Pilot Aborted Landing Before Crash Investigators Don’T Know Why Aircraft Rose Sharply

A Spokane-based military jet aborted its landing, rose sharply, then apparently stalled before crashing in the woods near a German air base.

German military sources said Thursday that Maj. David Fite, the pilot, told the control tower, “I am going around,” and broke off the landing before the front wheel touched the runway.

Four crewmen - three from Spokane - died in the fiery crash Wednesday night.

The 40-year-old Washington Air National Guard tanker was about halfway down the 11,000-foot runway at Geilenkirchen Air Base when the pilot took the plane back into the air.

The reason for breaking off the landing was not clear. The KC-135 tanker was returning from refueling a Dutch AWACS plane over the North Sea.

“It just looked like a normal landing,” said Capt. Christian John, a German air force officer at the base in northwest Germany about 1-1/2 miles from the Dutch border.

The plane and crew were part of the 141st Air Refueling Wing based at Fairchild Air Force Base.

Two of the bodies, which weren’t identified, have been recovered from the burned crash site.

Only a piece of the tail section with the word “Washington” was recognizable in the wreckage.

Weather did not appear to be a factor in the crash, John said. It was night, with light rain, but there was no fog, low cloud ceiling or wind sheer.

Eyewitnesses saw no animals or objects on the runway.

There was no indication of problems on board when the pilot radioed he was going around, NATO Brig. Gen. Klaus-Peter Stieglitz said Thursday at a news conference at Geilenkirchen, according to Deutsche Presse Agentur.

Initial reports said the tanker touched down in the landing zone at the front end of the runway, John said. After it pulled up, he said, the nose of the plane was in a “high attitude,” which would put the tanker in a steep climb.

A controller in the base tower noticed the unstable position of the plane, then issued an alarm, Stieglitz said.

The plane banked steeply over its right wing and crashed into a wooded area just beyond the base fence.

The plane’s tail number, 59-1452, indicates it was built by Boeing in 1959. It apparently has belonged to the 141st since the unit switched to flying tankers in 1976.

Preliminary details of the crash were discussed Thursday at a classified briefing for members of the Air Guard unit at Fairchild.

Flight crews were told the tanker stalled and fell from the air after possible compressor failure in its jet engines. Compressors force air into a jet engine’s combustion chamber.

In Germany, John confirmed that investigators will look into the possibility of a compressor stall. Such a stall can occur when a 50-ton jet climbs more quickly than its engine thrust allows.

The 41-year-old pilot making the landing was described as experienced and safety-conscious.

“Dave Fite was one of the best pilots we had,” said one Guard flight crew member, who asked not to be publicly identified.

“He was really serious about his job as a pilot, and always had his nose in the books,” the crew member said. Fite, who joined the Guard about eight years ago after active duty with the Air Force, was “completely committed to flight safety,” he said.

Wing commander Col. Jim Wynne temporarily grounded the 141st after the crash. That action is routine after an accident. Scheduled training flights for next Tuesday were also called off.

“The resumption of flying will be Wednesday at the earliest,” Wynne said.

The crash and subsequent fireball left wreckage about 1,000 feet from the German village of Hohenbusch.

Some 370 rescuers, including military personnel and German and Dutch firefighters, battled the blaze for about three hours, the German news agency reported. Sightseers flocked to the crash scene and aviation fuel and smoke could be smelled from miles away.

Geilenkirchen is a base of about 3,000 people who operate the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes for NATO. It is staffed by a multinational force, which includes American, German, Italian, Turkish and Portuguese troops.

American tanker crews regularly spend one to two weeks at the base, refueling the reconnaissance planes. Members of the 141st have been assigned that temporary duty at least once a year for the last 10 years.

On Jan. 3, the unit sent 29 members and two of its 11 KC-135 tanker jets for two weeks of training.

There are still 25 crew members of the 141st at Geilenkirchen. Scheduled to return home today, they remain at the base while investigators continue to probe the crash.

“They won’t be returning until after Sunday,” Wynne said.

A unit memorial service for the four guardsmen has not yet been scheduled.

Staff writer Andrea Vogt contributed to this report.