Crash of F-16 Off the Coast of Korea Caused By Instrumentation Fault
Now we know what caused a USFK F-16 to crash this past December:
The crash of an Air Force fighter jet off South Korea’s western coast last year was due to the loss of instrumentation and poor weather, according to a 7th Air Force news release Friday. The F-16C Fighting Falcon was over the Yellow Sea on Dec. 11 when it crashed “due to loss of primary flight and navigation instruments during adverse weather conditions,” the release states. The fighter belonged to the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base, 115 miles south of Seoul.
The pilot survived the crash although the aircraft was a total loss, according to 7th Air Force. The Accident Investigation Board found that the F-16’s loss of flight and navigation instruments was prompted by the failure of an embedded GPS inertial navigation system. That system’s failure, along with the unidentified pilot’s reliance on other indicators that showed inaccurate readings, led to “spatial disorientation,” according to the release.
You can read more at the link.
That sucks. Glad the F16 has a good ejection system at least.
kind of wonder about maintenance these days.
I know there has been some “pencil whipping” going on in maintenance and life support (checking the box even when the work hasn’t been done).
This brings up more questions than answers.
– failure of a single gps inertial navigation system can bring down a plane? Note to enemy.
– gps and inertial should be different systems… gps gives you XYZ position, with predictive trends based off the previous location points. Inertial calculates direction vector based on a summation of all previous inertias.
– “other indicators” were also inaccurate? What “other indicators” and how were they inaccurate?
Liz, you must be the local expert on this… but to me, it seems there is…
….some…
…bullshît around here.
Maybe sabotage. Maybe not.
I’m of the opinion it’s always malice until proven otherwise.
Our leaders might not think we’re in a war; but the Chinese, North Koreans, Russians, Iranians (and proxies), and those “climate” morons who glue their hands to roads or throw soup on Van Gogh paintings might feel differently.
And there’s always been issues between USFK and “certain civilians” down at Kunsan.
“…bullshît around here.”
Mike is on a moose hunt right now (outside of cell range) unfortunately
it will be a few days before I can ask him. I am curious what he thinks of this.