Why doesn’t this surprise me…
BEAUFORT (SC) GAZETTE 4 SEP 07) … Lori Yount
Another estimated release date and more than four months have passed since Blue Angels pilot Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis crashed his jet during an air show into a wooded area in Burton, killing him and destroying homes. But the thousands who witnessed it still don’t know why.
Davis’ parents haven’t seen the report detailing the cause of the crash that killed their son April 21, and they probably won’t until their advanced copy of the Judge Advocate General’s Manual investigation is released to them this month, according to military officials.
The investigation by the Navy was complete by early June and since then has been undergoing approval and preparation for public release at the Chief of Naval Air Training in Corpus Christ, Texas.
The original projected release date was late August. The next was Sept. 1. Now it has been pushed back to Sept. 17 — tentatively.
“It’s not a date set in stone,” spokesman Lt. Sean Robertson said. “We are looking to have it released in September. … As far as a timeline, I’m real hesitant.”
The military conducted three investigations into the crash, as is done with most major military plane crashes, but only one will be released to the public. The others will remain for military use only, according to Blue Angels spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Garrett Kasper.
A redacted copy of the Judge Advocate General Manual investigation will be made available to the public once commanders review and approve it.
The military must redact identifying information of everyone involved in the case, including all references to Davis and the names of witnesses and their Social Security numbers. The reviewers redact the more than 700 pages of the report by hand, using a strip of white correction tape and then marking over it with black marker on each name or number.
Call to action: If anyone has any gouge on this JAGMAN or any other investigation report regarding the Blue Angels crash, please forward it to us. We promise (as always): no fingerprints.
(Gouge: Ward)
– Christian
ohwilleke,
I’ve actually done a fair amount of stories on JAGMAN reports in my day. Basically what they tend to redact is names, SSNs and medical information from the reports. But since it’s up to the staff judge advocate of the command, there’s a lot of leeway in the redaction as well. For example, I’ve had some JAGMANs come to me with the “recommendation” section intact. Others, it was cut out. Sometimes I’ve had ones with the names of the crew in the report, others without — but it’s not so hard to figure out who is who in that situation. It’s not so much an issue of endangering the named, insofar as the rules governing FOIA law protect privacy. SJAs are given some leeway to determine how far to go on that…but since the commander often has to sign off on the final report — and sometimes the redacted version — I’m sure PR comes into play as well.
In this case, if the cause of the crash is pilot error, think what that would do — in some people’s eyes — to the reputation of the Blue Angels. They’re not supposed to make mistakes like this and I doubt the command wants that kind of PR problem on their hands. Of course, as a reporter, I believe there’s a public good to knowing exactly what happened so we can try and avoid its happening again.