Capt Franklin "Puj" Hooks VMFA-115
This is my first post here. I was trying to think of a way to introduce myself and I found this forum. Puj was a single seat F/A-18 pilot flying off the USS Harry S Truman. A google search will surely yield more stories about his life. He was a loving husband. His wife is doing as well as can be expected and members of the squadron are fortunate enough to hear from her from time to time. He is dearly missed. http://webpages.charter.net/chiplee/...om%20small.jpg
Release # 0629-04-1329
Pilot involved in F/A-18A+ Hornet mishap aboard USS Harry S Truman listed as deceased
June 28, 2004
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, SC -- An F/A-18A+ Hornet pilot involved in a mishap Saturday night aboard the USS Harry S. Truman has been listed as deceased.
Captain Franklin R. Hooks II, 32, of Dade City, Fla., was assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115, Marine Aircraft Group 31, which was conducting flight operations off the Truman in the eastern Atlantic Ocean approximately 60 miles south of the Azores. Search and recovery efforts for Captain Hooks were unsuccessful.
A 14-year veteran of the military, Captain Hooks was married but did not have any children. Having enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1990, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1997 and had been stationed here since December 2001. He flew combat missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as a member of VMFA-115 “Silver Eagles” during their deployment aboard the Truman from December 2002 to May 2003.
Captain Hooks’ awards and decorations include the Air Medal, a Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal with a Combat “V” for valor, an Armed Forces Service Medal, an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, a National Defense Service Medal (2 awards), a Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and Naval Aviator Wings.
A memorial service for Captain Hooks will be held tomorrow aboard the USS Harry S Truman. Plans for a local memorial service will be announced at a later time.
The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the mishap continues.
Media interested in speaking with Marine Aircraft Group 31 Executive Officer, Lieutenant Col. Ross Roberts, are asked to be at the main gate visitors’ center at 1:45 p.m. to be escorted to VMFA-115’s hangar. A photo of Captain Hooks is included below. For further questions, please contact Captain Don Caetano at (843) 228-6123.
Recent article:
Oxygen loss linked to fatal MCAS jet crash
Pilot crashed in Atlantic in 2004 training exercise
Published Wed, Sep 21, 2005
By GEOFF ZIEZULEWICZ
The Beaufort Gazette
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The death of a Beaufort Marine pilot who crashed his F/A-18 Hornet into the Atlantic Ocean last year was most likely caused by oxygen deprivation, but the exact reason for the crash may never be known, according to a Marine Corps report completed after the accident.
Capt. Franklin R. Hooks, 32, was taking part in a training exercise on June 27, 2004, when he crashed south of the Azores, in the eastern Atlantic.
Hooks, a pilot with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115, The Silver Eagles, had been training off the USS Harry Truman when the crash occurred, according to the Marine report released this month. He had logged the second-most night systems hours within his division.
Although investigators suspect that a lack of oxygen caused the crash, neither Hooks' body nor the jet were recovered, which makes determining an exact cause impossible, said Mike Barton, a spokesman at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina. The Silver Eagles are part of Marine Aircraft Group 31, which is overseen by the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, based at Cherry Point.
"In aircraft accidents, they piece them back together and can determine the smallest details," Barton said. "Whereas in this case, without the aircraft, they can't do that."
Hooks, who was designated a naval aviator in 2000 and assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in 2001, became confused during the flight, which could have been caused by a lack of oxygen, the report states.
At one point in the flight, Hooks was unable to join up with the rest of his group, and when asked about his oxygen levels, he gave an unintelligible reply, according to the report.
When asked if he was experiencing vertigo or needed a descent, Hooks answered that he did not, according to the report.
"At the time of the flight, neither Captain Hooks nor any other member of the mishap flight recognized the nature or severity of his distress in time to prevent the mishap," the report states. "(Hooks) failed to recognize the deadly consequences of his symptoms before losing the mental clarity to calculate an appropriate course of action or to clearly articulate his problem."
The report states that Hooks' flight gear and jet were properly maintained and prepared for use before the crash.
Hooks had an existing illness or cold, which may have contributed to his problems in the air, the report states.
But Hooks did not "feel strong enough about his condition to remove himself from the flight schedule, an action that he had demonstrated in past circumstances," the report states.
While no punitive action was taken as a result of the investigation, the report recommended that the squadron's commanding officer review the cockpit navigation flight systems in the jets, as well as cockpit pressurization.
More training should be given to pilots regarding oxygen deprivation and not flying if they do not feel well, the report states.
Hooks' crash marked the fourth of five Beaufort-based Hornet crashes from October 2003 to June 2004.
Just days after Hooks' crash, Canadian Air Force Capt. Derek Nichols was killed when his Hornet crashed while landing at the air station.
In October 2003, two Hornets with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 collided over the Atlantic.
In March 2004, a Hornet belonging to Navy Strike Fighter Squadron 82, The Marauders, crashed into the ocean about 43 miles southeast of Beaufort. In both crashes, all three pilots safely ejected. An all-weather fighter and attack aircraft, the average F/A-18 Hornet, costs about $35 million.
Still loved every second of each day
I google my husband very often, though most titles still hurt to read...I am very proud of him.
Two years have passed, yet...he is loved even more than before. Nothing compares to greatest man that ever lived...and for me, Frank was exactly that. A soul mate...the missing piece.
I miss him with every single cell of my body.
Forever loved, forever missed.
CC Hooks
Random memory of a Marine
I wanted to stop and post a memory of this Marine, Capt. Hooks, because its what I remember the most of him. Sometimes you want to tell the family good things that they didn't know about a their son, husband, or father but you never get a chance to. Hopefully they will read this and know what the Capt. did for me.
It was the spring of 2002/2003 and we were already in the Med. flight ops were going at full strenght daily and we had been out to sea for sometime. From my post in maintenance control it was a constant juggle every night to get the aircraft in everynight and ready when the sun came up to put more rounds down range in support of OIF. You can imagine how busy the pilots were with constant briefings. At that time I had enrolled in a college course via mail in Electrical Engineering. I obviously wasn't thinking straight as I quickly found out that it was easy to stare without a clue for quite some time, at formulas you don't understand. After asking around I found out that Capt. Hooks had graduated with a major in Engineering. So after speaking with him he decided to try and help me out, when we both had some free time we got together and he explained formulas so that I understood them.
When we arrived back home to our heros welcome, and all the fan fare faded away I got out of the Corps and headed to Texas. While there I went to school and graduated in Engineering. It was there I had heard about what happened to this "very cool pilot". I was ready to give up when I saw my first engineering book just a 3 years prior, when out in the middle of the Medditeranean Capt. Hooks helped me figure out that I could be an engineer.
Its funny sometimes how things come full circle. I thought about Capt. Hooks today for some reason and came across an article that said he had went to school at the Naval Academy. And now here I sit, at work, at the Naval Academy and I'm here thanks to the help of one of its finest Alumni.
May God Bless the family of this Marine
Semper Fi :usmc: