The Thunderbirds accident in 1982 (4-ship line abreast loop involving 4  T38As) was actually caused by a malfunction in the pitch trim system and the 'feel-springs' that provide the pilot with feedback.

The board determined that the leader came over the top pulling on the stick with the normal stick force necessary to complete the loop (in a T38, the loop is started at approx 500 KIAS; and with a nominal 4.5-5.0 G pull, you will be inverted at 200 KIAS about 10,000 feet above your entry altitude).  Unfortunately, the pitch trim feel-springs were mis-positioned, giving the lead pilot a stick force that was normal for that situation when in fact the stabilator was not deflected enough to generate a sufficient pitch rate to complete the loop in the altitude remaining.  The pitch rate was insufficient in the 3rd quadrant of the loop (from inverted to 90 degrees nose-down) which led to excessive loss of altitude and once the aircarft was at a 90-dgree nose-down pitch attitude, insufficient altitude remained for recovery, although lead did everything possible to salvage the situation..

As I recall the lead aircraft impacted the ground with a very slight nose-up attitude; # 2 and 3 impacted near-level; and #4 was very slightly nose-down.  The "word" was that given another 200 feet, they would have made it.  In any case there was NO mid-air collision involved.

Best Regards,

Ray
in email August 2010