F-16 Aircraft Database

Belly landed at Torrejon AB, Spain when the pilot forgot to lower landing gear. Aircraft, which was on a delivery flight, landed on three external tanks. Damage was considered minimal but was damaged when the recovery crane dropped it from roughly 4 feet during recovery. Because of that the aircraft had to have a spar replaced so a CLSS team flew in from Hill AFB, Utah and fixed the aircraft within a week.

The aircraft was completely destroyed in a crash. It impacted the ground near Union, Missouri due to bearing failure.

When 779 was landing at Torrejon AB, Spain for the first time, coming from the factory, the pilot forgot to put the landing gear down somehow and landed on the tanks. My beautiful, brand new F-16 with only 16 flying hours on it as I remember it began its assignment at TJ with a bang. Then, the crash recovery crew picked it up with a crane and dropped it twice. My baby sat on the ground for a couple of months while we waited for a depot crew to come and change a rib in the engine bay that was compressed, not from the landing but from being dropped by the crash recovery crew. I still am hoping to find a picture of that some day.