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F-16 Aircraft Database

F-16 Accidents & Mishaps for the Royal Norwegian Air Force

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Found 26 aircraft, displaying 1- 15 [Sorted by Date]
Date Status Local S/N Aircraft AF/Unit Version Info Details
24 Apr 1997 [ w/o] 274 78- 0274 RNoAF 332 skv F-16A Block 1 Details
Crashed near Bindal, north of Ørland, Norway hitting a high volt power cable. The pilot, Per Morten Storengen, ejected safely.
23 Mar 1992 [ w/o] 278 78- 0278 RNoAF 332 skv F-16A Block 5 Details
The aircraft was an early block 5, and was lost due to an engine failure at 18,000 feet. After three attempts to relight the engine, the pilot directed the aircraft away from populated areas and ejected at 3,000 feet. This happened near Banak AB, Norway
02 Jun 1981 [ w/o] 280 78- 0280 RNoAF 332 skv F-16A Block 5 Details
Suffered a collision with a goose and crashed at Lake Tunhovd, Norway. The pilot, Morten Køpke, ejected with minor injuries.
31 Jan 1983 [ w/o] 283 78- 0283 RNoAF 331 skv F-16A Block 5 Details
Crashed in Tysfjord, Norway after it hit and cut two out of three power cables crossing the fjord. The two power cables that were hit were properly marked, while the remaining third power cable was unmarked. The aircraft was part of a flight of three RNoAF F-16s, but was lower and in front of his formation when it hit the power cables. A power cable hit just above the pitot tube, scraping up the radome and cutting of the canopy, the HUD and the top 50cm of the rudder. Needles to say, with the high position of the pilot, he was killed instantly. The plane continued forward in slight descending angle, hitting the tip of a perpendicular aligned mountain ridge spreading debris out between 2 and 5 km, with a lot ending up in the fjord. There where eye witnesses to the incident in a nearby village. During the next 3 days over 1 meter (3.5 feet) of snow fell in the area. Although the pilot was found and identified, the snow made it impossible to find more than just a few bits of the plane. It was spring before the area could be searched properly. It was later determined that the pilot was looking out to the side when his plane hit the power cables, so he never knew what happened. The crash was considered a pilot error. The pilot apparently had less than a week left of his mandatory service and had a job as an airline pilot lined up
02 Jan 2014 [ sto] 285 78- 0285 RNoAF FLO F-16A Block 20 MLU Details
Nosewheel broke down during touch-and-goes at Bodø AB.
05 Apr 1989 [ w/o] 287 78- 0287 RNoAF 338 skv F-16A Block 10 Details
Collided with F-16A (78-0294, 294) over Sula, Norway killing one of the pilots, Rune Hernes. He was unable to eject and followed the aircraft until it impacted the ocean. The reason was he lost his entire vertical tail in the collision. When he tried to eject he was in a fast rotating flat spin. The canopy released as it was supposed to, but the two wires attached to the canopy that are supposed to flip a on the seat to tell the seat 'the canopy has cleared', failed. This was caused by a modification yet not performed on this particular aircraft. The two wires ran through two 'metal tubes/pipes' directly behind the seat. The modification was to change these two straight pipes to pipes that expanded at the top (like the end of a trumpet/trombone). Since the aircraft was spinning, the two wires were sheared off by the pipe when they were streched out. The seat than refused to fire, as the valve remained in the wrong position.
15 Sep 1987 [ w/o] 290 78- 0290 RNoAF 338 skv F-16A Block 10 A Details
Crashed near Froya, Norway. The pilot ejected safely.
05 Apr 1989 [ w/o] 294 78- 0294 RNoAF 338 skv F-16A Block 10 B Details
Collided with F-16A (78-0287, 287) over Sula, Norway killing one of the pilots, Rune Hernes. He was unable to eject and followed the aircraft until it impacted the ocean. The reason was he lost his entire vertical tail in the collision. When he tried to eject he was in a fast rotating flat spin. The canopy released as it was supposed to, but the two wires attached to the canopy that are supposed to flip a on the seat to tell the seat 'the canopy has cleared', failed. This was caused by a modification yet not performed on this particular aircraft. The two wires ran through two 'metal tubes/pipes' directly behind the seat. The modification was to change these two straight pipes to pipes that expanded at the top (like the end of a trumpet/trombone). Since the aircraft was spinning, the two wires were sheared off by the pipe when they were streched out. The seat than refused to fire, as the valve remained in the wrong position.
22 May 1990 [ w/o] 296 78- 0296 RNoAF 338 skv F-16A Block 10 B Details
Crashed near Houffallize, Belgium. The pilot ejected safely. The was on deployment to Memmingen for a squadron exchange with the local based JBG 34, equipped with Tornado IDS.
24 Feb 2006 [ act] 298 78- 0298 RNoAF 338 skv F-16A Block 20 MLU Details

Aircraft was struck by lightning on finale approach to Bodø. Exact date unknown. The aircraft was taken to Kjeller for repairs and inspection.

9 CB's popped; 3 x MMC power, CADS, 2 x AOA HTR, PITOT HTR, GPS and Radar ant CB's popped. The pitot heater harnes was burned. The radome was black inside and the L/H horizontal stabiliser and ISA had clear damage from the lightning exiting through the static dischargers.
05 Jul 1988 [ w/o] 300 78- 0300 RNoAF 334 skv F-16A Block 15 Details
Destroyed in a crash at Mørsvikfjord, Norway. The pilot, Vincent Skjøstad, didn't survive the crash. He entered an unrecoverable dive after he came semi inverted over a ridge line and tried to avoid hitting a flock of sea gulls. This brought him into a steep dive which he was unable to pull out from. The flight recorder recorded a full nose up command from the time he rolled upright and until he impacted the water. They found multiple impact marks and remains of sea gulls on the fuselage. They recovered most of the wreckeage from the bottom of the sea. The cockpit area was suprisingly intact compared to the rest of the aircraft, and the seat was still left in the cockpit. However, the top of the seat was missing along with the parachute (probably released upon impact). The parachute has probably blossomed under the surface dragging the body with it. The harness holding him in place in the seat, was torn off from the impact force. They found one of his boots, one glove and his helmet on the ocean floor. But the man himself and the parachute was never found.
13 Nov 1984 [ w/o] 301 78- 0301 RNoAF 332 skv F-16B Block 1 Details
Burnt out on the ground at Rygge AB, Norway. Just as power was increased for take-off a compressor blade came loose and shot up through the fuel tank creating a gaping hole. Fuel then drained into the engine causing a fire. A ladder was pushed up to the plane by ground crew and both pilots could step down unhurt. The F-16 virtually melted down before the fire was put out. One of the pilots was a USAF exchange pilot temporarily flying with the 332 sqn
12 Jun 1985 [ w/o] 303 78- 0303 RNoAF 332 skv F-16B Block 5 Details
Crashed north of Banak, Norway during a low level flight over the ocean. The crew consisted of a pilot and a higher ranking officer. The pilot experienced a sudden pitch down and due to the low level he did not have time to recover so he chose to eject. It was later speculated that the high ranking officer experienced a hart attack where he grabbed the side stick controler and pushed it forward. At the same time his body went rigid lifting up of the seat. When the pilot in charge decided to eject the seat hit the high ranking officer with extream force causing serious internal injuries which later lead to his death. The pilot in charge survived without serious injuries
04 May 1995 [ w/o] 307 78- 0307 RNoAF 332 skv F-16B Block 10 C Details
Suffered a bird strike in the air intake after take-off from Rygge air base at 11:38 hours. It was flying with an F-16A going on a bombing mission on a range in southern Norway. Both crew, 1st Lieutenants Bråthen and Vereide, ejected safely after twice attempting to relight the engine. The aircraft came down about three minutes later in and open field 300 yards from a main highway
12 Nov 2013 [ w/o] 669 80- 3669 RNoAF FLO F-16A Block 20 MLU Details
The aircraft was hit by lightning while on the ramp at Bødø AB. The lightning strike was so severe that almost all onboard systems were destroyed. With the pending retirement of the Norwegian F-16 fleet it wasn't worth fixing. The aircraft is setup as a spare part reserve with some restrictions in place for re-use of electrical equipment.

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Abbreviations and symbols:
[act] Active [i/a] Instructional Airframe [sto] Stored (e.g. at AMARG)
[cld] Cancelled Order [msh] Involved in Mishap [w/o] Write-off
[con] Converted [o/o] On Order
[des] Destroyed (drone) [pre] Preserved (museum, gateguard) T/V LM Aero Type/Version (Construction) number
[emb] Embargoed [scr] Scrapped Photo Available
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