Attrition Report
US AIR Force Materiel Command has released its report into the crash of Embraer A-29B Super Tucano PT-ZNV (c/n 221) in New Mexico last June, which killed an experienced US Navy F/A-18 pilot – see Attrition, August 2018, p93.
On June 22, at 1133hrs local time (L), the A-29B, callsign ‘Dragon 21’, crashed after delivering a 500lb (227kg) GBU-12 laser-guided bomb on the Red Rio Bombing Range, part of the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The mission was a continuation training sortie flown in support of the Light Attack Experiment Phase II. The aircraft was owned by Embraer, operated and maintained by the Sierra Nevada Corporation and also operated by the 586th Flight Test Squadron (FLTS), Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.
The crew had been temporarily assigned to the 586th FLTS for the experiment and consisted of the pilot – a US Navy aviator (LT Christopher Short) – and the weapon systems officer (WSO) – a USAF navigator with a special operations background in the U-28A.
The Super Tucano departed Holloman AFB at 1103L, configured with two GBU-12s, two rocket launchers, 0.5in calibre ammunition and an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor. The mission was uneventful until the f…
