F-16 Aircraft Database

In late Dec 1997 63-7896 experienced a bleed air leak in the #4 engine horse collar at Ramstein AB Germany. The aircraft was repaired with ducting from a derelict C-130 at Little Rock AFB (62-1813). The donor aircraft was taken out of service prior to the bleed air ducting upgrade to stainless steel the active fleet received. The repair directly resulted in a catastrophic rupture of main bleed air manifold between engine #3 & #4. The rupture exposed the area under the leading edge to 900 degree temperatures destroying every wire bundle between #3 and #4 engine and the right wing root pressure bulkhead.

C-130 Depot at Warner-Robins declined the repair citing that it was to extensive and costly to be conducted in the field. In early Jan 1998 a team from Little Rock AFB was sent to repair 63-7896. The team worked for 39 straight days, 29 of them outside in winter. Over 700 wires, (Approximately 11 miles) were removed and replaced. One emergency repair was made to the propellor anti-ice wire harness. The wire was terminaled and bolted together in accordance with 1-1A-14 Emergency Repair Section and the aircraft Form 95 annotated documenting the repair. An AFTO from 22 was also submitted after the discovery of all damaged wires between #3 engine and wing root after the team was on the ground in Germany. In an effort to save time the affected wire harnesses were cannibalized from 62-1813, however all the wire harnesses harvested from the donor aircraft were taken from the opposite wing from the incident aircraft resulting in all wires running from the wing root pressure bulkhead to the #3 engine fuel control were marked for the #2 engine. The aircraft Form 95 was annotated with the anomalous wiring markings.

The aircraft passed it's initial engine run with one minor defect of a recessed pin in the #4 horse collar. The pin was reset and the aircraft was readied for its Functional Check Flight (FCF). The aircraft passed its FCF the next day and the following day the maintenance and flight crews boarded the plane to fly it from Germany back to Little Rock AFB with only a single mechanical defect not related to the rewire repair. After the mechanical repair was made the aircraft successfully flew back to it's home station in Arkansas. 63-7896 flew for the next ten years without a single repair required to the replaced wiring harnesses. Mission Complete.