TSgt. Michael Downey II on Aug. 31 received the Airman’s Medal, USAF’s highest award for heroism in peacetime, from Air Force Chief of Staff John P. Jumper during a Washington ceremony. In October 2003, Downey, who is assigned to the office of the Chief of Staff, was on leave and walking with his three-year-old son in Boynton Beach, Fla., when an out-of-control car plunged into the Intercoastal Waterway right in front of him. He left his son with another bystander, dove into the water, and managed to get the sole occupant of the car, an 89-year-old great-grandmother, out of the car and to safety before the vehicle sank to the bottom of the waterway.
The crash of a T-38 trainer jet this May—which caused a weekslong pause in flights across the fleet—was caused by an improperly installed pin for one of the jet’s horizontal stabilizers, according to a new accident report released Oct. 30. When the pin disengaged midflight, it created the slightest amount…