I flew with him when he was a LM on C-17s... His attention to detail was amazing and his passion for the job and aviation as a whole were very evident... Sorry to hear about this unfortunate incident... RIP Mezr!!! And Mover, you do an amazing job with each and every breakdown you've done that I've seen!!
I’m actually stationed at Shaw AFB and a Crew Chief on the F-16. I knew Lt. David Schmitz because there was several times I was the last person he talked to on the ground before he took off. One of the reasons why I had such great respect for him is because my dream is to become a fighter pilot and he gave me a lot of great advice and I always thanked him for it. It was really hard for me to accept this but I promised him I was going to get my wings one day, so I told myself I’m not breaking this promise. My condolences go out to all Lt. David Schmitz family members and loved ones. Thank you for making this video! Double Down!
ya its very hard being in the enlisted rank and having so many yrs in the service. They like their fighter pilots at a young age, a BS degree preferable in aviation, already has his pilots license, in good medical shape and very sharp in intelligence. But their is nothing wrong in dreaming or aspiring to be.
You got this bro, I wanted to go to Air Force to fly f-16s I had a alcohol withdrawal seizure at 18 tried to join at 19 😢😢watched my daf die of cancer at 18 I'm.39 now and wish I could go back in time!! DO IT WHY YOUR YOUNG
This is a tough one. This is the epitome of trying to do more with less, and the outcome was tragic. I don't know what the AF equivalent is, but Fair Winds and Following Seas from this Navy Chief!
Well put Chief, doing more with less is so sad, and about maddening. Leadership needs to remember these guys are still kids and got a lotta growing old left to do. (Not detracting anything from this aviator, he sounds like one of the best!)
I'm a contractor at Holloman for the 8th Aircraft Maintenance Unit where MEZr completed B-Course. I never had the pleasure of meeting him on the flightline, but when I heard about the mishap I was really choked up. As a crew chief, it really hurts when you hear about a pilot that didn't make it back. I've been working F-16s for 15 years now, and every time I launch one out I always tell the pilot "Have a good flight sir. I'll see you when you get back." WOOL!!
Thank you, Mover, for another excellent albeit tragic accident report. My background is USMC and ANG fighter/attack/recce pilot, A-4, A-6,and RF-4, 32 years in uniform, counting ROTC. My last sortie with a G-suit on was my retirement flight in the backseat of an F-16D out of Hill in 1995. This accident is not only truly heartbreaking, but it underscores a sad fact about the USAF's flying mentality. Despite the persistent corporate attempt to eliminate all possibility of another human error accident by promulgation of mountains of regulations, there is an underlying unwritten Air Force attitude that caused this and other accidents. That mindset is that regardless of common sense about the obvious risk of the mission at hand, if there's no specific rule against it, we expect you to do it. The circumstances of this needlless tragedy demonstrate to me that the Air Force still hasn't figured this out. Naval Aviation uses the term "headwork". Headwork is understood to be the most important graded item on every student aviator grade book page, and on every NATOPS checkride report card throughout a Naval Aviator's flying career. At the end of the day, headwork means judgment and common sense. In this case, despite specific prohibitions against a training sortie of this high risk potential and the squadron's supervisory ignorance of the pertinent prohibitions against it, the entire unit's leadership chain of command failed to exercise good headwork and wave the bullshit flag. To a very experienced air refueling receiver pilot, it defies credulity to think that these guys actually thought it was a good idea to take an inexperienced pilot who had never air refueled before, even in daylight, to the tanker at night, especially without an instructor in his back seat! Hey, guys, who was using the slightest modicum of good headwork in the scheduling shop, the training officer's shack, or the briefing room? Any one of 8-10 officers in this unbroken leadership chain could and should have transmitted, "Knock it off!" and scrubbed this mission. But nobody did. Result: one fatality and the loss of an irreplaceable aircraft. There is plenty of blame to go around here: ops, maintenance, supervision, and logistics, but firing a couple of commanders or decertifying a few flight leads, or IPs isn't going to bring back young Lieutenant Schmitz. The important lesson to be learned here is that reams of regulations or a bloated flying safety bureaucracy is never going to replace the essential role of common sense headwork in the prevention of avoidable accidents like this. Every supervisor, commander, instructor pilot, or flight lead in this case should have exercised his or her headwork and veto power to save the precious life of this young, highly motivated, and aspiring fighter pilot, as well as preventing the loss of an invaluable national defense asset. For the loss of a nail, the war was lost. In 1980 I went through the RF-4C aircraft transition course in the 16th TRTS at Shaw. I was an interservice transfer from the USMC to the Nebraska Air National Guard. I was a combat experienced aviator.. My air refueling experience had been exclusively with the probe and drigue system used in the A-4 Skyhawk and the A-6 Intruder. In the RF-4 syllabus I found the air refueling training on the Air Force system to be very challenging despite the fact that it was all conducted in day VMC. I quickly got the hang of it. Nevertheless the introduction to night and inclement weather conditions when I became qualified and returned to my home squadron, the 173rd TRS in Lincoln, demanded even more concentration and training to become safe and proficient. In my entire military flying career spanning nearly three decades, the only more challenging task than night, weather-complicated, formation air refueling I did was day and night carrier landings! Whoever commented here that Lt. Schmitz was set up by his leadership team to fail, was entirely correct. Leadership failure in tactical military aviation has an unjustifiably high risk of needless loss of life and aircraft. Dave's leaders and mentors failed him that night. As I listened to Mover Lemoine's podcast this morning, and heard him unpack what was involved in Lt. Schmitz's planned training mission that fateful night at Shaw, I instinctively knew that this sortie way overtaxed the experience and proficiency level of Lt. Schmitz. Sending him to a night tanker for his very first air refueling would be asking way too much. Added to his stress level was the forecasted squirrely weather, likely requiring transition to different tanker tracks while he would be flying the always most difficult number four position in fighter formation. That would have been more than disorienting to a pilot of even his acknowledged excellent but inexperienced skill level. Additional stress was introduced by combining this first refueling event with his first night SEAD mission training. This would have made the entire sortie highly task saturating, a recipe for disaster which was unfortunately fulfilled. His failure to achieve contact at the tanker became an emotional distraction which sadly became the linchpin in the accident's chain of events. My most heartfelt condolences go to the family and comrades of 1stLt David Schmitz. LtCol J.D. "Bear"Owen, (Ret)
Absolutely, we can speculate all day but we all must remember he was doing what he loved and accepted the risks... I hope this will bring changes and will never happen again
23 years in the USMC refueling community and I can not imagine anybody trying to refuel for the first time at night. It seems beyond belief...couple that with deferred maintenance on the seat and I wonder who is running that boon doggle.
Thanks, Mover. That was a solid brief. I'm making a donation to the scholarship fund in his honor and memory. I'm also praying for his family, friends, and squadron mates.
Very tragic. When I got the "short course" on the ACES II ejection seat the manual separation handle was never covered. The overarching idea was 1. You are not going to have to eject. 2. If you do eject the seat will take care of you, it will work, just do your best to relax and try to not land on power lines or in water. Deepest sympathies to MEZr's family and teammates. I don't often donate to "causes" but this one has opened the checkbook.
I remember doing two-a-days on deployment with Schmitty. A true perfectionist and excellent role model to the younger loadmaster's that knew and flew with him. This one was incredibly tough to hear about. FFLP.
Mover, I appreciate how you humanize these reports. You may think you haven't really before but you have. The way you take these reports, break them down, so people whom don't know the military, or as I call life style, can get attached to pilots they have never known and take away life lessons from the report, pilots in the report and yourself is commendable. I wish these accidents never happened so these reports and videos never had to be made but I am glad a person like yourself and this community are here to take away this knowledge and apply it to the greater world . Sir, thank you, from an active duty sailor with best wishes to 1St Lt Schmitz family, yourself and this community.
@@johnnunn8688 leadership can also say no to their superiors. I always advocated saying "no" to top brass, when safety parameters are not met. Never put your men and women on the line, if you can prevent it. In peacetime, you almost always can.
It really drives home how dangerous the job is. We're used to seeing fighters flown at airshows, or watching them do crazy shit in movies while not fully realizing how difficult/risky every minute of flight time is. I'm not a pilot but after listening to you list his accomplishments and goals... the loss is felt. You guys represent the best of us (people, I mean) and losing one of you is a substantial subtraction from all of us. My condolences and thanks for putting this out there.
Whistling past the graveyard. The one thing a pilot counts on is that when he punches the seat will work. How do you defer maintenance on the only chance a pilot has to live?
Unfortunately Engineers approved the waivers, MX can only fix airplanes with the proper tools, equipment, and parts which lately seems to be harder and harder to come by.
The sequence of errors in risk assessment, failures to follow proper procedure, and ultimately the failure of the seat to work properly conspired to make the outcome inevitable. Poor guy never had a chance, lacking experience in too many areas and it all piled up on him.
Those pictures in the end really hit home, he was just a young man full of dream. One trying to be useful to the world through hard work and dedication. Everything we have learned through history about aviation safety has been written in blood, but has not been in vain. I hope his family can take some comfort in that, as well as be proud of their son and his chasing his dream.
You weren’t kidding when you said that was tough to read/hear.... RIP and blue skies Sir. As always Mover, you did a great job of presenting the facts and showing your humanity. 💙
As a former crew chief, and a private pilot myself, this really hits home. I can't imagine what's going on in the hearts and minds of everyone involved. RIP Lt. Schmitz. This is just gut wrenching.
What a sad story and a tragic waste. Staggered that they expected this kid to do his first AAR at night..... Basic aviation Common Sense should have set everyones alarm-bells ringing. As for the seat....aaargh.... Hard to listen to such a sad story.
I see two possibilities. Firstly; the squadron has never had to train basic AAR before, so they forgot how hard it is the first time. Up to then all recruits have arrived with it nailed. The second possibility is that it was deliberate. They set him up with a task he would fail at because they had identified a potential weakness in him when things go badly. Instead of keeping his head in the game when the refuelling went south he was distracted. It is possible that this was what this sortie was designed to work on. The grading would have focused on how he handled that failure, rather than the failure itself (which was expected). I can see why they tried to land the aircraft. It was the difference between probably ejecting and maybe saving the aircraft and definitely ejecting. Those two outcomes are not hugely different if you expect the chair to work, and I don't think you could do that job if you didn't trust your equipment.
This one hits close to home as I live in Sumter and was aware of the storms we were having that night. I read the report last week and didn’t think you would cover this one. Your coverage was spot on and very respectful for the family. My prayers go out to them and the squadron.
Thank you for sticking to the reports and reminding us all about the human in the cockpit. Thank you for not engaging in idle speculation and “insider information” nonsense. I’m a huge fan because of this.
Possibly your best video yet because of the human aspects of being a military pilot. You helped us understand David's mindset and the chain of errors that cause bad outcomes. It was hard to watch but your presentation was a real honor to him. God bless.
Exceptional debrief on this, Mover. You manage to capture all the key points with clear and concise explanations without losing site of your humanity and the sadness of losing a fellow pilot. Bravo Zulu.
He was sent on a training mission that violated regulations. He was expected to learn to do air-to-air refueling for the first time at night, after having training time diminished because of covid restrictions. Tower, ops, and the other members of his flight element couldn’t tell that his left gear was damaged and inoperable, yet they allowed him to try to land. Engineers that were available were not consulted as to trying the tail hook landing under those circumstances. His ejection seat failed to deploy the chute, ensuring a fatality. That about sum up how they determined ‘pilot error’? I know they didn’t try to whitewash anything and blame was spread around, but it doesn’t seem like the AF has improved it’s safety culture much in the 37 years since I separated. What a senseless and tragic loss of life. This young man had worked so hard to overcome so many obstacles to be able to become an Air Force pilot. A series of completely preventable mistakes happened that caused his death. I’m very, very disappointed in the USAF over this needless and senseless death. It’s hard to blame any one person involved in this sequence of failures, but where was the common sense that should have told everyone involved that trying your first air-to-air refueling at night was a BAD IDEA? What a damned shame.
I agree with everything you stated and there were screw-ups all the way down the operational chain on this one. I hope to God there was someone from every unit involved in this crash. operations, life support Etc especially that were ordered to attend this funeral so they could see and remember the cost of their mistakes because there were more than enough to go around this wasn't just pilot error just as the media because they wanted to run the story because they needed ratings that night., instead of waiting for the aib report to be released which actually clarified what really happened. This was a multi layer cake of human and mechanical and planning error
@@fiveoboy01 I understand that but you have to realize a experienced pilot would have had enough time and experience under his / her belt to notice the potential red flags in this situation. The biggest error was having a pilot with low time in that type aircraft attempting extremely dangerous skill air-to-air refueling solo at night when standard procedure is solo air-to-air refuel during daylight conditions when you've never done it before. Yes there was some pilot error and I'm not excusing that but the majority of this was on Squadron leadership for having a new pilot do new procedures for him in sub-optimal weather at night flying a mission he had 0 experience with., also because of covid-19 training hours had been reduced Plus any pilot who has gone through the B course will tell you are the air 2 air refueling part of the course is normally in daylight and you have to qualify there first then solo, not do it at night. And last but not least life support section failed to catch the mechanical problems with that seat. Add this all up and no matter which way you look at it it was still a disaster waiting to happen there was more than enough blame to go around and not all of it was the Pilot's fault
@@arnoldsherrill6305 I understand and agree with your points, but the air to air refueling attempt isn't what killed him. The error in his approach did. Yes, it is horrible that the seat wasn't operable. Some other serious mistakes were obviously made as well. I agree that there should be some accountability for those mistakes. But he had time at night, and previous successful night landings. I do not know if his frustration led to his erroneous approach or not. But a good pilot can't let those things get to him. Getting the aircraft on the ground in one piece is the priority. I'm not here to shit on the dead. But let's be real. His own mistake is the primary reason for his demise.
@@fiveoboy01 they need to change training procedure after this. Run these procedures on these new pilots and lo time Pilots in simulators until they can do it with their eyes closed then to all the procedures in daylight/solo then qualify them for night he was not night qualified and he didn't feel comfortable with it but because of the current culture in the fighter community he was afraid to say anything I think and that is what part of the problem was. It wasn't just him it was a Cascade of small mistakes both human and mechanical that cause this not just one made by the pilot
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Every accident is tragic. And when you think about the chain of events, man, that is devastating. Mover, perfect info, thanks. My prayers and blessing for the family.
My son is a 135 driver and has expressed how difficult and stressful nighttime plugs are under the best of circumstances, much less the circumstances that prevailed here. My heart is heavy over the sequence of failures that contributed to this outstanding airman losing his life. My condolences and prayers for the family.
This gets me so upset. As a prior 16 crew chief and current C5 pilot.... I find this incredible hard to swallow they deferred the ejection seat write up, ops allowing the MP to fly an event he never had the correct training on (AR) & poor checklist discipline. So sad, preventable, & frustrating. RIP
This really is a tragic event. I am not a pilot, but I feel like the worst part is that the seat failed him, because in case something goes wrong the seat is supposed to get you out of the worst and ones life depends on it.
Yeah, it's a scary thing. A Swedish JAS39 Gripen had an accident a few years back where the g-forces were enough to inflate his suit, and the handles were badly designed which made his g-suit pull the handles, so he's flying in a dogfighting scenario, and suddenly a bang and he's under a chute wondering what the fuck just happened. Happily that ended safely, but still, scary stuff.
Great recap mover, well done. The error chain is always so clear in hindsight but so hard to see in the lead up to the mishap. My heart goes out to 1LT Schmitz and his family. RIP MEZr.
Deferring maintenance, pushing the limits with training, and placing soldiers/airmen into unnecessary danger. This is a theme I've been noticing across the entire military, and its costing lives. This culture of safety second mission first needs to end, and I'm not sure what it will take for that to happen.
Unfortunately, with the military, ultimately the mission does come first and that does shape the culture that they may decide to push the boundaries of acceptable risk. They should do better to make sure that sacrifices are worthy because aircraft shouldn't fly training missions without all safety systems working.
@@Parapooper13 While I agree with you, people in the military don't. I've worked with Marines after a fatal V-22 accident where a board member said "we train how we fight".
@@bailey-bobthorton1950 I'm a paratrooper, we train how we fight but that doesn't mean we have to take the risks combat would require. This all falls into risk evaluation, which is an important part in planning. Dudes lawn darting because their squad leader made them jump with almost twice their allowed training load isn't training how you fight, it's killing a mother's son because you're too scared to tell your leadership no. Dudes getting trench foot in the field isn't training. I've experienced this myself. You are not learning anything by putting your soldiers in unnecessary danger. This isn't a debate in the military, it's the standard. It still happens though, as is evident by this accident
My most sincerest and most heartfelt condolences to his widow, family and friends. May God bless you all with strength and peace as you face every new day with hope.
@gl0ck10mm probably no one. The manufacturer had already sent out notices and provided fixes. The fix was in the pipeline for his plane. It just kept getting rescheduled. It's a Fighter Jet, not a commercial jetliner. It would not be considered enough of a critical risk to ground the plane. It's tragic.
@@andrewtaylor940 So the procedures need to be changed!! The ejection seat is protecting the most valuable asset in the jet... the pilot!! If that can't be relied on to function properly the jet should be grounded, full stop. Is there not another jet he could have flown?
@@squidboii it’s difficult to tell who is responsible for the seat and gave OKs on the maintenance delays. Not sure if the AF has their own engineers that’s are seat SMEs or if they rely on the manufacturer’s expertise. Either way, I’m sure the justification that was used to keep pushing back maintenance is being scrutinized to make sure whoever was responsible did their due diligence. That being said, even seats that are 100% good to go fail from time to time. Whole situation was just a shitshow from top to bottom.
@@squidboii This will sound callous. And I mainly agree with you. But a potential and specifically circumstantial issue is not generally enough to take a warplane offline. They knew that a failure could possibly occur under certain specific and rare conditions with the make and model of the seat in his plane. The manufacturer had put out an upgrade/fix. But the problem in question is not something that would cause a catastrophic loss of the aircraft. (In fact rather perversely, the problem would not crop up until after the aircraft had already suffered a catastrophic loss.) The ejection seat wasn’t a maintenance issue that needed repair. It was that at times a perfectly normal seat as delivered by the manufacturer it may not perform as designed or intended in a ground level ejection. It’s a different calculus that we here in civilian land don’t quite understand.
This was a tough one, but I’ve never read an easy one either. When I was in the Guard, we lost two Apache pilots. Until the report was out, nobody could understand why. After the report, we all understood that every detail, no matter how small, was important.
As tough as this must be, I appreciate the way you share this. I won't get the kind of information anywhere else that combines the facts, and explanation of those facts, and then adds the human element. Nice job Mover.
It's a damn shame when you hear about something like this. One thing I've heard over and over is "every accident starts on the ground" and that could not have been truer in this case. MEZr was set up for failure, not success, by his chain of command, with tragic results.
I learned of this mishap via socials from his widow; and reading the report puts me into minute, brief phases of the entire mishap (( I’m no flyer, but the Mx side and definitely the egress\tech data failures are 🔑 in my heart. I don’t know these people; but I hurt for answers when I think about (( and honestly, brooding about )) the *why* and whether or not some measure of culpability outside of the pilot is levied.
This is why your channel is the most informative and respected channel in its class. Excellent..EXCELLENT job Mover. RIP Lt. Schmitz. Thank you both for your service to this nation.
This one makes me sick to my stomach. I retired from the ANG in 2000 as a Engine Shop Supervisor on the F110-100 in the Viper. We had similar issues back then, parts quality, & availability. Along with COUNTERFEIT PARTS. We were surviving by K-BALLING just to Keep Em Flying. This was ANG & USAF wide within the F16 community both GE & PWA. By reading this report, things seem to have continued to fail to supply the needed quality of parts. Command had failed to support then, & it looks like they FAILED in a FATAL WAY here. Very Sad, & I extend my SINCEREST & DEEPEST SYMPATHY to the Lieutenants Family.
Mover, One of the saddest reviews I’ve ever listened to and my heart goes out to that very skilled pilots loved ones but No one could have been more respectful or spoken more honestly while sympathetically moving from fact to fact to clearly place what caused this bright highly motivated pilot to lose his life while attempting a challenging sortie he had never even attempted prior to this and at night plus trying to deal with IFR conditions while wearing goggles. What a tragedy, Thank you for the respectful honest way you dealt with such a sensitive subject.
This one was a hard one to hear. But then again they’re all hard to hear because that’s someone’s son or daughter, brother or sister, father or mother and husband or wife. That person is never coming back. Thank You for your service Lt. Schmitz R.I.P. Thank You for your service Mover. Happy Veterans Day. Sorry I’m late.
Thanks for doing this Mover. It was obviously difficult for you. Condolences to the family as well as his squadron. Bad things happening to good people is tough to take.
Of course all losses are sad but there are no words to capture how tragic this one is. Inspiring to see MEZr's family translating their loss to a positive outcome for the benefit of others, my heart goes out to them.
Thank you Mover for doing this video. I pray for Mezr’s family’s well being and that lessons can be learned to reduce something like this from happening again.
So sad that a pilot dies as a result of training. It must have been such an honor to get a call asking if you would do this as hard as it was. Thank-you for not sugar coating it, you should feel good you went through with this, I know we all sure do appreciate it.
Deepest condolences to Lt. Schmitz' family. I cannot express the gratitude I have for your son's sacrifice and that of your family. Thanks, Mover, for bringing awareness to this tragic situation. Thank you to all the men and women in service of our great country. Love to all.
There is a bigger issue, at 47:44 stated that the jet was scheduled for cann status. Scheduling jets for a cann bird just puts more chance’s for the holes to line up on that block of Swiss cheese. The AF needs to support the aircraft with parts if they are going to keep in service. They channel the funding to the newest jets and leave Mx Supervision make decisions that they should not have to make. I have seen this when the C-141 was retiring and the C-17 was spinning up.
First, I would like to send my condolences to the “MEZr” Family. Second, thank you Mover for your comprehensive explanation of the event and clarifying a few misconceptions. Finally, being a retired Vet and former Crash/Fire Rescue Crew Chief I am very familiar with the F16 Blk40 series and the ACER II seat. It saddens me that we lost a fine Aviator and rising star to a series of avoidable events.
Damn. That's a whole Hell of a lot of cascading failures from training, higher leadership, maintenance , safety procedure , and personal. This was a mission destined to fail/end badly and only a miracle would have changed that.
Thank you from all our your brothers in arms Mover for your touching tribute to an American hero. My thoughts are with his family at this hard time, and my god ease their grief...
Thank you Mover for another heart felt and for explaining so well. Heartbreaking for the family, friends, and all involved. Sounded like an amazing pilot already, so sad it had to end this way. More importantly than being an amazing pilot, sounded like a really amazing person. Hopefully from this tragedy many lessons can be learned and the legacy of an amazing young man can be carried on to bring a new generation of pilots in his name.
It is crazy when you realize just how dangerous combat aviation is. Two of my mentors have had to eject due to maintenance issues (One F-15E elevator failure from Seymour Johnson, and one F-16C from a cracked fanblade fouling the entire engine from Hill) I am thankful their systems were able to work for them in their egress and allowing their contributions to my endeavors. It is incredibly disheartening the amount that this young pilot seemed to be failed and missed opportunities that could have potentially kept this pilot alive. It would be nice to see a lessons learned from this and steps changed from this tragedy.
Thanks for doing this Mover....I knew MeZr and served with him and flew with him during his C17days as his Sqd Flt Doc. Thanks for doing the AIB and Schmitty as we knew him back in his McChord days justice. Not many better guys in the AF I've knonw and in the 4AS...FFLP.
Thank you for this report today. What I appreciate about you CW is that you review the report with compassion as well from a human point of view. My heart broke 💔 more than ever before over this mishap. I looked up this officer on the Internet and he has the broadest most fantastic smile. A forever hole will be left in this universe. The most gripping take-away is "compartmentalize". This is probably the most important discipline of the mind a human could ever have. I never understood this until today.
Great analysis of a very tough situation Mover. My heart and condolences go out to MEZr's family and squadron mates. Nice job on reminding everybody of the TRUE human elements involved in any incident!
I disagree with the investigator’s conclusion. While it was the pilot’s errors the ultimately ended his life, he never should have been put in a position to make those errors in the first place. It is instead the officer(s) who put him in that position, contrary to rules and regulations, who are at fault for this accident. Or, at the very least, share in responsibility for it. Faulty equipment was not replaced, expired equipment was not replaced, mandatory training had not been carried out prior, recommended courses of action (HOTEL) were not carried out, improper check lists were forced on the pilot against his wishes and the officers in charge of the base, maintenance on the base and in charge of this flight failed to carry out proper procedures. He never should have been placed in a position for this accident to occur. At least that’s my opinion.
Love this channel. So sorry to learn about this tragic accident. THANK YOU for your service, and for the dignity and professionalism with which you cover stories like this one.
It was very difficult to watch this and listen to the details of what happened. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for his family to digest all of this information on top of dealing with their tragic loss. Thanks to Mover for conducting this review in a respectful and professional manner.
Was a crew chief on a b52 g was LED by SMSGT ROBERT JOHN MCKAY ,,would like to see what the peace is our profession ,info Fairchild afb retired , and others in the 80s .not the only ones
This is such sad, un-necessary set of circumstances. I live 6 miles from Holloman AFB and I watch the training jets daily & many, many night training sorties. I am amazed at every flight I see & watch. Huge Kudos to the fierce Airmen & women who fly for US all. RIP Sirman MEZr.
I was a part of 363rd AMS/CRS at Shaw AFB from 77 to 83... First working Auto Pilot on a RF4C Phantom then as PMEL Calibration technicians...So many fawn memories from my early Military career...To this day I remember I still remember "Red Ball" on tarmac to assist pilots before taxiing...May the Pilot RIP...He has made the ultimate sacrifice.
As a former F-16 maintainer (2W1x1 Weapons), this is incredibly frustrating for me. This pilot was set up for failure at all levels and that last level, the final line in his defense was that ejection seat. Deferred MX caused him to lose his life, had the procedures been completed on that seat he would be alive today. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones. Rest in Peace 1st Lt David "MEZr" Schmitz.
Mover Sir thank you for this. We see these accidents on the news but usually never get to see the why much less learn about the person involved. You not only explained it but put a face and history on the young man lost way too soon.
OMG!!! That could have been anyone having a bad day going worse. Listening to your report rips my heart out. I can see myself berating myself the same way LT David “MEZr” Schmitz did for not being able to get gas from the tanker and having to abort the mission. It probably affected his focus on the RTB. What I find so tragic is the ejection seat failure.......What a said day, God Bless David “MEZr” Schmitz and his family!!!! GOD BLESS ALL OUR ARMED FORCES!!!!
That sigh about the seat maintenance being deferred several times. It says everything.
What an unnecessary loss.
I flew with him when he was a LM on C-17s... His attention to detail was amazing and his passion for the job and aviation as a whole were very evident... Sorry to hear about this unfortunate incident... RIP Mezr!!! And Mover, you do an amazing job with each and every breakdown you've done that I've seen!!
God bless brethren from the RAF. Condolences sir 🇬🇧 🇺🇸
went through LIQ at Altus same time as him. Was sad to hear about what happened.
I’m actually stationed at Shaw AFB and a Crew Chief on the F-16. I knew Lt. David Schmitz because there was several times I was the last person he talked to on the ground before he took off. One of the reasons why I had such great respect for him is because my dream is to become a fighter pilot and he gave me a lot of great advice and I always thanked him for it. It was really hard for me to accept this but I promised him I was going to get my wings one day, so I told myself I’m not breaking this promise. My condolences go out to all Lt. David Schmitz family members and loved ones. Thank you for making this video! Double Down!
Make it happen Joel. And when you do never forget how David helped you so you can pay it forward. Best of luck!
ya its very hard being in the enlisted rank and having so many yrs in the service. They like their fighter pilots at a young age, a BS degree preferable in aviation, already has his pilots license, in good medical shape and very sharp in intelligence. But their is nothing wrong in dreaming or aspiring to be.
You got this bro, I wanted to go to Air Force to fly f-16s I had a alcohol withdrawal seizure at 18 tried to join at 19 😢😢watched my daf die of cancer at 18 I'm.39 now and wish I could go back in time!! DO IT WHY YOUR YOUNG
You become a pilot yet? 😂😂😂😂
This is a tough one. This is the epitome of trying to do more with less, and the outcome was tragic. I don't know what the AF equivalent is, but Fair Winds and Following Seas from this Navy Chief!
Well put Chief, doing more with less is so sad, and about maddening. Leadership needs to remember these guys are still kids and got a lotta growing old left to do. (Not detracting anything from this aviator, he sounds like one of the best!)
Well said Chief! Senior Chief sends…
I'm a contractor at Holloman for the 8th Aircraft Maintenance Unit where MEZr completed B-Course. I never had the pleasure of meeting him on the flightline, but when I heard about the mishap I was really choked up. As a crew chief, it really hurts when you hear about a pilot that didn't make it back. I've been working F-16s for 15 years now, and every time I launch one out I always tell the pilot "Have a good flight sir. I'll see you when you get back." WOOL!!
Thank you, Mover, for another excellent albeit tragic accident report. My background is USMC and ANG fighter/attack/recce pilot, A-4, A-6,and RF-4, 32 years in uniform, counting ROTC. My last sortie with a G-suit on was my retirement flight in the backseat of an F-16D out of Hill in 1995.
This accident is not only truly heartbreaking, but it underscores a sad fact about the USAF's flying mentality. Despite the persistent corporate attempt to eliminate all possibility of another human error accident by promulgation of mountains of regulations, there is an underlying unwritten Air Force attitude that caused this and other accidents. That mindset is that regardless of common sense about the obvious risk of the mission at hand, if there's no specific rule against it, we expect you to do it. The circumstances of this needlless tragedy demonstrate to me that the Air Force still hasn't figured this out.
Naval Aviation uses the term "headwork". Headwork is understood to be the most important graded item on every student aviator grade book page, and on every NATOPS checkride report card throughout a Naval Aviator's flying career. At the end of the day, headwork means judgment and common sense. In this case, despite specific prohibitions against a training sortie of this high risk potential and the squadron's supervisory ignorance of the pertinent prohibitions against it, the entire unit's leadership chain of command failed to exercise good headwork and wave the bullshit flag. To a very experienced air refueling receiver pilot, it defies credulity to think that these guys actually thought it was a good idea to take an inexperienced pilot who had never air refueled before, even in daylight, to the tanker at night, especially without an instructor in his back seat! Hey, guys, who was using the slightest modicum of good headwork in the scheduling shop, the training officer's shack, or the briefing room? Any one of 8-10 officers in this unbroken leadership chain could and should have transmitted, "Knock it off!" and scrubbed this mission. But nobody did. Result: one fatality and the loss of an irreplaceable aircraft.
There is plenty of blame to go around here: ops, maintenance, supervision, and logistics, but firing a couple of commanders or decertifying a few flight leads, or IPs isn't going to bring back young Lieutenant Schmitz. The important lesson to be learned here is that reams of regulations or a bloated flying safety bureaucracy is never going to replace the essential role of common sense headwork in the prevention of avoidable accidents like this.
Every supervisor, commander, instructor pilot, or flight lead in this case should have exercised his or her headwork and veto power to save the precious life of this young, highly motivated, and aspiring fighter pilot, as well as preventing the loss of an invaluable national defense asset. For the loss of a nail, the war was lost.
In 1980 I went through the RF-4C aircraft transition course in the 16th TRTS at Shaw. I was an interservice transfer from the USMC to the Nebraska Air National Guard. I was a combat experienced aviator.. My air refueling experience had been exclusively with the probe and drigue system used in the A-4 Skyhawk and the A-6 Intruder. In the RF-4 syllabus I found the air refueling training on the Air Force system to be very challenging despite the fact that it was all conducted in day VMC. I quickly got the hang of it. Nevertheless the introduction to night and inclement weather conditions when I became qualified and returned to my home squadron, the 173rd TRS in Lincoln, demanded even more concentration and training to become safe and proficient. In my entire military flying career spanning nearly three decades, the only more challenging task than night, weather-complicated, formation air refueling I did was day and night carrier landings! Whoever commented here that Lt. Schmitz was set up by his leadership team to fail, was entirely correct. Leadership failure in tactical military aviation has an unjustifiably high risk of needless loss of life and aircraft. Dave's leaders and mentors failed him that night.
As I listened to Mover Lemoine's podcast this morning, and heard him unpack what was involved in Lt. Schmitz's planned training mission that fateful night at Shaw, I instinctively knew that this sortie way overtaxed the experience and proficiency level of Lt. Schmitz. Sending him to a night tanker for his very first air refueling would be asking way too much. Added to his stress level was the forecasted squirrely weather, likely requiring transition to different tanker tracks while he would be flying the always most difficult number four position in fighter formation. That would have been more than disorienting to a pilot of even his acknowledged excellent but inexperienced skill level. Additional stress was introduced by combining this first refueling event with his first night SEAD mission training. This would have made the entire sortie highly task saturating, a recipe for disaster which was unfortunately fulfilled. His failure to achieve contact at the tanker became an emotional distraction which sadly became the linchpin in the accident's chain of events.
My most heartfelt condolences go to the family and comrades of 1stLt David Schmitz.
LtCol J.D. "Bear"Owen, (Ret)
FROM AUSTRALIA - GOD BLESS 1st Lt David "MEZr" Schmitz AND MANY PRAYER'S FOR HIS FAMILY 🙏
Absolutely, we can speculate all day but we all must remember he was doing what he loved and accepted the risks...
I hope this will bring changes and will never happen again
@@ajcook7777 100% AGREED MATE
Amen 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 hope there was some major changes in safety stuff and debriefed hard about soloing night refuel mission sad 😢😢
23 years in the USMC refueling community and I can not imagine anybody trying to refuel for the first time at night. It seems beyond belief...couple that with deferred maintenance on the seat and I wonder who is running that boon doggle.
Thanks, Mover. That was a solid brief.
I'm making a donation to the scholarship fund in his honor and memory. I'm also praying for his family, friends, and squadron mates.
Very tragic. When I got the "short course" on the ACES II ejection seat the manual separation handle was never covered. The overarching idea was 1. You are not going to have to eject. 2. If you do eject the seat will take care of you, it will work, just do your best to relax and try to not land on power lines or in water.
Deepest sympathies to MEZr's family and teammates. I don't often donate to "causes" but this one has opened the checkbook.
I remember doing two-a-days on deployment with Schmitty. A true perfectionist and excellent role model to the younger loadmaster's that knew and flew with him. This one was incredibly tough to hear about. FFLP.
Mover, I appreciate how you humanize these reports. You may think you haven't really before but you have. The way you take these reports, break them down, so people whom don't know the military, or as I call life style, can get attached to pilots they have never known and take away life lessons from the report, pilots in the report and yourself is commendable. I wish these accidents never happened so these reports and videos never had to be made but I am glad a person like yourself and this community are here to take away this knowledge and apply it to the greater world . Sir, thank you, from an active duty sailor with best wishes to 1St Lt Schmitz family, yourself and this community.
Tragic.
Poor lad was let down by his superiors.
Tragic.
Poor lad was let down by his superiors.
Peter Mawson let down by the Government, not supplying the money to buy the parts.
@@johnnunn8688 leadership can also say no to their superiors. I always advocated saying "no" to top brass, when safety parameters are not met.
Never put your men and women on the line, if you can prevent it. In peacetime, you almost always can.
It really drives home how dangerous the job is. We're used to seeing fighters flown at airshows, or watching them do crazy shit in movies while not fully realizing how difficult/risky every minute of flight time is. I'm not a pilot but after listening to you list his accomplishments and goals... the loss is felt. You guys represent the best of us (people, I mean) and losing one of you is a substantial subtraction from all of us. My condolences and thanks for putting this out there.
Whistling past the graveyard. The one thing a pilot counts on is that when he punches the seat will work. How do you defer maintenance on the only chance a pilot has to live?
I wondered the same thing
When there are pilot safety related equipment/maintenance problems, the aircraft should be grounded
Exactly
All deferred maintenance was done by the book due to lack of parts.
@@LS-zp4cl what we're saying is that we disagree with what "the book" says is ok
Unfortunately Engineers approved the waivers, MX can only fix airplanes with the proper tools, equipment, and parts which lately seems to be harder and harder to come by.
The sequence of errors in risk assessment, failures to follow proper procedure, and ultimately the failure of the seat to work properly conspired to make the outcome inevitable. Poor guy never had a chance, lacking experience in too many areas and it all piled up on him.
Those pictures in the end really hit home, he was just a young man full of dream.
One trying to be useful to the world through hard work and dedication.
Everything we have learned through history about aviation safety has been written in blood, but has not been in vain.
I hope his family can take some comfort in that, as well as be proud of their son and his chasing his dream.
Thank you for your service 1st Lt David "MEZr" Schmitz. RIP.
You weren’t kidding when you said that was tough to read/hear.... RIP and blue skies Sir.
As always Mover, you did a great job of presenting the facts and showing your humanity. 💙
As a former crew chief, and a private pilot myself, this really hits home. I can't imagine what's going on in the hearts and minds of everyone involved. RIP Lt. Schmitz. This is just gut wrenching.
What a sad story and a tragic waste. Staggered that they expected this kid to do his first AAR at night..... Basic aviation Common Sense should have set everyones alarm-bells ringing. As for the seat....aaargh.... Hard to listen to such a sad story.
@Anubis FPV Wow. Crazy !
@Anubis FPV Why the hell would they have anyone start training for the most difficult aspect of flying (short of a carrier landing) at night?
I see two possibilities. Firstly; the squadron has never had to train basic AAR before, so they forgot how hard it is the first time. Up to then all recruits have arrived with it nailed. The second possibility is that it was deliberate. They set him up with a task he would fail at because they had identified a potential weakness in him when things go badly. Instead of keeping his head in the game when the refuelling went south he was distracted. It is possible that this was what this sortie was designed to work on. The grading would have focused on how he handled that failure, rather than the failure itself (which was expected).
I can see why they tried to land the aircraft. It was the difference between probably ejecting and maybe saving the aircraft and definitely ejecting. Those two outcomes are not hugely different if you expect the chair to work, and I don't think you could do that job if you didn't trust your equipment.
It's damned close to involuntary manslaughter. Kid never had a chance -- Swiss cheese hole alignment, courtesy of Uncle Sam.
Thank you for your service Lt. Schmitz. My deepest sympathies to the entire Schmitz family.
This one hits close to home as I live in Sumter and was aware of the storms we were having that night. I read the report last week and didn’t think you would cover this one. Your coverage was spot on and very respectful for the family. My prayers go out to them and the squadron.
Yes it was amazing break down RIP LT DAVID SAD THE SEAT FAILED HIM 😢😢
This hurts... He should still be alive. God speed to MEZr
Amen 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Thank you for sticking to the reports and reminding us all about the human in the cockpit.
Thank you for not engaging in idle speculation and “insider information” nonsense.
I’m a huge fan because of this.
Possibly your best video yet because of the human aspects of being a military pilot. You helped us understand David's mindset and the chain of errors that cause bad outcomes. It was hard to watch but your presentation was a real honor to him. God bless.
Exceptional debrief on this, Mover. You manage to capture all the key points with clear and concise explanations without losing site of your humanity and the sadness of losing a fellow pilot. Bravo Zulu.
He was sent on a training mission that violated regulations. He was expected to learn to do air-to-air refueling for the first time at night, after having training time diminished because of covid restrictions. Tower, ops, and the other members of his flight element couldn’t tell that his left gear was damaged and inoperable, yet they allowed him to try to land. Engineers that were available were not consulted as to trying the tail hook landing under those circumstances. His ejection seat failed to deploy the chute, ensuring a fatality.
That about sum up how they determined ‘pilot error’?
I know they didn’t try to whitewash anything and blame was spread around, but it doesn’t seem like the AF has improved it’s safety culture much in the 37 years since I separated. What a senseless and tragic loss of life. This young man had worked so hard to overcome so many obstacles to be able to become an Air Force pilot. A series of completely preventable mistakes happened that caused his death. I’m very, very disappointed in the USAF over this needless and senseless death. It’s hard to blame any one person involved in this sequence of failures, but where was the common sense that should have told everyone involved that trying your first air-to-air refueling at night was a BAD IDEA? What a damned shame.
I agree with everything you stated and there were screw-ups all the way down the operational chain on this one. I hope to God there was someone from every unit involved in this crash. operations, life support Etc especially that were ordered to attend this funeral so they could see and remember the cost of their mistakes because there were more than enough to go around this wasn't just pilot error just as the media because they wanted to run the story because they needed ratings that night., instead of waiting for the aib report to be released which actually clarified what really happened. This was a multi layer cake of human and mechanical and planning error
Well, who's fault is it that the aircraft hit the ILS array?
Yes - tons of mistakes were made. But you want to ignore the one the pilot made.
@@fiveoboy01 I understand that but you have to realize a experienced pilot would have had enough time and experience under his / her belt to notice the potential red flags in this situation. The biggest error was having a pilot with low time in that type aircraft attempting extremely dangerous skill air-to-air refueling solo at night when standard procedure is solo air-to-air refuel during daylight conditions when you've never done it before. Yes there was some pilot error and I'm not excusing that but the majority of this was on Squadron leadership for having a new pilot do new procedures for him in sub-optimal weather at night flying a mission he had 0 experience with., also because of covid-19 training hours had been reduced Plus any pilot who has gone through the B course will tell you are the air 2 air refueling part of the course is normally in daylight and you have to qualify there first then solo, not do it at night. And last but not least life support section failed to catch the mechanical problems with that seat. Add this all up and no matter which way you look at it it was still a disaster waiting to happen there was more than enough blame to go around and not all of it was the Pilot's fault
@@arnoldsherrill6305 I understand and agree with your points, but the air to air refueling attempt isn't what killed him. The error in his approach did. Yes, it is horrible that the seat wasn't operable. Some other serious mistakes were obviously made as well. I agree that there should be some accountability for those mistakes. But he had time at night, and previous successful night landings. I do not know if his frustration led to his erroneous approach or not. But a good pilot can't let those things get to him. Getting the aircraft on the ground in one piece is the priority. I'm not here to shit on the dead. But let's be real. His own mistake is the primary reason for his demise.
@@fiveoboy01 they need to change training procedure after this. Run these procedures on these new pilots and lo time Pilots in simulators until they can do it with their eyes closed then to all the procedures in daylight/solo then qualify them for night he was not night qualified and he didn't feel comfortable with it but because of the current culture in the fighter community he was afraid to say anything I think and that is what part of the problem was. It wasn't just him it was a Cascade of small mistakes both human and mechanical that cause this not just one made by the pilot
Every accident is tragic. And when you think about the chain of events, man, that is devastating. Mover, perfect info, thanks.
My prayers and blessing for the family.
My son is a 135 driver and has expressed how difficult and stressful nighttime plugs are under the best of circumstances, much less the circumstances that prevailed here. My heart is heavy over the sequence of failures that contributed to this outstanding airman losing his life. My condolences and prayers for the family.
High respect for this. It took a lot of skill and efford to get this story right. You can do social media with dignity - as is proven here.
This gets me so upset. As a prior 16 crew chief and current C5 pilot.... I find this incredible hard to swallow they deferred the ejection seat write up, ops allowing the MP to fly an event he never had the correct training on (AR) & poor checklist discipline. So sad, preventable, & frustrating. RIP
It sounds like one of those days where nothing goes right. Painful. Prayers and condolences to his family. May God grant you healing and peace.
This really is a tragic event. I am not a pilot, but I feel like the worst part is that the seat failed him, because in case something goes wrong the seat is supposed to get you out of the worst and ones life depends on it.
Yeah, it's a scary thing. A Swedish JAS39 Gripen had an accident a few years back where the g-forces were enough to inflate his suit, and the handles were badly designed which made his g-suit pull the handles, so he's flying in a dogfighting scenario, and suddenly a bang and he's under a chute wondering what the fuck just happened. Happily that ended safely, but still, scary stuff.
Great recap mover, well done. The error chain is always so clear in hindsight but so hard to see in the lead up to the mishap. My heart goes out to 1LT Schmitz and his family. RIP MEZr.
Deferring maintenance, pushing the limits with training, and placing soldiers/airmen into unnecessary danger. This is a theme I've been noticing across the entire military, and its costing lives. This culture of safety second mission first needs to end, and I'm not sure what it will take for that to happen.
Unfortunately, with the military, ultimately the mission does come first and that does shape the culture that they may decide to push the boundaries of acceptable risk. They should do better to make sure that sacrifices are worthy because aircraft shouldn't fly training missions without all safety systems working.
@@brianwright9514 mission doesn't come first when it's training
@@Parapooper13 While I agree with you, people in the military don't. I've worked with Marines after a fatal V-22 accident where a board member said "we train how we fight".
@@bailey-bobthorton1950 I'm a paratrooper, we train how we fight but that doesn't mean we have to take the risks combat would require. This all falls into risk evaluation, which is an important part in planning. Dudes lawn darting because their squad leader made them jump with almost twice their allowed training load isn't training how you fight, it's killing a mother's son because you're too scared to tell your leadership no. Dudes getting trench foot in the field isn't training. I've experienced this myself. You are not learning anything by putting your soldiers in unnecessary danger. This isn't a debate in the military, it's the standard. It still happens though, as is evident by this accident
@@Parapooper13 fair enough, I should have said, a lot of people in the military...
My most sincerest and most heartfelt condolences to his widow, family and friends.
May God bless you all with strength and peace as you face every new day with hope.
Excellent report. My deepest condolences to his family.
RIP Lt. prayers for his family. Thank you C.W. for what must have been an incredibly hard video to make.....
One of the most scathing AIB reports I have ever read.
Solid info, Mover. This one stings...
@gl0ck10mm punitive information isn’t for public consumption
@gl0ck10mm probably no one. The manufacturer had already sent out notices and provided fixes. The fix was in the pipeline for his plane. It just kept getting rescheduled. It's a Fighter Jet, not a commercial jetliner. It would not be considered enough of a critical risk to ground the plane. It's tragic.
@@andrewtaylor940 So the procedures need to be changed!! The ejection seat is protecting the most valuable asset in the jet... the pilot!! If that can't be relied on to function properly the jet should be grounded, full stop. Is there not another jet he could have flown?
@@squidboii it’s difficult to tell who is responsible for the seat and gave OKs on the maintenance delays. Not sure if the AF has their own engineers that’s are seat SMEs or if they rely on the manufacturer’s expertise. Either way, I’m sure the justification that was used to keep pushing back maintenance is being scrutinized to make sure whoever was responsible did their due diligence. That being said, even seats that are 100% good to go fail from time to time. Whole situation was just a shitshow from top to bottom.
@@squidboii This will sound callous. And I mainly agree with you. But a potential and specifically circumstantial issue is not generally enough to take a warplane offline. They knew that a failure could possibly occur under certain specific and rare conditions with the make and model of the seat in his plane. The manufacturer had put out an upgrade/fix. But the problem in question is not something that would cause a catastrophic loss of the aircraft. (In fact rather perversely, the problem would not crop up until after the aircraft had already suffered a catastrophic loss.) The ejection seat wasn’t a maintenance issue that needed repair. It was that at times a perfectly normal seat as delivered by the manufacturer it may not perform as designed or intended in a ground level ejection. It’s a different calculus that we here in civilian land don’t quite understand.
Thanks for the respectful review from Shaw EMS
This was a tough one, but I’ve never read an easy one either. When I was in the Guard, we lost two Apache pilots. Until the report was out, nobody could understand why. After the report, we all understood that every detail, no matter how small, was important.
As tough as this must be, I appreciate the way you share this. I won't get the kind of information anywhere else that combines the facts, and explanation of those facts, and then adds the human element. Nice job Mover.
So sad. Prayers for his family and friends. I’ll be donating for sure. Keep up the good work Mover.
It's a damn shame when you hear about something like this. One thing I've heard over and over is "every accident starts on the ground" and that could not have been truer in this case. MEZr was set up for failure, not success, by his chain of command, with tragic results.
I learned of this mishap via socials from his widow; and reading the report puts me into minute, brief phases of the entire mishap (( I’m no flyer, but the Mx side and definitely the egress\tech data failures are 🔑 in my heart. I don’t know these people; but I hurt for answers when I think about (( and honestly, brooding about )) the *why* and whether or not some measure of culpability outside of the pilot is levied.
This is why your channel is the most informative and respected channel in its class. Excellent..EXCELLENT job Mover. RIP Lt. Schmitz. Thank you both for your service to this nation.
Such a sad story about such an admirable guy. Thanks, Mover, for giving us all something to think about.
You are a huge asset to the community. Much respect.
What a tragedy. That was tough to watch and I'm sure it was even tougher to make this video so thank you.
This one makes me sick to my stomach. I retired from the ANG in 2000 as a Engine Shop Supervisor on the F110-100 in the Viper. We had similar issues back then, parts quality, & availability. Along with COUNTERFEIT PARTS. We were surviving by K-BALLING just to Keep Em Flying. This was ANG & USAF wide within the F16 community both GE & PWA. By reading this report, things seem to have continued to fail to supply the needed quality of parts. Command had failed to support then, & it looks like they FAILED in a FATAL WAY here. Very Sad, & I extend my SINCEREST & DEEPEST SYMPATHY to the Lieutenants Family.
Mover, One of the saddest reviews I’ve ever listened to and my heart goes out to that very skilled pilots loved ones but No one could have been more respectful or spoken more honestly while sympathetically moving from fact to fact to clearly place what caused this bright highly motivated pilot to lose his life while attempting a challenging sortie he had never even attempted prior to this and at night plus trying to deal with IFR conditions while wearing goggles. What a tragedy, Thank you
for the respectful honest way you dealt with such a sensitive subject.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
Another Angel has earned his wings and begins his journey to reach the bounds of heaven. R.I.P. My condolences to his wife and family.
This one was a hard one to hear. But then again they’re all hard to hear because that’s someone’s son or daughter, brother or sister, father or mother and husband or wife. That person is never coming back. Thank You for your service Lt. Schmitz R.I.P.
Thank You for your service Mover. Happy Veterans Day. Sorry I’m late.
Brutal, small issues cause big issues.. terrible example. May he rest easy.
Thanks for doing this Mover. It was obviously difficult for you. Condolences to the family as well as his squadron. Bad things happening to good people is tough to take.
Seems like a perfect storm. RIP. Sincere condolences to the family for the loss.
Of course all losses are sad but there are no words to capture how tragic this one is. Inspiring to see MEZr's family translating their loss to a positive outcome for the benefit of others, my heart goes out to them.
Much respect to the fallen pilot, his family, and to you as well, Mover. God's blessings to everyone.
Man it's super weird watching this and seeing 2 f-16's take of here just after dark. RIP and may you forever fly high.
Thank you Mover for doing this video. I pray for Mezr’s family’s well being and that lessons can be learned to reduce something like this from happening again.
Good lord mover. Very nicely done.
Another perfect example of “make them tell you no.”
YES! "Make them tell you no" was not lost in this message.
condolences to his family. seems like nearly everything that could go wrong did.
So sad that a pilot dies as a result of training. It must have been such an honor to get a call asking if you would do this as hard as it was. Thank-you for not sugar coating it, you should feel good you went through with this, I know we all sure do appreciate it.
Deepest condolences to Lt. Schmitz' family. I cannot express the gratitude I have for your son's sacrifice and that of your family. Thanks, Mover, for bringing awareness to this tragic situation. Thank you to all the men and women in service of our great country. Love to all.
There is a bigger issue, at 47:44 stated that the jet was scheduled for cann status. Scheduling jets for a cann bird just puts more chance’s for the holes to line up on that block of Swiss cheese. The AF needs to support the aircraft with parts if they are going to keep in service. They channel the funding to the newest jets and leave Mx Supervision make decisions that they should not have to make. I have seen this when the C-141 was retiring and the C-17 was spinning up.
Thank you, sir. I cannot imagine the pain on all sides of this.
First, I would like to send my condolences to the “MEZr” Family. Second, thank you Mover for your comprehensive explanation of the event and clarifying a few misconceptions. Finally, being a retired Vet and former Crash/Fire Rescue Crew Chief I am very familiar with the F16 Blk40 series and the ACER II seat. It saddens me that we lost a fine Aviator and rising star to a series of avoidable events.
Damn. That's a whole Hell of a lot of cascading failures from training, higher leadership, maintenance , safety procedure , and personal. This was a mission destined to fail/end badly and only a miracle would have changed that.
Thank you for your service. God bless you and yours always.... Rest easy Hero.
Mover, this story brings me to tears. I'm so proud of you and all the people that dedicated themselves to service to protect our lives.
Thank you from all our your brothers in arms Mover for your touching tribute to an American hero. My thoughts are with his family at this hard time, and my god ease their grief...
Thank you Mover for another heart felt and for explaining so well. Heartbreaking for the family, friends, and all involved. Sounded like an amazing pilot already, so sad it had to end this way. More importantly than being an amazing pilot, sounded like a really amazing person. Hopefully from this tragedy many lessons can be learned and the legacy of an amazing young man can be carried on to bring a new generation of pilots in his name.
Thank you Mover for producing this video!!!! This is extremely important!! GOD BLESS AMERICA
Damn it. This hurts
It is crazy when you realize just how dangerous combat aviation is. Two of my mentors have had to eject due to maintenance issues (One F-15E elevator failure from Seymour Johnson, and one F-16C from a cracked fanblade fouling the entire engine from Hill) I am thankful their systems were able to work for them in their egress and allowing their contributions to my endeavors. It is incredibly disheartening the amount that this young pilot seemed to be failed and missed opportunities that could have potentially kept this pilot alive. It would be nice to see a lessons learned from this and steps changed from this tragedy.
I'm confused. What are the mechs on the line doing? Aren't they looking and testing?
Thanks "Mover" for sharing the update on Lt.MEZr
As a former crew chief ( A-10 ) the situation with the seat was hard to listen to. My heart goes out to the family.
Thanks for doing this Mover....I knew MeZr and served with him and flew with him during his C17days as his Sqd Flt Doc. Thanks for doing the AIB and Schmitty as we knew him back in his McChord days justice. Not many better guys in the AF I've knonw and in the 4AS...FFLP.
Rest easy MEZr. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
Thank you for this report today. What I appreciate about you CW is that you review the report with compassion as well from a human point of view. My heart broke 💔 more than ever before over this mishap. I looked up this officer on the Internet and he has the broadest most fantastic smile. A forever hole will be left in this universe. The most gripping take-away is "compartmentalize". This is probably the most important discipline of the mind a human could ever have. I never understood this until today.
Sad. I hope this will help avoid similar accidents. Thank you Mover for covering this mishap. Nickel on the grass.
A young friend is a new pilot in the 79th. (1 year). This hits too close to home. So sad.
Great analysis of a very tough situation Mover. My heart and condolences go out to MEZr's family and squadron mates. Nice job on reminding everybody of the TRUE human elements involved in any incident!
I disagree with the investigator’s conclusion.
While it was the pilot’s errors the ultimately ended his life, he never should have been put in a position to make those errors in the first place.
It is instead the officer(s) who put him in that position, contrary to rules and regulations, who are at fault for this accident. Or, at the very least, share in responsibility for it.
Faulty equipment was not replaced, expired equipment was not replaced, mandatory training had not been carried out prior, recommended courses of action (HOTEL) were not carried out, improper check lists were forced on the pilot against his wishes and the officers in charge of the base, maintenance on the base and in charge of this flight failed to carry out proper procedures.
He never should have been placed in a position for this accident to occur.
At least that’s my opinion.
Tough to listen to, I hope this leads to training to prevent this again. Thank you Mover but more importantly prayers for the family !!
Love this channel. So sorry to learn about this tragic accident. THANK YOU for your service, and for the dignity and professionalism with which you cover stories like this one.
As tragic as this is, I enjoy listening to you review it and going through it. I hope it can help aspiring pilots.
It was very difficult to watch this and listen to the details of what happened. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for his family to digest all of this information on top of dealing with their tragic loss. Thanks to Mover for conducting this review in a respectful and professional manner.
I was a crew chief at Shaw 77- 81. Sounds like this pilot wasn't ready fo for this type of mission. Somebody needs to be held accountable
Was a crew chief on a b52 g was LED by SMSGT ROBERT JOHN MCKAY ,,would like to see what the peace is our profession ,info Fairchild afb retired , and others in the 80s .not the only ones
Thanks for sharing this info,its important that the correct and fact based information is put out there! Mezr is a true hero! God bless his family!
Rest Easy Lt. "MEZr" Schmitz weve got it from here.
This is such sad, un-necessary set of circumstances. I live 6 miles from Holloman AFB and I watch the training jets daily & many, many night training sorties. I am amazed at every flight I see & watch. Huge Kudos to the fierce Airmen & women who fly for US all. RIP Sirman MEZr.
Wow very hard to hear this . It seems like he was A very good pilot who got himself into A nightmare. Great job telling the facts Moover!
Absolutely tragic :/ Great brief on this. RIP to MEZr
I was a part of 363rd AMS/CRS at Shaw AFB from 77 to 83... First working Auto Pilot on a RF4C Phantom then as PMEL Calibration technicians...So many fawn memories from my early Military career...To this day I remember I still remember "Red Ball" on tarmac to assist pilots before taxiing...May the Pilot RIP...He has made the ultimate sacrifice.
As a former F-16 maintainer (2W1x1 Weapons), this is incredibly frustrating for me. This pilot was set up for failure at all levels and that last level, the final line in his defense was that ejection seat. Deferred MX caused him to lose his life, had the procedures been completed on that seat he would be alive today. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones. Rest in Peace 1st Lt David "MEZr" Schmitz.
Mover Sir thank you for this. We see these accidents on the news but usually never get to see the why much less learn about the person involved. You not only explained it but put a face and history on the young man lost way too soon.
OMG!!! That could have been anyone having a bad day going worse. Listening to your report rips my heart out. I can see myself berating myself the same way LT David “MEZr” Schmitz did for not being able to get gas from the tanker and having to abort the mission. It probably affected his focus on the RTB. What I find so tragic is the ejection seat failure.......What a said day, God Bless David “MEZr” Schmitz and his family!!!! GOD BLESS ALL OUR ARMED FORCES!!!!