How an old friend ended his career in the USMC

[Bill McIntyre]

My wife just ran across this video while doing a search for an old friend, Jerry Cadick.

Aviation Video: FA-18 MCAS El Toro Crash | Patrick's Aviation

Jerry and I were in the same squadron at El Toro MCAS right after getting our wings. We went separate ways for a while, but when we got back from Vietnam, we were flight instructors in the same squadron in the Navy Advanced Jet Training Command in Beeville, TX. Then later we were stationed in Iawakuni Japan together.

There is a description from Wikipedia right under the video, but I'll add to it. He hit the runway with a force of 73 Gs, which shattered the all time survival record. His shoulder harness broke and he hit the stick with his face, breaking all of it. His eyeballs were hanging out on his cheeks. Among many other repairs, they gave him aluminum eye sockets. A piece of his hip is screwed along side his spine to an aluminum rod. His left foot remains rolled 45 degree outboard and rotated 45 degrees from straight ahead.

The entry describes him as CO of MAG-!1. That means Marine Aircraft Group 11, which was the parent unit of a few F-18 squadrons. He was considered to have a good shot at making Brigadier General.

After the accident, there were lots of Marines questioning why a Colonel was even flying in an air show. That is usually a job for a Captain or Major. But Jerry was sort of a Mr. F-18 in the Corps, having been in on the ground floor of the program, and prided himself in still being a player. He made a point of going out for a one versus one fight with every pilot in each of his squadrons.

Of course he was medically retired, but they held a pilot disposition board and gave him a going-way present by pulling his wings, even though there was no way he was going to fly again. He was very bitter about that.

The description says that he was doing a loop and simply didn't have room to complete it before hitting the ground, and that is what I thought for about a year. He remained in seclusion and was quite depressed, but his wife finally got him to accept an invitation to come over to our house for dinner.

He said that the intended maneuver was a half cuban 8, which is the first half of a loop, but then you roll upright on the top rather than continuing to pull through the second half. In this case he was going to accelerate, then do another half cuban 8 to show the capability of the aircraft, but for some reason he just continued with a loop rather than rolling upright on the top of the first one.

He had done this maneuver many times before in airshows, and had done it perfectly in a rehearsal the previous day. Any one of my flight students could perform a half cuban 8, even if he didn't do it perfectly. It is inconceivable that Jerry could have been so disoriented that he continued with a loop. The problem is that his brain dumped all its short term memory on impact, so he can't say what happened.

Some of his detractors say that he was showboating, doing the loop just to show off. As he puts it, he wasn't quite dumb enough to do that in front of the Commanding General and a hundred thousand spectators.

After about three years (as I recall it) of rehab he joined a civilian team that flew a hot Italian prop plane in airshows all over the country, and he ended up being part of the airshow at El Toro again.

This new career required him to be gone barnstorming all over the country about 9 months of the year, so that was enough for his wife. She had stuck by him and nursed him back to health, but she wasn't a masochist, so they divorced.

[Pastor]

After about 5 reads of that I finally have to admit to not even being to have the first clue what experiencing 73Gs might be like. The average human male would weigh about 6 1/2 tonnes!

[Fondueset]

Wow! I remember seeing this on the tube. It looks like he lost some alt at the top while inverted - but before he began the loop. Amazing survival - and no picnic since I am sure.
My Uncle was a marine pilot in Korea - now in his 80s he still does airshows in Florida in his Pitts Special.

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by Pastor

After about 5 reads of that I finally have to admit to not even being to have the first clue what experiencing 73Gs might be like. The average human male would weigh about 6 1/2 tonnes!

I don't have a clue either, and I bet Jerry can't tell you what it felt like himself.

Of the aircraft I flew, the highest permissible G load in flight was 7. Even wearing an anti-G suit, I couldn't sustain 7 Gs through 180 degrees of heading change (from straight down to straight up) without going grey and finally black, so I would have to let off on stick pressure a bit so as to be able to see the attitude gyro so I could tell I was heading straight up.

[Fondueset]

Bill, I wonder if he grayed out badly at the top of that first half loop - there is a moment there where the aircraft seems to wander a bit. Likely we'll never know.

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by Fondueset

Bill, I wonder if he grayed out badly at the top of that first half loop - there is a moment there where the aircraft seems to wander a bit. Likely we'll never know.

I guess its possible, but it just seems so unlikely. After all, he was very experienced and had done this hundreds of times before. And as I indicated in my previous post, greying out happens progressively, and all you have to do is relax some stick pressure to allow more blood to get to your head and vision returns almost instantly. Maybe he passed out for some unrelated medical reason.

There is one clear indication that he was awake at least just before impact. Its hard to see in this video, but in others I've seen, both engines go into afterburner just before he hits the runway, so it appears that he was conscious and realized he had a problem.

[BatRay]

Wow... what an amazing video. It did seem like the engines were working a bit harder just before the crash, like he was trying to pull up. How long ago did you see him, Bill? Is he still doing airshows with the civilian troupe?

[Bill McIntyre]

BTW, hesitated to post this thread because the description of the Beach Bar forum says "Pull up a stool and starting chatting about the Underwater World." This is certainly not about the underwater world, but when I looked through other threads, it didn't seem that all of them were either. I just thought it was a very dramatic video and survival story that might be of interest, and of course I have a personal interest because he was a friend.

But if management feels that its not appropriate, I'l be glad to delete it, or won't mind if management deletes it for me.

[Fondueset]

I noticed that - man its so close. You can see the wingtips bending up too. I think that bit he lost while inverted and level at the top...
I remember firs time I saw that video - I expected him to do exactly what he told you - roll upright then do the other half - I wasn't listening and just thought it was airshow footage - my mouth fell open when he went for that second half.

[ILDiver]

I remember this being on TV. It amazed me that the aircraft stayed together so well. I only lost one pilot while I was in the Air Force (Lifesupport - Helmet, harness, g-suit, etc maint.) A couple ejections, a couple of other mishaps. No nose wheel down on a landing. Always more scary when you know the guy.

The pilot we lost was flying a QF-106 drone, chasing another drone. It's suspected he lost sight of the drone and dropped alt and over shot and was disoriented. It was a hazy day, so sky and water looked the same. They pulled him out of the seet the next day in 109ft of water, throttle was in full burner.

Another pilot on base was a student. Over G'd during BFM. Came too in a nose dive at mach 1+. His instructor was calling for him to bail. He got pretty messed up. A few years ago Dateline did a story on him. He made a full recovery and got cleared to fly again. Amazing story, he only had the use of 1 arm for a long time, the other was broken up bad and both legs were broken up. The ejection took the helmet and mask off his head. He spent 4 hours in the water unable to get in his 1 man and in and out of consciousness.

I have my private pilot ticket, but never got to ride in a fast mover I miss the sound of F-15's everyday. They were bringing F-4's in as drones when I got out. I love the Phantom too!

Much respect to you and your friend Bill.

[ILDiver]

Originally Posted by Bill McIntyre

I guess its possible, but it just seems so unlikely. After all, he was very experienced and had done this hundreds of times before. And as I indicated in my previous post, greying out happens progressively, and all you have to do is relax some stick pressure to allow more blood to get to your head and vision returns almost instantly. Maybe he passed out for some unrelated medical reason.

There is one clear indication that he was awake at least just before impact. Its hard to see in this video, but in others I've seen, both engines go into afterburner just before he hits the runway, so it appears that he was conscious and realized he had a problem.

He had a slow drift going towards the deck too. The nose came up a lot higher than I would have expected also. Not sure if it stalled, but it did slow down dramatically just before impact. *What if* he would have kept it flatter? Could he have gained more forward flight and recovered rather than trying to power up? I know the 18's can power out of a low and slow walk, so I guess that could rule out the stall.

Wayne Handley crashed the Turbo Raven in the same fashion. I've seen an F-86 video too.

[Bill McIntyre]

Its been several years since we last saw him. When he and his wife divorced, he moved up to a community in the Sacramento area where the houses were organized around an airstrip and each house had a taxiway leading to it.

We lost contact after that, so I don't know if he still flies with that civilian stunt team.

[ILDiver]

He flew with the team of Marchetti F-260's! I love that little plane! I knew a guy in TN that had one. Not many in the US. Hot little bird for a prop plane! Air Combat used them for their sim dog fights...in GA I think they were.

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by ILDiver

He flew with the team of Marchetti F-260's!

That's the aircraft all right. I think the outfit was called Team America or something like that.

[BatRay]

Originally Posted by Bill McIntyre

BTW, hesitated to post this thread because the description of the Beach Bar forum says "Pull up a stool and starting chatting about the Underwater World." This is certainly not about the underwater world, but when I looked through other threads, it didn't seem that all of them were either. I just thought it was a very dramatic video and survival story that might be of interest, and of course I have a personal interest because he was a friend.

But if management feels that its not appropriate, I'l be glad to delete it, or won't mind if management deletes it for me.

It's a cool thread, Bill, Plus, on page one alone, we have threads about surgeries, parking tickets, babies, birthdays, and Valentine's Day. I think your thread is ok