Twice as Nice

USAF #79377
F-16A Block 10

This USAF F-16 crashed twice, but was repaired both times - hence it got named 'Twice as Nice'. It was later sold to Israel. The first crash was in 1984 - sometimes when aircraft systems designers integrate various components into an airframe, they forget to examine what happens if a component should fail. Such was the case in the original F-16 design. An electrical connector (cannon plug) came loose and unfortunately the wiring for critical components like brakes and arrestor hook all went through the same connector. The pilot attempted to land the aircraft and engage the arrestor wires. Both wires were missed and the aircraft went off the end of the runway. The pilot stayed with the aircraft and the rescue crews had to cut through the canopy to reach hime - the hole in the canopy can be seen in the photo. After this accident they changed the electrical schematic and wiring harness so that those features went through different connectors now. The second crash occurred a few years later. Cause of mishap was a stuck throttle cable at 70% power. The incident happened at MacDill and the pilot landed the aircraft then ejected when he couldn't stop it. It then went off the end of the runway.