What same reason – that they crashed?
…The Commander of the Air Education and Training Command stood down the entire T-3A fleet in July 1997 as a result of uncommanded engine stoppages during flight and ground operations. A major factor driving the decision were the three T-3A Class A mishaps. Three Air Force Academy cadets and three instructors were killed in these T-3A mishaps. The Air Force Accident Investigation Board [5] report summary attributed the three fatal accidents to:
i. 22 February 1995: The instructor pilot (IP) failed to apply antispin rudder as directed in flight manual. The IP’s spin academic instruction, flying training, and error analysis experience did not adequately prepare him to recognize his improper rudder application.
ii. 30 September 1996: During a simulated forced landing, the engine quit for some unknown reason. After the engine quit, the aircraft entered a stall from which the IP was unable to recover prior to ground impact.
iii. 25 June 1997: The aircraft departed controlled flight for an unknown reason during the turn to downwind. The IP’s failure to recognize this departure and take immediate positive corrective action was the primary cause of the accident. (The AIB President found no clear and convincing evidence of mechanical failure.)
The British-built planes had been purchased for $32 million, and following the third accident, $10 million was spent on fixes to make them airworthy after grounding. “The Air Force found the cost of getting the aircraft or any of the aircraft’s components in airworthy condition for resale was prohibitive” and “In September 1999, the chief of staff of the Air Force approved termination of the T-3A EFSP, and AETC declared all T-3A aircraft excess to the command’s needs. In 2000, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force requested a new mission be found for the T-3A; however, a study completed in 2002 did not recommend a follow-on mission.” [3] “The remaining T-3A aircraft were then stored without maintenance at the Air Force Academy and the Hondo Airport. In the 2002 to 2003 timeframe, the 53 aircraft at the Air Force Academy were disassembled, crated and trucked to Hondo.”[6] On September 9, 2006, it was announced the remaining 53 (114 were originally purchased) disassembled T-3 aircraft, which had been declared in excess need for over six years, would be scrapped…
…Certified on 15 December 1993, the last military version of the T67 family was the T67M260-T3A, of which the entire production run of 114 was purchased by the United States Air Force, where it was known as the T-3A. The T-3A was basically the T67M260 with the addition of air conditioning. Although the US media claimed the aircraft was to blame after the three accidents, no engine stoppages or vapour-lock problems with the fuel system were found during very thorough tests at Edwards AFB. Indeed, the instructors were found to have come from large-transport flying backgrounds with little or no aerobatic experience. This, combined with thinner air at the higher density altitude airfields, meant spin recovery was delayed or wrong techniques used. Parachutes were another factor. Following these accidents, the fleet was grounded and stored without maintenance until being destroyed in 2007…
…Unlike the United States, there were no serious operational or maintenance issues with the Fireflies in Canadian military service…
Accidents (T-3A)
Fatal Crash February 1995: US Air Force Academy T-3A failed to recover from a practice spin. Both instructor and student were fatally injured.
Destroyed Aircraft April 1995: Hondo Texas T-3A crashed on landing. The instructor pilot suffered a minor injury, the student pilot was uninjured.
Fatal Crash September 1996: US Air Force Academy T-3A engine failure / stall / spin / crash. Both instructor and student were fatally injured.
Fatal Crash June 1997: US Air Force Academy T-3A entered an unintentional spin / crash from the Academy Airfield downwind. Both instructor and student were fatally injured.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingsby_T67_Firefly
Being Wiki there are contradictions – USAF either purchased 113 or 114 T-3A, for example, but the jist of the story is that they used instructors with little experience of flying small aeroplanes and virtually no acrobatic experience so that when something out of the ordinary happened the inevitable result was a fatal crash. This would not, obviously, be the result on every occasion but it didn’t help that the Firefly was not an America design; would the same thing have happened with a Cessna or Piper design?
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