Third U.S. F-16 In Less Than a Year Crashes in South Korea
Is this just some kind of strange streak of bad luck or are these crashes a symptom of something else?:
Amid an “in-flight emergency,” a U.S. F-16 fighter jet crashed in waters off South Korea’s west coast Wednesday morning, the U.S. Air Force said in a statement, adding that the pilot had “ejected safely” and was transported conscious to a medical facility for assessment. (…..)
This is the second time in less than two months that the U.S. Air Force has experienced incidents with its F-16s. In December, another F-16 fighter jet from the 8th Fighter Wing crashed into the Yellow Sea off South Korea’s southeastern coast, with the pilot also having ejected safely before the crash. At the time, Gaetke ordered a two-day pause on flights for investigation and recovery of the aircraft. It’s unclear if that investigation has concluded.
Last May, another F-16 pilot ejected safely before the aircraft crashed into farmland near Osan Air Base.
TIME
You can read more at the link as well as over at the Stars & Stripes.
We used to call them Lawn darts in Europe back in the 80’s due to their reoccurring flame out issues. I vaguely recall a USAF Captain that survived one of these events, was featured on the Today show for it but later reportedly died in another F 16 crash.
They probably need a standdown to ensure the pronouns are all in order.
Maybe they are trying to prove the “gravity is a myth” theory…https://www.scitechnol.com/peer-review/gravity-is-a-myth-CHpy.php?article_id=8027
“Used to call them Lawn darts in Europe back in the 80’s due to their reoccurring flame out issues”
Some of those might still be flying. At least, there were some F16s that dated back to the 80s in 2015. They didn’t deploy those on any serious missions overseas but they still flew them.
I believe that we’ll soon see the Setnaffarians go into overdrive trying to spin conspiracy theories.
Liz, standard practice, keeps the big contractors gravy train continuing forever. F16 was fielded when I was a teenage AF brat, the reoccurring engine out issue should have been completely addressed by now but then again, I don’t think Sikorsky completely fixed the UH-60 stabilator issue from that same timeframe either, they just claim they did. Either way, the big contractors continue getting paid.
Think back in the 80s they were losing the equivalent of a squadron of F16s a year. “One a day in tampa bay” was the slogan during development.
Putting context on the time, it wasn’t intended to be flown anywhere near as long (as many hours) as some (perhaps most) have been. There is an enormous amount of stress on the airframe, it isn’t like flying a heavy.
Same reason F15s are breaking apart during flight. Wear over time. They try to combat it with maintenance work and overhauls, but there is a limit to what they can do.
Lesson learned from the C-47, if the airframe is not corroded, it can easily be made airworthy again, just use bigger rivits.