Pilot error a factor as F-16 crashes increase

F-16s from the California Air National Guard's 144th Fighter Wing fly in formation with a KC-135 Stratotanker from the 314th Air Refueling Squadron from Beale Air Force Base last year. The accident rate for F-16s has risen over the past few years, and two pilots died in fiscal 2007.


Pilot error a factor as F-16 crashes increase
By Scott Lindlaw - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Oct 22, 2007 19:12:23 EDT

The dreaded BANG! came from deep within the F-16’s lone engine, shaking the warplane as it made passes over an Arizona bombing range last December. Then came the alarming loss of thrust.

Two attempts to restart the engine failed. Having exhausted their options, the pilot and his student bailed out, parachuting to safety before the plane slammed into the Sonoran Desert, a $21 million loss for taxpayers.

Not all F-16 pilots have been so lucky recently. The accident rate for this workhorse fighter has risen over the past few years, and two pilots have died in the past year, according to an Associated Press review of Air Force documents.

In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, there were 10 “Class A” F-16 accidents — crashes that resulted in death, loss of the aircraft or damage of more than $1 million. (An 11th F-16 crash was counted separately as a combat loss by the military because the pilot was strafing enemy trucks at the time.)

The total was up from nine the previous year, five the year before that and just two the year before that.

The number of crashes has gone up even though the total number of hours flown has dropped steadily over the past five years.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/10/ap_f16crashes_071021/



uhc comment: An F-16 costs $21,000,000. An F-35 costs $100,000,000. A single seat F-22 costs $329,000,000.

Progress is our most important product.

I spent my career working on F-15s. A far superior craft, IMO. Any time you can have more than one engine, you're better off. The F-15's thrust-to-weight ratio is remarkable. Of course, I'm a little biased. I love that plane.

The F-16 has had a quiet and sometimes not so quiet history of crashing. When you lose your only engine, and the aerodynamics of the aircraft are such that gliding is out of the question, you gotta punch out. I wish more of these pilots would punch out rather than attempt to get it going again past the point of no return.

I'm sad to see the F-14, F-15, and F-16 nearing the end of their service lives (though they'll live on in the ANG for many years to come). It definitely makes me feel old.

They sell those planes to dozens of countries: Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, South Korea, you name it. Lockheed Martin is absolutely one of the largest outfits thriving on corporate welfare that has ever existed.

Yes, of course he's a Puke.