Dancing with the Elephant by K.L
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Dancing with the Elephant By K.L. Billingsley I ate last October, In what would become perhaps the ^ ^bost significant moment in t||' female aviation history since Amelia Earhart dropped from ra- dio contact into the Pacific, Navy L.. Lt. Kara Hultgreen took off from San Diego's Miramar Naval Air Station in a Grumman F-14A Tomcat. The 29-year-old Hull- ^• green was the first of only two 'yfj women to qualifyas pilotsof the Navy's premier fighter since na- .... val policy was changed on the is- j sue of women in combat early in |pHuK|j||^ 1993. EverythingHultgreen did, B therefore, had the feel of symbol- ^ ism. She was not only a fighter f pilotbut also someone whocar- ried thebanner of gender equity, whether she wanted to or not— an airborne white female equiva- lent of Jackie Robinson whom fate had appointed to shoulder others' hopes and fears as she climbed into the cockpit. iMplffiiii On this dear fall afternoon, Hultgreen chmbcd to cniising altitude and then flew southwest toward the air- craft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, which awaited her some 50 miles off shore. Setting up her approach, she Navy Lt. Kara llullgreen swung herplane to the"abeam" posi tion l.I to 1.2 miles from the ship, at caused promoters ofwomen incombat todeclare victory "vicious" misogyny. approximately 600 feet inelevation and with 180 degrees The communications from Navy personnel that fol of turn remaining before her landing. Herair speed was and to attack critics of the new policy such as Linda approximately 155 mph asshe prepared to"call the ball." Chavez, who had written aboutHultgreen's death weeks lowed the accident were anonymous not because those who sent them were cowardly or chauvinistic, or be areference tothevisual glidescope provided byascries of earlier in her USA Today column: "It's been almost two cause their authors hated Hultgreen. They were anon Fresnellenseson the carrier's deck. Justafter threeo'clock. years since the Department of Defense started its Brave ymous because, in today's Navy, any public expres Lt. MatUiew Klemish, the Radar Intercept Officer riding New World campaign to put woman in combat roles, sion critical of gender neutrality, or any complaint about behind the pilot, said, "One oh three. Tomcat ball. and the casualties are starting to mount....Morale and Hultgreen," asLt. Hultgreen swung into her final approach. military readiness are clearly strained by the Penta double standards favoring women, can terminate the gon's attempt to ignore human biology and psycho speaker's career. "Roger ball," replied the Landing Signal Officer (LSO) Anyone doubtful that this is .so shouldconsider the from the deck as Hultgreen made her final turn. logy. [Under such conditions) it's doubtful that any hon Thestarboard engine wasspewing exhaust butnoth est investigation into Hultgreen's tragic death is even case of Lt. Cmdr. Kenneth Carkhuff, an officer with a ing came from theport engine. Wliether because ofthat or possible." superb record—"unlimited potential" and "destined for some other problem, Hultgreen swung wide of the Tlie.se views infuriated California Sen. Barbara command and beyond," said his fitness rcport.s—who is ccntcrline, critical for an accurate landing. Her F-14 then Boxer, who said, after the Navy released its report, "I being drummed outof theNavy forexpressing hisbelief began to yaw tothepilot's left. "Wave off," the Landing urge Chavez to withdraw the scurrilous and irrespon that women should not be subjected to the violence of combat. At the .same time, he told his commanding offic Service Office said with relative calm. But then he shouted sible charges made about women in the military." In a ers of that belief, he also said he was willing to go into "Wave off!" twice more with escalating urgency as the similar vein, liberal columnist Ellen Goodman wrote; plane's air speed dropped dangerously. At that moment, "So it was the engine after all. Not the pilot. Lt. Kara combat with women if so ordered. On January 29, tlie Navy moved to dismiss him for "substandard perfor theLSOalso usedhiselectronic"pickle"to flash warning Hultgreen did not die on the altar of 'political correct lights ondeck. "Power! Raise your gear!" heyelled into ness' or 'preferential treatment' or 'reverse discrimina mance" in the "failure to demonstrate acceptable qualities themicrophone from hisplatform beside thedeck, anarea tion.' She died because the F-14 Tomcat stalled as it of leadership required of an officer in your grade as surrounded bya netintowhich theLSOs candiveindan approached the aircraft carrier." Boxer and Goodman evidenced by your refusal to support and execute the gerous situations. But now Hultgreen's fighter was bank may have thought that they had trumped Chavez in the policies of the Department of Defense and United Slates ing steeply to the left and wasi/i extremis, beyond the point intramural waramong feminists overthemeaning of the Navyregarding women in combat." Giventhis reality.I will guard the identities of two of no return. Only one option remained. accident, but the basic issues still remained unresolved "Eject! Eject!" screamed the LSO. Radar Officer aftertheNavy report's attempt toaffirm theidea ofwomen of my sources for this stoiy. both F-14 pilots who arc former TopGun insuuctors at Miramar. each with thou Klemish initiated theejectionprocedure. Hischuteopened, in combat. and he got one swing in the air before splashing to the It was not accurate to simply say that the Tomcat sands of hours in the plane. One of them is a Landing surface with only minor injuries. But by the time Lt. had "stalled," Even the Navy report said that only one ServiceOfficerqualified to landany aircraft in the fleet. Hultgreen had ejected a fraction ofasecond later, the F-14 engine malfunctioned. The F-14A can fly, and land, The other is a former safely officcr as well. These two of had rolled so far that it catapulted the pilot directly into quite well with one engine, and Lt.Hultgreen knew allthe ficers reviewed with me the official materials, the com munications sent by anonymous aviators,and the Navy's the water. It was not until November 13 that a salvage team procedures forboth ofthese functions before she evergot discovered her body in 4,000 feetof water, still strapped in thecockpit. "Single engine emergencies arcdiscussed video of the crash. intotheejectionseat thatrestedsome90 yardsawayfrom and trained to daily in flight briefs and simulators," The worldof Navy aviation is a small one with few the sunken aircraft. The first female combat pilot to fly the the Navy reporton the accident says. Whether she was secrets, and both men know key players in the incident, tliough neitherhad spoken out before this article. They F-14 had become the first to die. sufficiently good at handling those emergencies is another question. agree with each other in the conclusions they draw about i 6A completeunderstanding of allof the facts lead- Tlie fevered statements of Boxer, Goodman, and otli- this mishap: Pilot error was indeed involved, and Lt. .Zi.ingtothismostunfortunate accidentwillnever ers worried that the accident would set back women's par Kara Hultgreen was given special treatment in training. | be known,"saidAdmiral R.J.Spanein theNavy'sofficial ticipation incombat confirmed tliat they knew little about These two men believe that the record also shows that 3 report on the accident, released on February 28. Yet de Naval aviation and had not read carefully the Navy report the Navy has been less than truthful in this incident as well | spite thisapparent agnosticism, the Navy tried towave off or theanonymous letters ofotherNavyflyers whosaw the as on questions involving women in combat in general. | the whole incident by blamingit on engine failure. That accident as avoidable, letters they simply dismissed as Instead of candidly facing the conclusions that might ^ PAGE 13 HETERODOXY of seven. One of the naval fiyers who called in to a San be drawn from this incident, these pilots believe, the Navy "Any landing isacontrolled crash," says one of the formerTop Guninstructors whom Iinterviewed.The mas Diego radio station in tlie aftermatli ofthe crash said that, continues to move forward blindly with policies that as a trainer, he had votedto lakeaway thewingsof pilots could mean the needless deatli of our uoops or of civil sive F-14A NATOPS manual (Naval Aviation Tactical Operating Procedures Standardization) is replete with with grades of3.4to3.6. Athird F-14 pilot I interviewed iansand the loss of expensive equipment, not to mention agreed thatsucha ruling would notbe unusual. the loss of a combat engagement to our foes. EXTREME CAUTION warnings. "Everytimeyouseethat, it'swritten inblood," says theother F-14 pilot who agreed TheNavy considered Hultgreen a fully qualified and As the first exhibit in this case, these pilots point to the tospeak for this article. "It means that someone has been above-average pilot. Butboth Top Gun pilots, one ofwhom plane itself. As Saddam Hussein and others have injured or killed during thatprocedure." has landed on carriers out of fuel and with his plane shot up,say thereis moreto thestory. learned bydirectexperience, when anF-14Tomcat iscom Kara Hultgreen would have been familiar with ing after you, you've definitely got a problem. The all- all those danger warnings and the procedures for landing with one engine; she would have memorized a All combat pilots must be able to land on carriers, day weather F-I4A can hit speedsexceeding Mach2 andsoar ornight. Butthatsituation, as tricky asitcanbe,does to altitudes above 50,000 feet. It can track 24 different number of steps to take in emergency situations. She had flown the EA6B for years, logging what the Navy not approach the physical demands of actual combat, a targets sinuiltaneously and shoot down sixofthem atonce supersonic slugfest that can easily stretch the human with its Phoenix AIM-54A missiles.