russ Niles, Editor-in-Chief Well-known air race and air show pilot Howard Pardue was killed Wednesday when his F8F Bearcat went down on takeoff from Stephens County Airport in Texas. Witnesses said the aircraft became briefly airborne before crashing and catching fire. Pardue, 77, died at the scene. Pardue was a former Marine Corps pilot and the crash aircraft is the same type first flown by the Blue Angels. Pardue was also a member of the Naval Aviation Heritage Flight. http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Howard_Pardue_Killed_Bearcat_Crash_206483-1.html Very sad. Regards, Art S.
Last time I looked, it was still under investigation. Just checked. The latest is still their prelim report
I believe that his was the only F8F-1 Bearcat currently flying; all the rest are -2s. I wonder if he had a medical issue - I was surprised that he was still flying the F8F at 77. R.I.P., Howard.
Not that important, but the Blue Angels actually started with F6F Hellcats initially ('46?). I think it was for a fairly brief time; less than a year, before going to Bearcats. Saw Pardue fly once... great pilot/plane.
Here is the preliminary NTSB report that was posted on ANN this morning... A witness to the accident reported that he was in his airplane preparing to depart when the accident airplane was taxiing toward runway 17. He told the accident pilot, via radio, that he wanted to watch the accident airplane takeoff ahead of him. The accident pilot reportedly announced over the radio that he was going to perform a Half Cuban Eight aerobatic maneuver after takeoff and then overfly the runway in the opposite direction. The witness stated that after liftoff the accident airplane climbed 100 to 200 feet in a shallow climb before it pitched-up into a near vertical climb. The airplane continued the climb in an inside loop before leveling out, inverted, about 500 feet above the runway heading the opposite direction of the takeoff. The witness then saw the airplane's wings roll suddenly before the airplane entered a near vertical descent. The witness described the final portion of the aerobatic maneuver as a split-S maneuver, or a descending half loop, from which the airplane was unable to recover before colliding with terrain on a southeasterly heading. The witness stated that there was an explosion when the airplane collided with terrain and that a postimpact fire ensued.
hmmm... So maybe pilot error (misjudgement) and not pilot incapacitation... Doesn't sound like a mechanical failure.
There seems to be some issue with this report based on the comments on warbird information exchange. We will see. Regards, Art S.
