Error on the part of an instructor pilot caused the fatal crash of a T-38C trainer aircraft on May 1 at Sheppard AFB, Tex, that claimed his and another pilot’s life and destroyed the airplane, the Air Force announced Aug. 6. Air Force investigators found that Maj. Brad T. Funk, instructor pilot with Sheppard’s 90th Flying Training Squadron, failed to execute proper emergency procedures upon failure of the aircraft’s right engine during a training mission simulating a single-engine landing and then a renewed take off. Because of this, the aircraft stalled shortly off the ground. Both Funk and 2nd Lt. Alec F. Littler, a student pilot assigned to the 80th Operations Support Squadron, ejected near simultaneously, which caused contact between their ejection seats and disrupted the direction and sequence of their ejections. Both were subsequently killed upon ground impact.
Suicide rates in the Air Force are starting to drop after back-to-back years of exceptionally high rates as the department enacts new policies to address the problem. There were more than 100 suicides in the Air Force in both 2019 and 2020, causing leaders to order a “tactical pause” to…