About a year or so ago, one of those A10 attack planes used to bust tanks was on a training mission and seem to simply fly away.It was later found to have crashed in the Rockies. Did the Air Force ever determine what happened?
I think they concluded the pilot was suicidal or nuts, although some maintain his controls locked up. The evidence lacks.
I saw a show about this very event on Discovery a while ago. from what I remember, the biggest unsolved mystery is what happened to his bombs. Despite much combing of country along the likely flight path, nothing has been found as yet.
It was assumed that he jettisoned them, as they were not found with the aircraft.
IIRC, the casue of the crash was strongly suspected to be suicide, despite the strong denial of this by the pilot’s family.
There was a tidbit of a theory in “Aviation Week and Space Technology” (great mag, lots of stuff like the following that never makes the mainstream press). Apparently, the A-10 had just received an in-flight refueling 10 minutes or so before the pilot went awry. During this operation, the refueling operator on the tanker released the connection and pulled the boom out of the A-10’s receptacle immediately after stopping the fuel feed, when he’s supposed to wait 10 seconds to let the line drain completely.
Since the A-10’s receptacle is in front of the canopy, not behind as on most aircraft, that allowed a fair amount of jet fuel to splash on the canopy. Since the A-10 cockpit is unpressurized, some fuel would likely have leaked around the canopy and created some fumes in the cockpit. So, perhaps the pilot was sniffing fumes and lost some neural function as a result.
Of course, there’s no way to prove it, but it makes some sense - more so than being hijacked by aliens or terrorists, anyway.
Capt. Button (the pilot) drove his Warthog into Mt. Craig in Colorado. The bombs have never been found. There is a lot of open real estate between Tucson, where he took off, and Colorado. If he didn’t arm the bombs (likely) they are very probably buried somewhere in the scrub somewhere in Utah. Some Scout troop someday is going to have a very lively camping trip.
The Air Force actually did a “pschological autopsy” on Capt. Button, discussing his failed love affair, his mother’s religion (she was a Jehovah’s Witness–opposed to war) and his feelings about being a (fighter) trainee after being a (flight) trainer.
Whatever his motives, it seems clear that Capt. Button committed suicide, after a what seemed to be a charmed life. I personally hope that he’s at peace, and that God rests his soul.
Funny how time flies - jwg said “about a year ago,” but I clearly remember that this had just happened the last time I went snow skiing, which was in the Colorado Rockies.
My wife and I were trying to conceive, and she was due to ovulate on Febuary 8. I had to leave town on a business trip to Colorado on Feb 5, not returning until Feb 13. We were both surprised in a few weeks to learn that she was pregnant. I’m happy to say that the kid looks just like me.
This was 1996 - coming up on five years ago!