Commercial Rigs Fail; Hams Respond

HAMS KEEP COOL IN WAKE OF AIR SHOW CRASH

The words erupted over the radio just as Al Folsom, KY3T, was 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.

The initial shock wore off quickly, and 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, 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. In a normal year, Folsom said, the hams deal with nothing more serious than an occasional fainting spell, dehydration, heat cramps, and sunburn.

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 explained. As a result, many of the requests for materials and personnel needed to respond to the crash were relayed via Amateur Radio.

Folsom said he was especially pleased and proud at the way his 16-year-old son, Tom, KB3CRZ, handled the flow of traffic in and out of the base clinic as requests were relayed from there to the crash site and back.

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," Folsom said. "Navy medical personnel were extremely grateful for our assistance."

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