Point Mugu Airshow 2002
(Saturday, April 20th, 2002)

I once read, "Life is measured not by the number of breathes we take, but by the moments that take away our breaths." Our air show is normally a time of celebration, not grief. As we each deal with our own feelings, let us remember the families of each of these men.

-- Captain Jim Rainwater

Two members of Naval Weapons Test Squadron Point Mugu, were killed today while performing at the 2002 Point Mugu Air show. Navy Cmdr. Michael Norman, pilot, and Marine Corps Capt. Andrew Muhs, radar intercept officer, were killed when their QF-4 Phantom aircraft crashed at 12:20 p.m. PST today, when they were maneuvering for landing while performing with three other squadron aircraft. Both victims were stationed at Point Mugu.

Emergency personnel from the base and local police, fire and rescue organizations immediately responded to the site. The aircraft crashed on a county road bordering the Navy Base. No one in the vicinity of the crash area was injured. CHP officers immediately secured the scene.
The Navy is conducting an investigation into the cause of the crash.

All air show performances and activities for Saturday and Sunday have been cancelled.

 
 
This is a formation of two F14s, two F/A18s and two F4s, all of which are stationed out of Point Mugu. The pilots were demonstrating how a formation of aircraft would approach an aircraft carrier in formation with each aircraft breaking away to land.
 
This is the last photo I have of the F4 before it crashed. You see one F4 breaking away from the formation and the doomed F4 is the one still trailing an F14 in the formation.
 		 I was more interested in taking photos of the F14s during this maneuver so I was oblivious to the F4's predicament.
One last shot of the F14 then a bright flash and an orange ball of fire. Earlier during the airshow pyrotechnics that looked similar to this orange ball of flame were being set off so many didn't know anything was wrong until the lights and sirens of emergency vehicles replaced the sounds of thundering jet engines.
 
Shock. This isn't supposed to happen. Some people reported they saw someone eject from the aircraft.
 
The two remaining airborne aircraft were initially refused permission to land so all they could do was circle the airbase.
 
I wanted to see Ventura County's newest copter, copter 8, but not like this. Copter 8 was enroute to the scene of the crash well before any other emergency vehicles.
 
Hope faded as the crackle of the radio announced there were two fatalities, no survivors. I brought along a tape recorder to record my notes about my experience at the airshow so I sat it down next to my radio scanner so it could record the emergency radio transmissions.
 
Most people at the airshow (those without radio scanners) were in the dark as to what was going on so they looked for answers with binoculars and hope. The Thunderbirds team were called to a huddle. This was after they had taken a van out to the scene of the accident and returned so I think they were briefing them on the crash. While they didn't look outright distraught they weren't joking around either.
 
The five acre fire was extinguished quickly. About an 1 1/2 hours after the crash took place they decided to cancel the airshow. This is the herd of spectators leaving the event.
 
My wife and I stuck around in the parking lot until the crowd dispersed some and so we could monitor the radio scanner.
 		 Command Safety Office will be busy for quite some time.
  This is a map showing my own estimate of the flight path of the QF4 that crashed. The purple lines denote the flight line fence and arrows point out the location of the Thunderbirds and the VIP seating where I took these photos from.

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