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F-16 Accident Reports for 2002

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Found 26 aircraft, displaying termsofuse.html- 14 [Sorted by Date]
Date Status Local S/N Aircraft AF/Unit Version Info Details
Jan 2002 [ act] 91377 91- 0377 USAF 77 FS F-16C Block 50 D Details

Struck by lightning during a sand storm while deployed for OSW. Was the lead aircraft of a two ship formation at an altitude of 35,000 to 40,000 feet when the wall of sand surrounded the aircraft and there was nowhere to go but through the storm. When the lightning strike occurred, the airspeed dropped to zero and the aircraft fell into a flat spint in the orange sand sky. Fortunately the pilot recovered but bottomed out at an altitude of only 500 feet.

Chris, the Crew Chief of #377 describes the experience: "We got the squacks saying my jet was code three for a lightning strike and the other was code one. That was strange to me because there really wasn't too much lightning out there and I had never seen a jet get struck by lightning. Anyway when the jet came in 15-20 minutes later, I noticed immediately something wrong, the ECM pod nose cone was gone! I hooked up the comm cord and said to the pilot like I always do "How are you doing Sir' did you have a good flight?" The only words out of his mouth were "I almost died, your jet saved me, if you could get me out as fast as you can." So as normal I shut him down, and it wasn't till I got a closer look that I noticed all kinds of things wrong; all of the leading edge tape was gone, the static dischargers broke off, the electronic nose cones of the cluster bombs he was carrying were gone and because it was our squadron jet, all the probes that I had polished were sandblasted… After that we had nothing but problems, a standby generator problem which ended up being the harness through the 341 bulkhead, a FLCS problem which was a harness in the right strake and a few flights later tension strut bushing problems that are still going on to this day."
08 Jan 2002 [ w/o] FA-96 80- 3587 BAF 349 sqn F-16A Block 20 MLU Details
Crashed on approach to Kleine Brogel forcing Cdt. Paul Gillis to eject. The aircraft suffered an engine malfunction causing it to catch fire.
10 Jan 2002 [ w/o] 83133 83- 1133 USAF 119 FS F-16C Block 25 A Details
Crashed in a heavily wooded area near a highway at Warren Grove Weapons Training Range, New Jersey. Major Robert G. McNally ejected safely.
26 Feb 2002 [ w/o] 93-087 93- 4087 RoKAF 157 FS F-16C Block 52 D Video footage Details
Fire broke out after takeoff from Seosan AB. Pilot, Captain Roon, ejected safely. The aircraft came down in a rice patty. The crash was caused by material defects in the engine blades.
07 Mar 2002 [ act] 6615 93- 0716 RoCAF 21 TFS F-16A Block 20 Details
Had to make an emergency landing at Ma Kung AB after suffering a mechanical malfunction.
08 Mar 2002 [ w/o] 15111 93- 0475 FAP Esq 201 F-16A Block 15 AV OCU Details
Crashed at Monte Real AFB. The aircraft impacted the ILS antenna and then struck ground on the south end of the runway 01/19 at 11:49. The pilot, Captain Jorge Moura, didn't attempt to eject. The aircraft was practicing for the PoAF's 50th anniversary air show for July that year.
20 Mar 2002 [ w/o] 91415 91- 0415 USAF 23 FS F-16C Block 50 D News Article Details
Crashed while performing a PAR approach at night at Spangdahlem AB near Lancheid, Germany. Pilot, Captain Luke Johnson, was killed in the crash
03 Apr 2002 [ act] 088 88- 1719 IDFAF 109 sqn F-16D Block 30 F Details
The aircraft took off from Ramat David AFB and during take off one of the tires blew up. The pilot reported this and he was ordered to dump all A/G weapons and the fuel tanks in the sea. The two pilots were on a training mission with a full load of A/G and A/A weapons at the time of the incident. The pilot burned some fuel and he was rerouted to Ramon AFB for landing, because of bad weather in the rest of Israel. After burning some fuel, they activated the EPU system and headed for landing. During landing the left landing gear broke under the pressure and the aircraft caught some fire from the landing gear. The pilots opened the canopy and ran off like hell while the rescue team put out the fire and turned off the EPU system. The aircraft was towed to the shelter and its wings and engine were removed in order to move the aircraft to extended repairs. The aircraft was repaired after a few months and it flies again these days. The aircraft was thus repaired successfuly. Another report indicates that the pilot was simiply too low on landing and caught the left gear on a sign.
15 Apr 2002 [ w/o] 92919 92- 3919 USAF 14 FS F-16C Block 50 P News Article Details
The aircraft crashed at 11:29 am at about 1.6 miles northeast of the town of Tanosawa, Japan. The pilot, Maj. Chad Miller, ejected from the aircraft with minor injuries. Approximately 15 minutes after beginning a qualification training upgrade mission, Miller reported an engine problem. He immediately turned toward land and attempted to restart the engine four times without success. He turned the aircraft parallel to the coast away from populated areas and then ejected. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact with the water. Based on evidence obtained during the investigation, the accident investigation board president's opinion is that a fatigue crack had developed in a high-pressure turbine blade. The crack caused a portion of the blade to fall off that then caused catastrophic damage and failure of the remaining turbine blades. Once the turbines failed, the engine could no longer produce thrust, continue to operate or be restarted.
24 Apr 2002 [ w/o] FB-19 80- 3594 BAF OCU F-16B Block 20 MLU Details
Crashed at Sellingen, The Netherlands in collission with PH-3G8 (Comco Ikarus C42 ULM). One of the pilots, Captain Luc Viane, didn't survive the crash, nor did the ULM pilot. The other F-16 pilot, Cmdt. Martin Levicar, survived with minor injuries
29 May 2002 [ w/o] 96027 96- 5027 USAF 425 FS F-16C Block 52 News Article Details
Crashed on the Barry M. Goldwater Training Range in southern Arizona. Major David Walker ejected safely and was taken to Davis-Monthan AFB for treatment.
05 Jun 2002 [ w/o] 93-0002 93- 0002 TuAF 181 Filo F-16C Block 40 P Details
Made three attempted landings at Cigli in an emergency situation after engine failure. Pilot was able to make a landing on four attempt but throttle problems caused the aircraft to go off the end of the runway killing 1st Lieutenant Oguz Yenen Kalbimizdesin.
10 Jul 2002 [ act] FA-100 86- 0076 F-16A Block 20 MLU Details
Struck bird and smoke filled cockpit, but pilot landed safely at Ostend Airport. Aircraft was repaired.
01 Sep 2002 [ w/o] 229 81- 0672 RJAF 2 sqn F-16A Block 15 C ADF Details
The aircraft broke its left main landing gear during landing and it subsequently exited the runway. The pilot, Firas Masaedeh, ejected safely.
09 Sep 2002 [ w/o] 87316 87- 0316 USAF 522 FS F-16C Block 30 J News Article Details
Crashed killing pilot Captain Benton Zettel. Aircraft was lost 50 miles west of Cannon AFB, New Mexico.

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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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