ALAN G. CARMACK, MIDN, USN
Alan Carmack '82
Photographs
From a group photo in the 1980 Lucky Bag
From his high school yearbook
Loss
Alan was lost on July 31, 1981 when the aircraft he was aboard crashed the eastern end of the Bay Bridge of the Chesapeake Bay. He was participating in an aviation orientation program open to First Class Midshipmen. His civilian instructor was also killed.
Other Information
From the October 1981 issue of Shipmate:
A native of Oklahoma, Midn. Carmack was manager of the varsity wrestling team at the Academy. He had been a member of the Drum and Bugle Corps, was an active participant in the Pep Band, and had qualified as a parachutist. Well liked by his fellow midshipmen, and his loss to the Twelfth Company will be seriously felt.
He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur G. Carmack of Moore OK 73160, and a sister. Mr. Carmack is retired from the U.S. Air Force.
From The Evening Sun on August 5, 1981:
The crash of a small plane last week that killed a Naval Academy midshipman and his flight instructor may have been caused by the failure of a critical control structure in the airplane's tail, according to a field investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.
The NTSB has made no official findings on the crash of the single-engine Varga Kachina into Chesapeake Bay near the Bay Bridge Friday afternoon.
But the field investigator, Phillip Powell, confirmed that the airplane's "elevator horn" broke sometime before the crash due to metal fatigue.
"The elevator horn is responsible for the pitch attitude, nose-up, nose-down," of the airplane, Powell explained. If it failed, "he (the pilot) would lose that control. It would be contributory" to a crash.
He also said the pilot advised the Bay Bridge Airport by radio shortly before crash that he had "a pitch control problem."
From researcher Kathy Franz: "Alan graduated in 1978 from Moore High School. Science club, symphonic winds."
He is buried in Oklahoma.
Alan is one of 6 members of the Class of 1982 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
