News

Hammer ACE team aids Navy after jet crash

  • Published
  • By Robert Talenti
  • 689th Combat Communications Wing
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  Master Sgt. Jeffery Jordan, Hammer, Adaptive Communications Element team flight chief, got the call June 15 to deploy a team to the crash site of a Navy T-45 Goshawk from Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas, just a few hours after the aircraft crashed in a remote field at a private ranch in McMullen County, Texas.

The pilot, a student Naval aviator, ejected safely from the aircraft and was treated for minor injuries. Hammer ACE is a quick response team which belongs to the 51st Combat Communications Squadron here.

Members of the team include Tech. Sgt. Jason Combs, team chief, and Staff Sgts. Robert Shoemaker and Timothy Wheeler - operators one and two, respectively. The team carried with them 30 cases of communications equipment.

"We verified the order, loaded up, and our team was ready to go in just two hours," Jordon said. "This mission is remote - from our data the closest dirt road is a couple of miles out from the site."

After some coordination on requirements and airlift to the location, the team arrived at the crash scene. They met with Navy Cmdr. Darren Guenther, senior mishap investigator, outside the accident site at about 8 a.m., June 17.

"Sergeants Combs, Shoemaker and Wheeler of the Hammer ACE team arrived (very quickly) after we called ... without them, we would not have even had phone coverage back to our base," Guenther said. "They immediately joined our mishap investigation team and were critical throughout our investigation."

The Hammer ACE team provided phone, Internet, satellite phone service, intra-site connectivity via land mobile radio, and air-to-ground radio to communicate with U.S. Coast Guard helicopters. Additionally, the Hammer ACE Team provided LMRs for air-to-ground radio interconnectivity.

"Thanks go out to the team," Guenther said, "and in Navy terms, Bravo Zulu for a job well done." Hammer ACE teams respond to two or three aircraft crashes yearly, but remain on-call for natural disaster relief and other crisis response as directed by the Air Force.

The Navy is continuing its investigation into the cause of the crash.