NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 21, 2000--The words erupted over the radio just as Al Folsom, KY3T, was just about to wrap up
the Warminster Amateur Radio Club's support for the Willow Grove 2000 Sounds of Freedom air show: "Plane down!"
"It was repeated three times, really quickly," Folsom recalled. "We raced out the door and saw the
cloud of smoke." Only minutes earlier, he'd been commenting to a Navy doctor on how smoothly things had gone
at this year's event.
The crash of the Navy F-14 Tomcat had claimed the lives of the pilot and a radar intercept officer aboard the plane.
No one on the ground was seriously hurt. The plane went down into a wooded area near Willow Grove Naval Air Station
near Philadelphia.
"One of the things that happens is that everyone wants to run and help," Folsom said. But once the initial
shock wore off, the two or three dozen hams on hand Sunday, June 18, didn't miss a beat in their assigned duties.
"We had discussed what to do in such a situation," Folsom said, "and I was extremely proud of how
well the hams responded.
The WARC has been handling medical communications needs at the annual US Navy air show in Willow Grove for more
than a decade--Folsom's been coordinating the amateur activity for the past 11 years--but this was the first time
there had been a crash. For the most part, he said, the hams stayed at their original posts to handle any medical
concerns among the 50,000 or more spectators on hand for the two-day event.
Two hams--Bill Strunk, K3ZMA, and Mark Kempisty, N3GNW--were dispatched promptly to the crash site. Hugh Hart,
N3SOQ, manned a supply van traveling around the base and back and forth to the crash site. George Brechmann, N3HBT,
was net control. Al Konshak, WI3Z, was in the tower monitoring the crowd when the plane went down. Another amateur
was sent to the operations center to assist with communications needs. It turned out to be a good thing the hams
were there.
"The Navy had rented a large number of Motorola radios for communications, but the accident occurred at the
end of the second day, and they all rapidly lost their charge and became useless," Folsom said. As a result,
many of the requests for materials and personnel needed to respond to the crash were relayed via Amateur Radio.
Folsom said the WARC air show contingent--which can number 40 or more hams for the entire weekend--usually use
2-meter simplex. After the crash, they switched over to the local repeater for better reliability.
In a normal year, the hams deal with nothing more serious than an occasional fainting spell, dehydration, heat
cramps, and sunburn. "I've always felt this was an important activity, because we always have 'real' issues
to address," Folsom said. "The hams are truly needed and appreciated.
Folsom said he was especially pleased and proud at the way his 16-year-old son, Tom, KB3CRZ, handled himself during
the emergency response. "For an hour or two he represented the best traditions of ham radio communications,
handling the flow of traffic in and out of the base clinic as requests were relayed from there to the crash site
and back."
The amateurs dispatched a few ambulances to the crash scene, Folsom said. Three firefighters were slightly injured.
Folsom said all WARC members performed well and a few "really went above and beyond" after the crash
occurred. Other participants included Bob Phillips, KA3VKU, Steve Larsen, KA3ZLY, and Don Schwarzkopf, N3OZO, who
remained at the site for the entire operation.
It turned out to be a long day for the amateurs, many of whom had arrived that morning around 7:30. "At the
end, five of us stayed at the base until about 11 PM when the crash site was secured for the evening," Folsom
said. Navy medical personnel were extremely grateful for our assistance.
For his part, Folsom said the incident really unnerved him for several hours. "It was a long, exhausting and
sad day," he concluded. "The one high note was how well our hams handled themselves in a real emergency."
The Warminster Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL Special Service Club. [ed]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page last modified: 01:34 PM, 21 Jun 2000 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
Copyright © 2000, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------