U-2 pilot avoids crash, earns trophy

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Luke Johnson
  • 9th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs
BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Late one evening last winter, A U-2 Dragon Lady departed Beale on a routine high-flight, training mission, but as the mission progressed, things started to go terribly wrong.

"I began a decent to come into to Beale after about four-and-half hours," said Lt. Col. Joseph Santucci, commander of the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron. "My technique, usually, is to click off the autopilot in the mid-50s, which is relatively low for a U-2. When I clicked off the autopilot, the pitch trim ran full, so full nose down."

Colonel Santucci immediately began pulling on the yoke to keep the nose up and the airplane flying.

"After about maybe one minute, I am realizing this is not a normal emergency, and that I don't have the strength to hold the jet for the time it takes to recover," he said.

In the control tower, Capt. Eugene Georgescu also with the 99th RS, was serving his first shift as supervisor of flight, and realized the severity of the situation. He immediately notified Colonel Santucci's mobile driver and ordered all other aircraft to land in order to focus on the in-flight emergency.

"We immediately began reading checklists to him and provided words of encouragement to Colonel Santucci," Captain Georgescu said. "And most of his radio contacts were of him breathing heavily due to him being overwhelmed in the handling of the aircraft."

With the help of his mobile driver and SOF, Colonel Santucci slowed the U-2 to stall speed so that he could hold the jet up to land it.

"The problem with that was there was bad weather, no horizon, no moon illumination, and the disorientation was horrible for me; probably the worst I have ever experienced," he said.

Colonel Santucci described it as being in a black room and it begins tumbling around you, which pilots describe as the star chamber.

"The disorientation of trying to hold the yoke while troubleshooting in the cockpit, I would move my head and move my stare to find different systems in the cockpit, and by the time I came back to the artificial horizon, the jet would be in 20 degrees nose low and a lot of left to right bank, and I would have to recover again."

Colonel Santucci could not hold the jet with just one arm, making it more difficult for him to troubleshoot the various systems in the aircraft. He had to use all of the strength in his arms and back to keep the aircraft stable and alternated different techniques to hold the yoke.

"I was so overtaken by pulling the yoke back and trying to keep the airspeed low enough to where the forces were handleable that I really had trouble thinking after about 10 minutes of working through it," he said.

During the entire in-flight emergency, Colonel Santucci communicated the situation with his mobile car driver and the supervisor of flight to let them know what the problem was and what he was doing about it.

"They were able to think for me -- which is their job -- so I could just fly the jet," Colonel Santucci said. "And the plan that we came up with as a team was to keep the airspeed as low as possible, and I ended up riding the buffet down to keep the jet flyable and to find a portion of the weather where I could pop out high enough to see the field to end the disorientation."

Captain Georgescu communicated his airspeed and altitude to the mobile driver and calculated his approach speed for him. The mobile driver read off checklists and helped the colonel maintain situational awareness.

"Even in the best conditions, it is difficult to land the U-2, and we knew in his situation he was completely overwhelmed with the aircraft," Captain Georgescu said. "The advantage of having a mobile driver and (an) SOF is that we can monitor the situation and read checklists while the pilot is focused on flying the aircraft."
 
Once the plan was put into motion, with a very slow rate of decent, Colonel Santucci piloted the Dragon Lady back to Beale; however, the forces being placed on the aircraft overwhelmed him.

"My initial course of action, because I didn't think I could hold the jet long enough to get it down, was to just survive until I get over the valley and eject," he said. "I actually prepared for ejection once."

As he contemplated ejecting from the aircraft, he knew this could not be an option.

"Once I got slow enough, I realized that I could probably just hold it for another half hour or so to get down," he said. "That made all the difference in the world. The problem then was just the disorientation."

At approximately 8,000 feet, Colonel Santucci emerged from the bad weather and was able to view the airfield.

"Once I caught a glimpse of the runway and the airfield, the gyros caged -- just like that, it was really amazing to me how the human body is built to be attached to the ground, once I saw those lights, my disorientation ended immediately."

Seeing the lights of Beale gave him a lot of confidence and reassurance that he could land the aircraft.

"Once I landed, I think I underestimated how tired I was," he said. "I sat there in the cockpit while (Capt.) Josh Massai unstrapped me; I came down the ladder on the runway, and then before I knew it, I was laying on the ground face up looking at all these people bent over me trying to figure out what happened."

After getting out of his pressure suit, he was cleared to go home, and the next day he went to the clinic for back pain, swelling in his right arm and overexertion.

"A little Motrin, and four days later, I was fine," he said.

Colonel Santucci credits his mobile driver and the supervisor of flight for helping him safely recover the U-2.

"Without the help of a couple of captains who were really good on the system, I don't know what would have happened," he said.

The next day, Colonel Santucci learned that a small fire had broken out in the one of the trim motors, and there was also some chafed wiring that grounded the circuit that ran the trim forward, full nose down.

"All of this had been happening while the autopilot was engaged, and the autopilot clutches were holding the jet up because they are fairly strong. Once I clicked it off, there was no autopilot to hold up the aircraft anymore and the aircraft gives into the trimmed condition and seeks higher airspeed."

For his efforts in landing the U-2 safely, Colonel Santucci was awarded the Koren Kolligian Jr. Trophy, which recognizes outstanding feats of airmanship by individual aircrew members. The award will be presented to Colonel Santucci at a later date.

"This was the best example of team work: The mobile driver, SOF and pilot to ensure that it ended the way that it did, without disaster," said Captain Georgescu.