The Air Force has released the report of the Accident Investigation Board (AIB) for the May 2009 fatal crash of a T-38 at Edwards Air Force Base.  The crash killed the front seat pilot, Capt Mark P. “Dash” Graziano, and severely injured the rear seat engineer, Maj Lee V. Jones.  Both were students at the USAF Test Pilot School.

The publicly-releasable AIB report indicates that the T-38 crashed because the rudder failed in a hardover condition.  The uncommanded, full-deflection rudder caused the T-38 to go violently out of control.  The board found “substantial evidence” that the unrecoverable failure was likely the result of a maintenance error.

The report was highly critical of the maintenance oversight, as noted in the article:

The report stated that “insufficient supervisory oversight and a lack of discipline of the training process” was a factor. Significant discrepancies were noted regarding maintenance procedures and documentation of training…

“In the vast majority of cases, the aircraft maintenance mechanic had likely received appropriate training… However, lack of documentation in the training process made verification impossible.”

The Air Force has not publicly responded to the AIB report.

Though the T-38 is a two-place, ejection seat equipped aircraft, both seats are independently operated.  The report indicates that the pilot was incapacitated by the violent out of control condition and did not eject.  The engineer ejected independently and was severely injured.