I was at Kinch" 1966-1968. I just happen to be in the
control tower that day back in Sept 13, 1967 when 90068 went down. The
pilot kept his cool till he ejected the plane.
He called "mayday" and asked if someone would check the TO to
find out how long he had of fight time after he would shut down the fuel.
He was told seven seconds, but the fuel didn't stop
He made his finale, made the touch down and as he passed the
tower, he said " here I am going over 300 mph and the damm thing still won't
shut down" The way he said it was kind of comical.
The barrier at the end of the run way went up, he pulled
up, the gear caught the barrier and ripped them off.
The plane's tail hook caught the barrier also and ripped the
aspirator right off the plane (covers the engine exhaust nozzle).
He
reached his stall state and ejected. Two helios
came in to pick him up the other to keep the flames away from him.
The plane just did a 180 turn around in air and became a
pancake rock at that point, hit the ground and fire.
The whole base was out picking up the pieces the next
day. Found out it had been a stubby screwdriver stuck in the throttle
housing.
Great site, I came across it by accident, glad I
did David