F-16 Aircraft Database

Seriously damaged in a ground fire at Hatzor AFB

Compressor stall followed by a turbine shell out. The pilot failed to get the gear down and landed on the belly and did not eject as it wasn't needed.

Crashed after engine problems over the North Sea just east of Britain. The pilot ejected safely

Crashed about 10 miles from Cannon AFB at Clovia, New Mexico while on route to Luke AFB, Arizona. The pilot, Col. Phil Lehman, ejected but suffered serious back injuries.

Ingested a goose while on an exercise over Belgium. The aircraft had to divert to Brustem AB with major damage. The pilot stayed fine and the F-16 was repaired at the SABCA facility.

Experienced engine troubles after completing a bombing training mission. It crashed into an artillery range at Camp Grayling ANG base after the pilot, Capt. Douglas Cligrow, ejected safely.

Crashed near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Aircraft was from the Iowa ANG.

The aircraft crashed on the runway. It suffered fuselage damage from skidding 3,000 feet down the runway. Repaired for display at Great Falls, then transferred to Fargo/Hector IAP in August 1998 for display marked ‘82-1012'

Crashed about 15:30 hours into a house in Pensacola, Florida, following an engine failure 20 miles north of Pensacola while on route from Shaw AFB to Eglin AFB to avoid hurricane Bertha. The pilot was forced to eject two miles short of the runway. A child in the house was killed. A man and woman in the house suffered burns. The pilot ejected safely. The accident investigation showed foreign object damage to a fan blade caused a crack seven thousands of an inch (too small to visually spot). The blade was ingested into the engine. The engine had failed three times during the flight with two relighting’s. With the third engine failure the pilot ditched the aircraft into what he hoped was an unpopulated area, and ejected at only 200 feet.

Suffered a Class A mishap, but is surprisingly considered repairable, but most likely will not be repaired. It was written-off at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. The aircraft was the 3rd out of a 4-ship to take off, but it had no rotation of the stabs and subsequently the nose did not rise. The runway barrier did not raise in time and the aircraft went off the runway. The pilot ejected safely. Pilot had not taken into account Kirtland's high altitude and tried to rotate for take-off too early. There was suspicions of under-serviced nose strut contributing to crash but this was disputed due to the fact that the aircraft still should have rotated and numerous other Moody aircraft had improperly serviced struts and why didn't they have the same problems.

Crashed near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

A tire burst on take-off from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and engaged the barrier. Damage to the nose, fuselage bottom, undercarriage and speed brakes. It is expected to be repaired. Pilot was OK.

Collided in a mid-air with a Sea Harrier FA.2 (ZD580/‘710’) from the Royal Navy off the Dorset coast over the English Channel near Portland. Both aircraft recovered safely at Yeovilton. Damage caused to the F-16 was loss of a part of the port stabiliser, and the Harrier lost its radome. The F-16 was repaired. Both aircraft went to the FSAU at Yeovilton for investigation where the F-16 stayed for a couple weeks. The Royal Navy Sea harrier was at Yeovilton till October 22nd, 1996 before being moved to RAF St Athan were it was in storage. In September of 2001 it was taken BAE Systems Warton for repair assessment. The Harrier was decided not to be repaired and went back into storage at RAF St Athan and was sold to a private dealer in September of 2002.

The aircraft suffered a birdstrike but was repaired.

Crashed into the Aegean Sea nine miles off the island of Chios during a routine flight. It was part of a flight of four F-4's and two F-16's. Just prior to the mishap two Mirage 2000's intercepted them. One of two person crew was rescued but the other is missing. According to an official report, the TUAF formation had illegaly violated Hellenic airspace and so was intercepted by 2 HAF Mirage 2000EG (331sqn, 114FW, Tanagra AB). The 2 TUAF F-16s evidently denied to comply and started agressive maneuvers against the HAF Mirage 2000EG. During the engagment that followed, one of the HAF Mirage 2000EG (piloted by Lt. Grivas) fired a Magic IR missile. As a result a TUAF F-16D (#91-0023) was shot down. Immediately the second TUAF F-16 paused the engagment and escaped to the east in order to return to international air space. The first pilot (Capt. Nail Erdogan) was killed while the second pilot (Lt. Col. Osman Cıceklı) ejected safely. The downed pilot was rescued 30 min. after shot down by a HAF AB-205 SAR helo (from 358th search and rescue squadron). The pilot received immediate medical care and returned a few days later to Turkey with a HAF C-130 flight. At first the incident was kept secret for obvious purposes and both countries (Greece and Turkey) officialy adopted a mechanical failure as the main cause of the accident. In 2003 the Greek Minister of Defence, Mr. Giannos Papantoniou, stated in public that the incident of Oct. 8th, 1996, that led to the loss of the TUAF F-16D was a result of the immediate action that was taken by HAF fighters during an interception against TUAF fighters violating Greek airspace.