Navy aviators disciplined over air phallus after Coronado hearing

According to the Navy, the air crew who used their US Navy warplane to create a vulgar sky writing over a Washington town this week have been grounded.

By Carl Prine

San Diego Union-Tribune

Nov. 30, 2017 5 PM PT

The Navy’s “Air Boss,” Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, has disciplined two aviators involved in a Nov. 15 incident of phallic skywriting in Washington.

The unnamed male pilot and his backseat aviator from the “Zappers” of Electronic Attack Squadron 130 at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, received administrative punishment on Nov. 22 following a Field Naval Aviator Evaluation Board hearing on North Island before Shoemaker.

Pronounced “fee-nab” in the Navy, the administrative panel is designed to evaluate the performance, motivation and future potential for uniformed aviators. That it occurred on North Island, headquarters of Naval Air Forces, signaled the importance the military assigned to addressing the stunt. Typically, these hearings are convened at the squadron or wing levels and can end the career of Naval aviators.

“When they came down, the aviators were apologetic,” said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Ron Flanders. “The aviators admitted that they had done it after it occurred. When they appeared before the (Field Naval Aviator Evaluation Board) they were contrite. They realized that this was an embarrassment to Naval Aviation and the entire Navy. This sort of conduct is contrary to the core values of the Navy.”

Flanders said that the Navy is barred by federal privacy laws from identifying the aviators or detailing their punishment but the results of the board were obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune. Details were circulated earlier in an email to Navy leaders sent out by Rear Adm. Roy “Trigger” Kelley, the commander of Virginia-based Naval Air Force Atlantic.

Shoemaker determined that the aviators’ actions were “impulsive and immature” but both were “forthright and remorseful.” Although they risked losing their coveted wing insignia, the endorsing authorities urged the Navy to retain them as aviators and place them into a “probationary” status in case they slip up again.

Shoemaker concurred with the recommendations but specified the probationary period would last six months and any transgression on land or in the sky that showed a “similar lapse of judgment” or violated the Navy’s core values would lead to a loss of the insignia.

A career aviator, Shoemaker ordered them to address their fellow crews on Whidbey Island in a series of “Change the Culture” briefs describing the “ramifications and the embarrassment it caused” while “contrasting their actions with the excellence and discipline” of other sailors worldwide. He also wanted them to explore the potential “strategic effects” their conduct might have.

The pilot, who has pending instructor orders to the training squadron at Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi, will conduct a similar presentation to both fellow instructors and students.

The Navy has only indicated that the pilot of the two-seater EA-18G Growler is a male lieutenant and that he used the contrails of the jet to sketch a phallus in the air during a routine training exercise, a floating image that became an internet sensation when it was photographed and shared on social media platforms.

The Navy has not released the rank or gender of the backseat flight officer tasked with suppressing enemy radar and communications.

Both aviators continue to face a separate inquiry from their Virginia-based Carrier Air Wing 3. Called a “JAGMAN” investigation, it’s an administrative probe that analyzes all available information about a relatively minor incident. Its findings of facts, opinions and recommendations often help improve a command’s leadership, promulgate lessons for the rest of the fleet to avoid similar incidents and aid superiors making determinations about the future flight status of an aviator.

The investigators also can indicate whether they believe violations of military law have occurred, potentially triggering criminal proceedings.

The Navy has not indicated when the JAGMAN will be finished but says the officers have not been arrested and charged with a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The Growler incident resembled the early 2014 discovery of a phallus painted on a trailer at the Blue Angels winter training grounds at Naval Air Facility El Centro. The image was so large, it could be photographed by satellites in space.

Capt. Gregory “Stiffy” McWherter, who commanded the Navy’s aerial acrobatic team in two tours between 2008 and 2012, was fired as the executive officer of Naval Base Coronado and later received a punitive letter of reprimand that ended his career.

Investigators determined that under his command the Blue Angels operated more like a boozy frat house than an elite jet squadron, with his crews openly engaging in sexual harassment and other improper behavior, according to a 2014 report. Their misconduct included peppering racy jokes with homophobia, papering their cockpits with pornography and hazing junior enlisted sailors.

While the misconduct began as “juvenile and sophomoric” high jinks, it degenerated into a “destructive, toxic and hostile” workplace, investigators found.

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