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2023-12-29 10:09:50 - Translate -

On this date, Dec. 28, 1965: CIA pilot Mele Vojvodich, Jr. takes Lockheed A-12, 60-6929, Article 126, for a functional check flight after a period of deep maintenance, but seconds after take-off from Groom Dry Lake, Nev., the aircraft yaws uncontrollably, pilot ejecting at 100 feet after six seconds of flight, escaping serious injury. Investigation finds that the pitch stability augmentation system had been connected to the yaw SAS actuators, and vice versa. SAS connectors are changed to make such wiring mistake impossible.

Said Kelly Johnson in a history of the Oxcart program, “It was perfectly evident from movies taken of the takeoff, and from the pilot's description, that there were some mis-wired gyros in the aircraft. This turned out to be exactly what happened. In spite of color coding and every other normal precaution, the pitch and yaw gyro connections were interchanged in rigging.”

On this date, Dec. 28, 1965: CIA pilot Mele Vojvodich, Jr. takes Lockheed A-12, 60-6929, Article 126, for a functional check flight after a period of deep maintenance, but seconds after take-off from Groom Dry Lake, Nev., the aircraft yaws uncontrollably, pilot ejecting at 100 feet after six seconds of flight, escaping serious injury. Investigation finds that the pitch stability augmentation system had been connected to the yaw SAS actuators, and vice versa. SAS connectors are changed to make such wiring mistake impossible. Said Kelly Johnson in a history of the Oxcart program, “It was perfectly evident from movies taken of the takeoff, and from the pilot's description, that there were some mis-wired gyros in the aircraft. This turned out to be exactly what happened. In spite of color coding and every other normal precaution, the pitch and yaw gyro connections were interchanged in rigging.”

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