Sacked Marine Pilot Whose F-35B Flew Without Him After Ejecting Gives His Side Of The Story

The Marines partially blamed Charles “Tre” Del Pizzo for the lack of his F-35B Joint Strike Fighter that flew pilotless for nearly 12 minutes earlier than slamming into the bottom following his ejection again in September 2023. Now the 48-year-old retired colonel is giving his facet of the story.

In a really wonderful piece by Post and Courier reporter Tony Bartelme, Del Pizzo pushed again on the Marine Corps’ findings, saying he was basically blinded in dangerous climate by cascading tools malfunctions whereas returning to Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, from a coaching sortie over the Atlantic Ocean.

Earlier than the incident, Del Pizzo was placing the jet via its paces as he was studying its strengths and weaknesses earlier than taking command of VMX-1, a key operational take a look at and analysis squadron in Yuma, Arizona. The mishap occurred as Del Pizzo was trying an instrument touchdown within the F-35B’s vertical mode in zero-visibility circumstances throughout a raging storm. In contrast to the Air Pressure’s F-35A and the Navy F-35C provider variant, the B model flown by the Marines possesses brief takeoff, vertical touchdown (STOVL) capabilities, permitting it to take off, land and hover in a way just like the AV-B8 Harrier jets that Del Pizzo used to fly.

Each the Marine Corps’ final report on the mishap and Del Pizzo’s model notice issues with the nearly half-million-dollar helmet that displayed the jet’s pace, altitude and focusing on data. It’s the severity of the malfunctions and the way a lot it contributed to Del Pizzo’s choice to punch out of the plane on Sept. 17, 2023 the place the 2 accounts tremendously differ. Two different Marine investigations into the incident backed up Del Pizzo’s competition (extra on these later).

“Contributing components to the mishap included {an electrical} occasion throughout flight, which induced failures of each main radios, the transponder, the tactical air navigation system, and the instrument touchdown system; and the chance that the helmet-mounted show and panoramic cockpit show weren’t operational for no less than three distinct intervals,” the 2nd Marine Plane Wing (MAW) said final 12 months in a press release asserting the outcomes of the third and ultimate investigation into the incident. “This brought on the pilot to grow to be disoriented in difficult instrument and meteorological circumstances.”

“The investigation concluded that the mishap occurred on account of pilot error,” the discharge continued. “The pilot incorrectly identified an out-of-controlled flight emergency and ejected from a flyable plane, albeit throughout a heavy rainstorm compounded with plane electrical and show malfunctions.”

Del Pizzo mentioned he had no alternative however to eject. Beginning immediately shortly after 1:30 p.m., the helmet failed 3 times in 41 seconds, the now-retired Marine pilot said.

At first, he mentioned his helmet flickered, then “the visor erupted in flashes of alerts,” Bartelme wrote. “Failures in flight management programs, avionics, cooling, navigation, GPS, communications. Audio alerts sounded: whoop, whoop, whoop. Then the helmet and principal shows went darkish; the audio alerts stopped. About 15 seconds had handed.”

About 15 seconds later, the helmet failed for a second time because the jet was in clouds about 750 toes off the bottom and descending in vertical mode at about 800 toes per minute. He opted to execute a “missed strategy process” and get away from the bottom.

Del Pizzo “pulled again the follow climb, pushed the throttle ahead for thrust,” Bartelme wrote. “Raised the touchdown gear. Pressed a button that converts the jet from vertical mode to traditional. Then the helmet show went darkish once more, as if rebooting. He tried to radio his wingman, the management tower. Nothing. Coms out. Then it flashed on, together with one other thunderstorm of alerts, greater than 25 messages telling him that the jet was in serious trouble and getting worse. Whoop, whoop, whoop.”

Simply 11 seconds later, the tools failed once more, Del Pizzo said to Bartelme.

“The helmet and principal show failed a 3rd time, in a different way now, as if powering down for good,” Bartelme wrote. “Devices gone, a sea of grey exterior his window. Is the aircraft responding? He pulled the throttle again. He glanced on the small backup panel between his legs. He heard what appeared like a motor spooling down. The engine? He felt the nostril of the plane tilt upward. He felt a falling sensation. He nonetheless couldn’t see the bottom. Was he nonetheless over the bottom? Over the timber?”

“Forty-one seconds. Resolve, act: The jet’s going into the timber, and I’m going with it. In a single fast movement, he reached between his legs for the yellow deal with, put his left hand over his proper wrist. And pulled.”

You’ll be able to hear audio feeds from emergency responders and air site visitors management audio of the incident beneath.

To go together with the ATC audio put collectively by Aeroscout, here is the total radio site visitors from Charleston County EMS/Hearth for the #F35 pilot ejection starting from the preliminary dispatch till they cleared the scene.

Models: Medic 8 (Charleston County EMS), Engine 210 (North… https://t.co/zzJiybqlOy pic.twitter.com/6HY4CAg7jF

— ☈ Chris Jackson ☈ (@ChrisJacksonSC) September 19, 2023

Del Pizzo was injured by the ejection as shards of metallic dug into his neck from the cover blown open by explosives. He was harm some extra when his helmet and face masks had been ripped off by the power of the wind. He additionally broke his again.

He initially feared he could be killed by the out-of-control jet falling on prime of him as each got here again to Earth.

“I keep in mind feeling the precipitation on my face, after which simply being pulled again because the drogue chute opened and slowed me down,” Del Pizzo famous  “And I might hear the engine noise from the airplane. With my helmet off, it was fairly loud. What I heard was full chaos. Issues falling round me. And that’s after I thought the airplane goes to return down and hit me, as a result of I felt just like the airplane was uncontrolled, proper? I believed the airplane goes to hit me, and I’m going to die right here on this parachute.”

Nevertheless, he mentioned his greatest concern wasn’t for himself.

“Uppermost in his thoughts as he talked to the dispatcher and arriving paramedics: What occurred to the jet?” Bartelme wrote.

“My greatest concern was that I’d harm somebody,” Del Pizzo instructed him.

Unbeknownst to him on the time, nevertheless, the jet continued flying unmanned for one more “11 minutes and 21 seconds earlier than impacting in a rural space roughly 64 nautical miles northeast of the airfield in Williamsburg County, South Carolina,” the Marines mentioned of their press launch final 12 months. “The investigation concludes the mishap plane’s prolonged unmanned flight was on account of stability supplied by the F-35’s superior automated flight-control programs.”

The plane was found greater than 24 hours later, crashed in a closely wooded space.

“The mishap resulted in no ground-related accidents, however it did end in property injury within the type of misplaced forested land and crops,” the Marines famous of their press launch.

The precise reason for {the electrical} malfunction could by no means be publicly recognized, as a result of the Marines redacted it for “nationwide safety functions,” Bartelme identified.

“Unredacted parts dominated out some causes, although,” he wrote. “Thunderstorms had been within the space, however bolts on the time of the mishap had been 20 miles away and couldn’t have fried the aircraft’s electronics. Investigators famous that the plane entered heavy rain 5 minutes earlier than Del Pizzo ejected. However a Marine spokesperson mentioned its investigation discovered no proof that rainwater brought on {the electrical} malfunction.”

The F-35 fleet as an entire skilled points with lightning over issues in regards to the plane’s gas system. You’ll be able to learn extra about that here.

The Marines’ ultimate investigation report mentioned that “there have been no punitive actions really useful” because of this mishap. Nevertheless, greater than a 12 months later, the Marine Corps relieved Del Pizzo of command of VMX-1.

The choice was made though two of three Marine investigations into the incident concluded that Del Pizzo was not at fault, the Submit and Courier defined. That conclusion was based mostly on statements from Del Pizzo, officers educated in regards to the stories’ contents and paperwork obtained by the publication via open data legal guidelines.

“Del Pizzo’s plane skilled a big electrical malfunction, one which knocked out key programs — together with shows and navigation aids he wanted to land in extreme climate,” the newspaper famous. “Knobs to radios weren’t working, making it troublesome to contact air site visitors controllers or his wingman for steering. A small backup show was partially useful, however Del Pizzo needed to look all the way down to see it.”

This and zero-visibility circumstances “seemingly contributed to a phenomenon often called spatial disorientation, the place your internal ear methods you into feeling that you simply’re dizzy or falling,” Bartelme’s story continued.

The Navy Aviation Mishap Board and the Subject Flight Efficiency Board “every famous that nothing within the army’s coaching and simulator work ready pilots for a crescendo of programs failures in extreme climate at a low altitude,” in keeping with the Submit and Courier. “In truth, the F-35B’s flight guide mentioned, ‘the plane is taken into account to be in out of managed flight (OCF) when it fails to reply correctly to pilot inputs,” including, “if uncontrolled beneath 6,000 toes AGL (above floor degree): EJECT.’”

Each of these investigations concluded that the majority extremely skilled pilots with comparable ranges of expertise in an F-35 would have punched out of the aircraft. One even lauded Del Pizzo for his dealing with of the occasion. After the accident, superiors additionally praised Del Pizzo for his command of VMX-1

Nonetheless, final October, he was immediately and instantly relieved of command, based mostly on the service’s Command Investigation, the third of the three that seemed into the accident, Bartelme reported. The Marines defined the sudden and quick aid of command was on account of a “lack of belief and confidence.”

Del Pizzo, caught off guard and harm by the choice, opted to retire on condition that his future choices within the Marine Corps could be severely restricted.

Requested by The Struggle Zone for a response to the Submit and Courier story, the Marines provided the next:

“The Commandant of the Marine Corps regularly assesses issues related to commanders and their items. Following his detailed evaluate final August of the command investigation into the 17 September 2023 F-35 mishap, he made the choice to alleviate the Commanding Officer of Marine Operational Take a look at & Analysis Squadron 1 (VMX-1) at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, because of the distinctive mission of VMX-1.”

Regardless of all the things, Del Pizzo stays a fan of the controversial F-35 and its expertise. Nevertheless, he’s involved that the end result of his scenario will ship the mistaken message to different pilots.

“We wanted to take a tough have a look at that to stop it from occurring once more,” Del Pizzo instructed Bartelme. “In aviation, we have now a tradition. When there are errors, when issues don’t go as deliberate, we study from them. In the event you don’t try this, then you could have a tradition of concern. And in case you have a tradition of concern, then individuals are going to be paralyzed and never have the ability to make selections. And that’s how folks find yourself getting harm. That’s how folks find yourself getting killed.”

Contact the writer: howard@thewarzone.com