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A friend of mine was an instructor at Hondo. He told me about those three accidents. He said the problem was a poor training manual that led to poorly trained instructors. Also, the fuel system had a flaw that caused fuel starvation. That coupled with the previously mentioned ‘poor training Manuel’ led to those accidents. All correctable.

******************************************************************************************************************** The United States Air Force last summer quietly put out bid requests for contractors to destroy all 110 existing SlingsbyT-3A Firefly trainers, the one-time Air Force screening trainer. If the Air Force’s plans pan out, by the time you read this, all of the airplanes will have been destroyed. In 1994 the Air Force paid around $32 million for the trainers. The estimated cost of each airplane at the time was just under $300,000. The T-3A is a higher-powered variant of the British-made Slingsby Firefly, with a 260-hp Lycoming AEIO-540 acrobatic approved engine replacing the 180-hp powerplant in the original Firefly. The side-by-side seating trainer features composite construction, fixed landing gear and a military-style bubble canopy. And unlike most military aircraft, the T-3A was FAA certified. Its fate was not a happy one, however. TheT-3A program was abandoned in 1997 after a trio of high-profile accidents in Colorado Springs that resulted in the deaths of three instructors and three cadets. The airplane had a total of 66 unexplained engine stoppages while at the Academy,and in 1997 the Air Force suspended the airplane and replaced its screening program with one that made use of commercial flight schools. While the Air Force’s stated intention was to solve the engine problems and reinstate the T-3A to active service, that never happened. In 1999 the Air Force cancelled the program, moving all of its T-3As to Hondo, Texas, the site of final assembly by American contractor Northrop (which is no longer involved in the program). According to a former subcontractor, since 1999 the Air Force has been keeping the airplanes in flyable condition, regularly maintaining them, running them up on the ground and keeping their records up to date (though the tires in this photo could dearly use some air.) The Air Force even had “hail shelters” built to protect the airplanes. According to reports, the bid, which the Air Force told Flying had already been awarded, called for the complete destruction of the airplanes from tip to tail, including the engines, avionics and three-blade Hoffman composite props. —By Robert Goyer ********************************************************************************************************************

Throwing away’ $32,000,000 worth of good aircraft is being done in an attempt to avoid possible ‘wrong death’ litigations. The airplanes could have been, should have been saved. At the very least, as static displays in many museums. Instead, the taxpayers will now spend millions more to have them destroyed.

If there is taxpayers’ funding available for this kind of action, monies should be available for this aerospace Children’s Aviation Center.