The Tomcat had a less than favorable safety record and LT Neil ‘Waylon’ Jennings and his RIO, LT T. J. ‘Buga’ Gusewelle, survived one of the more spectacular accidents to befall the type. This is their compelling story…
SEPTEMBER 20, 1995, was a standard day aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) except for one noteworthy exception — we were headed eastbound on our way home from a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf. We were about half-way through a transit that would take us back to our home base in San Diego, California. Assigned to VF-213 ‘Black Lions’, which was the sole F-14 unit within Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11, I had spent most of my deployment flying missions over Iraq in support of Operation ‘Southern Watch’. Now, we were finally heading back to our waiting families. It takes approximately six weeks for an aircraft carrier to travel from the Middle East to California. On the trip westward to the Persian Gulf at the start of the deployment there is a lot of excitement and anticipation regarding the mission you are on and the ports you will see. In contrast, the trip home is marked by long days and sleepless nights, and much of the crew has ‘channel fever’, longing to b…
