The U.S. Navy has completed its investigation into the crash of a F-5N assigned to VFC-111 off Florida on Aug. 9, 2017.
By U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brian Morales [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Investigators did not blame the pilot or anyone else for the incident and highlight the fact that the mishap pilot was making maneuvers at altitudes which prohibit such actions.
The Navy reservist pilot said he was pulling up vertical after commencing a mock dogfight when the nose became stuck at the vertical and right rudder control was sluggish. The jet subsequently entered into an inverted spin which the pilot could not recover from. He had to eject while inverted.