F-4C  64-0194 -- Pilot Account of Loss of Aircraft story by:  Skip Vincent KeokiDAHL.com I started my flying career with the 199TFS in F-4Cs. Regarding ‘914, it was actually lost during a local training mission on 7 Jan 1983. The pilot was Lt Col Tai Hong; the WSO was me, then 1^st Lt Skip Vincent. Both Tai and I escaped without serious injury. The best guess was that it was an afterburner fuel pump failure in the #2 engine. Once we had a fire light, we climbed to bleed off airspeed and assess the situation. We were at about 20,000 feet in a gradual decent after the second engine (#1 engine) indicated fire…two fire lights – not good. MYTAI 11 & 12 were now on our wing as we prepared to bail out (We were MYTAI 13. We ejected at 1007hrs at 17,100ft on the 335 radial at 35 miles from Honolulu Airport …free fall for about 30-40 seconds…canopy opened at about 11,000ft. Two USAF helicopters (HH- 53s) witnessed our splashdown at 1029hrs. We were fortunate that they were conducting air- air refueling at the time. We were picked up and delivered to Hickam AFB for a check up.