Seconds of Terror Changed Ex-Spy Pilot

[unhappycamper]

Seconds of Terror Changed Ex-Spy Pilot
October 19, 2008
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Fifteen seconds of terror 24 years ago shaped Todd Hubbard's life, seconds that led him to delve into psychology and eventually to his new passion at Oklahoma State University -- teaching.

At precisely 1:05 p.m. July 18, 1984, Hubbard, an Air Force pilot, was strapped inside a U-2, a spyplane that flew so high that he had to wear a space suit. Taking off on his last training sortie before deploying to Korea, Hubbard pushed the plane into a steep climb, when the steering yoke in his hands began to vibrate.

"Maybe for some reason I've stalled out,'" he recalled thinking. "I didn't know that the last 10 feet of the airplane had fallen off."

As investigators would find out later, a defective engine mounting strap caused the rear of the engine to fall off, taking the back of the plane with it. But the main part of the engine was still pouring out 17,000 pounds of thrust as the plane nosed over.

Hubbard ejected from the plane, which was so new the paint still gleamed. However, a faulty wiring job by ground crew meant the canopy didn't come off. So, Hubbard and his seat blasted through the canopy, fracturing several of his vertebrae and leaving him with "a mouthful of rocks" -- his shattered teeth.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/seconds-of-terror-changed-exspy-pilot.html