UFO UpDates Mailing List
From: Kenny Young <task@fuse.net>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 03:30:08 -0700
Fwd Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 04:43:04 -0400
Subject: Stealth Crash Pilot: "What did I hit?"
Comment:
During the Monday morning interview by Katie Couric on the
NBC TODAY SHOW, I was naturally curious when I first heard
Ms. Diane Stumpf (first person to reach the pilot of the
crashed STEALTH PLANE) who quoted the pilot stating 'what did
I hit?'
Although Stumpf mentions that the pilot asked "what the plane hit
upon crashing" (meaning the house), the context in which she gave
the account that caught my ear was referring to the impression of
the pilot that his plane had 'struck' something in the air. The
transcript of the interview confirmed my earlier suspicion.
In my review of the NTSB accident database, I have found many
accidents that were caused by a structural defect in the plane,
causing it to 'fly apart' in mid-air. This happening to the
Stealth is obviously something new, though.
Maybe the structural defect which forced a big part of the plane
to fly loose could have caused the pilot to receive the impression
that he hit something in the air during the moment of breakage...?
Does anyone have data on this (structural breakup) that would
assist?
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Transcript of interview of Ms. Diane Stumpf by Katie Couric on the
NBC "TODAY" television/news program, Monday, September 15, 1997
_____________________
On CLOSE UP this morning, the crash of that stealth fighter. When an
F-117 crashed Sunday afternoon into a Maryland neighborhood, the pilot
ejected. Joining us now is Diane Stumpf. She was having a birthday
party for her husband at the time.
KATIE COURIC: Diane, good morning.
Ms. DIANE STUMPF (Eyewitness to Stealth Fighter Crash): Good
morning.
COURIC: Set the scene for us, if you could, before the stealth fighter
crashed.
Ms. STUMPF: We were sitting down at our shore home, and I had
watched the plane make a pass and turn off. And I sort of watching it
because it was an unusual plane. I turned around to watch it come back
for another pass, and I saw it, like, spinning. And I got up and ran
over to the water, and yelled to the family, you know, that it was going
to crash. And I saw that it was going to crash like right in front of our
shore home. So I ran around the front of the building. And just as I got
around the front of the building, I had hear=97seen the plane come down
and crash like a pancake. A few seconds later the pilot had come down
with a large, hard thump. He came down rather fast. And I ran over to
him, he was about 50 to 70 feet from the plane. It was all on fire. The
house had started to catch on fire.
COURIC: So it crashed in what, the house next to yours?
Ms. STUMPF: One shore up from ours.
COURIC: So when you approached the pilot, tell me what happened?
He was unconscious, is that right?
Ms. STUMPF: Well, he was laying on his side. I don=92t know whether he
was really unconscious or just had the wind knocked out of him. I went
over to him and rolled him over. And I=97I was trying to get his helmet
or air-breathing apparatus off his face, and he reached up and grabbed
my hand and started to come to. And he took his helmet off, and his first
concern was, what he had hit, if there were any people hurt. And I told
him I thought that the house was empty, that there was no one in the
house. Then...
COURIC: But you weren=92t able to completely reassure him that...
Ms. STUMPF: No.
COURIC: ...no one had been seriously hurt from this, were you?
Ms. STUMPF: No, I wasn=92t able to really reassure him. He was very
concerned about the people on the ground. That was his first concern.
COURIC: Did he=97did he explain to you why the plane crashed or what
happened up there?
Ms. STUMPF: Well, he made=97he=97he did make the remark that he was
surprised that he had been alive, that he lived through it. He said he
tried=97he asked me, like, what he had hit. He said =91Did you see what
we=97what I had hit?=92 And, you know, at first I didn=92t put it together.
But, apparently, maybe when the plane fell apart, something came back
and it seemed like it hit him. At first he thought he had hit something.
And his concern was to stay with the plane until he could get it over
the water so that it would be safe and not hit anybody.
COURIC: And he really wanted to stay in control of the plane and not
eject, correct? Is that what he told you?
Ms. STUMPF: Yes. Yes, he did. He stayed in it until the last minute.
He tried to hold it together he said.
COURIC: Then the military, I guess, came by and they used your house
as a command center, is that right?
Ms. STUMPF: Yes, they did. They came in and they=97we had
taken=97my sister-in-law and I had gotten the pilot up, because he was
only about 50 to 70 feet from the burning plane. We were concerned
that it may blow up, so we had gotten him up and took him over and
sat him on a chair. And he was watching the plane burn. He was still
very much concerned if there was anybody around. And he was very
concerned because he had upset the children at the=97my two nephews
at the party very much with the crash. Because it=92s not something
that, you know=97it was very unusual.
COURIC: I=92ll say. I mean, how=97how are you feeling now? I mean, quite
a bizarre day for you, a bizarre afternoon. You were just having a
little party for your husband and I guess your mother-in-law as well,
right?
Ms. STUMPF: Yes. Yes.
COURIC: Are you...
Ms. STUMPF: I mean, it was very=97it was just bizarre, like you said. It
was something that you would think couldn=92t happen, but it did. The true
miracle in the whole thing is that no one was hurt or injured seriously.
COURIC: It really is a miracle. Diane Stumpf, thank you so much for
talking with us this morning.
Ms. STUMPF: Sure.
COURIC: We appreciate it.
Ms. STUMPF: OK.
COURIC: It=92s 7:11. Now, here=92s Matt.
____________________________________________________________________
Kenny Young, T.A.S.K.
task@fuse.net
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