Seattle Post-Intelligencer
August 3, 2002

Navy Knew Of Faulty Engine Part Years Ago

Redesign of Prowler piece cited in crashes had been ruled out

By Mike Barber, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter

A week after one of the Navy's electronic warfare Prowler jets from Whidbey Island crashed into the Olympic Peninsula forest canopy last fall, another twin-engine EA-6B jet flown by Marines crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

A Navy investigation into the Nov. 15 Olympic Peninsula crash says both crashes were caused by a defective part in the right engine that had been recommended for redesign in a Department of Defense improvement program 12 years ago, according to records obtained by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The 1990 review stemmed from the crashes of two military jets equipped with the same engines in the 1980s.

Redesign of the engine part, called the "4 1/2 roller bearing," was ruled out at that time after an analysis favored replacing it periodically, according to a Navy report examining last fall's crashes. That report and its recommendations, including redesigning the engine part, were sent up the Navy chain of command, and ordered implemented in April.

"It is the opinion of the investigating officer that the failure to redesign the 4 1/2 bearing and adopt improved oil-scavenging slots contributed to this," as well as the Nov. 21 crash of the Marine Prowler from Cherry Point, N.C., wrote Cmdr. Peter Pellegrino, the investigating officer.

The Whidbey Island Naval Air Station crew and the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station crews both ejected and survived their crashes, suffering minor injuries.

After the Marine jet's crash, the nation's Prowlers were temporarily grounded while their Pratt & Whitney "J-52" engines were inspected, said Kim Martin, a Whidbey Island spokeswoman who referred technical questions elsewhere.

Officials at Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent, Md., yesterday were not available to comment about how widespread the problem was.

The Whidbey base issued a worldwide alert Jan. 24 that included U.S. allies after the investigation and subsequent inspections found that 43 engines, including 28 installed in military jets, were at "highest risk" of failure. Pratt & Whitney agreed to replace the bearings with parts meeting a tougher performance standard.

The Vietnam-era Prowler's significance to the nation's armed forces has grown in the wake of 1995 Defense Department budget decisions that phased out the Air Force's EF-111 Raven and retired its F4G Wild Weasel, which had comparable functions.

The subsonic Prowlers, nicknamed the "Sky Pig" for their less-than-sleek lines, fly into the heart of enemy territory to blind radar, disrupt communications and destroy radar sites. The Joint Chiefs of Staff consider the jets so critical that they were put on a special list of resources to be guarded while replacements are explored.

Built by Northrop Grumman, the twin-engine jets bristle with the latest electronic warfare devices. Yet despite four major upgrades since they were first introduced in 1971, the planes are designed on 1960s-vintage airframes that are wearing out.

The plane's production line closed more than 10 years ago, although Northrop Grumman still performs maintenance work. Congress this year alone has appropriated nearly $230 million to upgrade and maintain the 124 aircraft.

"We just got $69 million of that in a supplemental House appropriations budget last month," said Charla Neuman, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., whose 2nd Congressional District includes Whidbey Island.

Larsen sits on the House Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on military readiness and has been working closely with U.S. Rep. Steven Kirk, R-Ill., a former Prowler pilot. Both consider the electronic warfare jets "an absolute priority," Neuman said.

Included in the 2003 White House budget is $9.18 million to shorten the Prowler's turnaround time with a new direct fueling station at Whidbey. For safety reasons, the Prowlers now are refueled solely with fuel delivery trucks after shutting down and waiting two hours to cool. The new fueling station will allow 14 jets an hour to be refueled without shutting down.

The Boeing Co. is working to modify its F/A-18G Super Hornet fighter into an electronic warfare EA-18 "Growler" to replace the Prowler. Until a replacement is found, much of the burden to keep the jets flying increasingly will be shouldered by the Navy's maintenance crews.

In last November's crash off the Olympic Peninsula, the roller bearing in the right engine failed, touching off a chain reaction that ultimately destroyed both engines, the report said. Other parts in the turbine section in which the bearing was housed "were liberated" and rocketed into the left engine, severing fuel and hydraulic lines along the way, an examination of the engines revealed.

In the plane's cockpit, Navy Lt. Troy Williams, the pilot, Lt. Leslie Fierst, mission commander, and Marine Corps Lt. Christopher Cannon, a trainee, suddenly were fighting to save their jet and their lives.

The three were in air space reserved for military training that morning to check out the plane's characteristics. Their pre-flight tests showed no sign anything would go wrong.

Williams had just demonstrated a "break turn stall" maneuver when several "chugs" were heard, the report said.

"Lt. Williams investigated the engine performance by again reducing the throttle when a series of sharp chugs and a loud 'bang' rolled through the aircraft, which began to fishtail and wallow,'" the report said.

As key instruments dropped to near zero, a left-engine fire warning light went on. Williams shut down the left engine and tried throttling up the right engine, but the instruments "remained stagnant," the report said.

The jet began a slow "uncommanded roll." Williams fought with the control stick but the Prowler was unresponsive. It listed and began to nose down to 14,000 feet, then 13,000 feet, when Cannon reported that the aft cockpit in which he was sitting was completely filled with smoke. Tendrils wafted through to Fierst and Williams in the forward cockpit, the report said.

Williams scanned the instruments and fought to make the plane respond one more time, then at 12,000 feet ordered, "Get into position. Eject, eject, eject!"

The three parachuted through clouds into the wilderness.

Williams and Fierst bounced off tall trees, becoming entangled 40 to 50 feet above the ground, but cut themselves free. Cannon, separated when winds blew him backward, crashed through the forest canopy to the floor and suffered a leg injury.

The investigative report said an effort to redesign the faulty part in 1990 -- pinpointed after two other jets with J-52 engines crashed, a TA-4J Skyhawk in 1985 and an A-6 Intruder in 1989 -- ended in 1993 because requirements to inspect the part "exceeded the capabilities" of its inspection crews.

Instead, an analysis with Pratt & Whitney suggested replacing the part at major inspection cycles.

Pellegrino said part of the Prowler's bearing, recovered with the engine from the Olympic Peninsula, was fatigued. His recommendations included not only redesigning the bearing as originally planned, but strengthening the engine compartment to minimize collateral damage should something break again.

The exact cause of the bearing's failure hasn't been determined, but it remains under investigation.