1982 Thunderbirds Indian Springs Diamond Crash The 1982 Diamond Crash was the worst operational accident to befall the U . S . Air Force Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Team involving show aircraft . Four Northrop T - 38 Talon jets crashed during operational training on 18 January 1982 , killing all four pilots . Accident . The Thunderbirds were practicing at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field , Nevada ( now Creech Air Force Base ) for a performance at Davis - Monthan AFB , Arizona . Four T - 38A s , Numbers 1 – 4 , comprising the basic diamond formation , hit the desert floor almost simultaneously on Range 65 , now referred to as " The Gathering of Eagles Range " . The pilots were practicing the four - plane line abreast loop , in which the aircraft climb in side - by - side formation several thousand feet , pull over in a slow , backward loop , and descend at more than 400 mph . The planes were meant to level off at about ; Instead , the formation struck the ground at high speed . The four pilots died instantly : Major Norm Lowry , III , leader , 37 , of Radford , Virginia ; Captain Willie Mays , left wing , 31 , of Ripley , Tennessee ; Captain Joseph " Pete " Peterson , right wing , 32 , of Tuskegee , Alabama ; and Captain Mark E . Melancon , slot , 31 , of Dallas , Texas . Col . Mike Wallace , of the Public Information Office at nearby Nellis AFB , home of the demonstration team , said that Major General Gerald D . Larson , the head of an Air Force investigation board , arrived at Nellis from New Hampshire at 10 p . m . that night . " Larson and a team of 10 to 15 experts are expected to spend three weeks studying the wreckage of the four T - 38s – the worst [ training ] crash in the 28 - year history of the Air Force stunt flying team . The jets crashed almost simultaneously with what near - by Indian Springs residents described as an earthquake - like explosion that looked like a napalm bomb . Wreckage was strewn across a 1 - square - mile area of the desert 60 miles north of Las Vegas . " Initial speculation was that the accident might have been due to pilot error , that the leader might have misjudged his altitude or speed and the other three pilots repeated the error . However , the Air Force concluded that the crash was due to a jammed stabilizer on the lead jet . The other pilots , in accordance with their training , did not break formation . Eyewitness accounts . " At the speed they were going when they came out of the loop , I just thought , " That ' s the end of that for them fellows , ' " said W . G . Wood of Indian Springs , who witnessed the crash as he drove along 95 . " It happened so fast I couldn ' t tell you if one hit sooner . It looked like all of them hit at the same time . " Construction worker George LaPointe watched the jets disappear behind tree tops , " They didn ' t come back up , " he said . " They were going full tilt , really screaming , and at the time I thought they were too low . " The airframes involved were all T - 38A - 75 - NO Talons , serial numbers " 68 - 8156 " , - " 8175 " , - " 8176 " and - " 8184 " . Investigation and aftermath . Technical Sergeant Alfred R . King filmed the accident from the ground . His footage would help determine the cause for the AFR 127 - 4 ( Air Force Regulation covering " Investigating and Reporting US Air Force Mishaps " ) accident investigation . On 26 January 1982 , Congress passed Resolution 248 , stating that " The Congress hereby affirms its strong support for continuation of the Thunderbirds program . " Nonetheless , the 1982 season was cancelled for the Thunderbirds while they rebuilt the team . Former demonstration unit members still on active duty were recalled to help rebuild the squadron . A five - page report of the mishap was published by " Aviation Week & Space Technology " in their issue dated 17 May 1982 . The Thunderbirds next flew a public demonstration in the spring of 1983 , more than 18 months after their last public air show . On 2 April 1984 , at the direction of Gen . Wilbur Creech , Commanding General , USAF Tactical Air Command , all copies of the crash videotape were destroyed , with Creech himself erasing the final crash segment of the master tape . At the time of the destruction , the families of the pilots and NBC had already demanded access to the tapes as part of a suit against Northrop and a FOIA request , respectively . Creech did not seek JAG guidance prior to destroying the tapes , and asked personnel who had been involved in reviewing the tapes to leave the room prior to his erasure . Trading T - 38 trainers for F - 16 fighters . The Thunderbirds switched back to front - line jet fighters after the accident . The Air Force team , like the U . S . Navy ' s Blue Angels , had switched to smaller aircraft after the 1973 oil crisis . ( The Navy switched from fuel - hungry F - 4 Phantom s to smaller A - 4 Skyhawk s . ) The first F - 16A Fighting Falcon in Thunderbird colors arrived at Nellis AFB , Nevada , on 22 June 1982 .