September 18, 1997 (by Lieven Dewitte) -
After two crashes of locally assembled F-16s in the past six weeks South Korea announced the grounding of all its F-16 fighter jets. Their Defense Ministry also said it was forming a special investigation team to probe the local production of the U.S. -designed fighter plane.
A locally assembled F-16 crashed on Thursday south of Seoul. The pilot survived. There was a similar accident involving a locally assembled F-16 on August 6. South Korean state television Korean Broadcasting System said both crashes were caused by engine failure, but a defense ministry spokesman declined comment. The engines were locally assembled with parts supplied by Pratt & Whitney.
