F-16 Reference

F-16 Aircraft Database

F-16 Accidents & Mishaps for the United States Air Force

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Found 523 aircraft, displaying 331- 345 [Sorted by Date]
Date Status Local S/N Aircraft AF/Unit Version Info Details
02 Jun 1992 [ w/o] 88160 88- 0160 USAF 310 FS F-16D Block 42 A Details
The mishap occurred near Luke AFB, Arizona during a night mission. The aircraft collided with the ground and the pilot; Lieutenant Colonel Edward Eugene Hackney, the Wing safety officer, never attempted to eject.
Unknown [ act] 88161 88- 0161 USAF 310 TFTS F-16D Block 42 A Details
Suffered from an electrical fire during start up in 1991. The EPU activated after primary and standby generators fell offline. Spark chasers had a fire in the main landing gear bay during electrical checks. Chafing discovered where the harnesses crossed from the left to the right MLG bays. Depot team from Hill ALC came down and assisted with rewiring from tail to aft seat clock. All power harnesses needed to be replaced. Code 1 on the first FCF flight after all maintenance was completed.
26 Jun 2013 [ w/o] 88165 88- 0165 USAF 309 FS F-16D Block 42 A News Article Details
The jet crashed near Luke AFB during a routine training flight due to a birdstrike. Both pilots ejected safely.
Apr 2019 [ sto] 88166 88- 0166 USAF 8 FS F-16D Block 40 C Details
Had an electrical failure and overran the runway at Roswell AP. Being trucked back to Holloman AB.
23 Jul 2001 [ w/o] 88167 88- 0167 USAF 308 FS F-16D Block 42 A Details
Impacted the ground near Gila Bend, Arizona. Pilot, Major Robert P. Egan, ejected safely. Cause was fasteners came loose in the engine and caused a cascade effect which lead to the engine seizing and fire.
30 Jul 1991 [ w/o] 88168 88- 0168 USAF 34 TFS F-16D Block 40 C Details
Flew into the ground near Ely, Nevada at 22:25 hours with 1st Lt. Keith G. Nylander not ejecting. He flew straight into the ground during a two-ship LANTIRN test run.
23 Mar 1994 [ w/o] 88171 88- 0171 USAF 74 FS F-16D Block 40 D News Article Details
Collided with C-130E (68-10942) over Pope AFB, near Fayetteville, North Carolina. The damaged C-130 landed safely. The F-16 crashed into the cargo aircraft parking ramp, shortly after the crew ejected safely. The wreckage of the F-16 scattered across the ramp, hitting a C-141B (66-0173) getting ready to load paratroopers. The paratroopers were rigging in the grassy area behind the C-141. The C-141 caught fire which ignited the fuel tanks. Wreckage from the F-16 scattered through hundreds of fully rigged paratroopers. The C-141 was completely destroyed. By the 25th of the month 23 had people died and 80 were seriously injured. Both the C-130 and the F-16 were trying to land at the same time. The F-16 was above the C-130 and could not see it. They collided at 300 feet. The F-16 hit the tail of the C-130 which damaged the nose of the F-16. The pilot could not regain altitude and before he ejected made an attempt to guide the aircraft away from the parking ramp and buildings by engaging the afterburners. Pieces of the F-16 were found out the back gate of the base, over 1,000 feet away from point of impact. The cause of the mishap was a chain of errors by civilian and military air-traffic controllers. This is the worst F-16 accident to date.
13 Nov 2002 [ w/o] 88397 88- 0397 USAF 466 FS F-16C Block 30 K News Article Details
While flying over Utah salt flats, pilot was not aware of how close he was to the ground as there was a layer of very calm water, which made a mirror like image making it difficult to judge distance to the ground. Pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Dillon McFarland, was killed.
11 Aug 1999 [ w/o] 88403 88- 0403 USAF 35 FS F-16C Block 30 K Details
Collided with another F-16C (86-0266) which crashed. It was about 18:15 hours when the collision occurred and the aircraft were returning from a live weapons training mission. The aircraft that was destroyed impacted near the southern end of Kunsan's runway. The pilot, Major Mark Moore, had ejected safely. Two five hundred pound mk.82 bombs were recovered, however a CBU-87 went missing. It is believed to have been just off shore from the wreckage. The aircraft which landed safely caused the accident by ignoring the calls from the other aircraft in the formation due to focusing too much on flying the aircraft. The aircraft was cleared to land, while the other had a take-off clearance. Damage to this aircraft was in the starboard wing and horizontal stabilizer.
Unknown [ sto] 88404 88- 0404 USAF 93 FS F-16C Block 30 K Details
Ran off the runway at Balad AB.
02 Apr 1990 [ w/o] 88408 88- 0408 USAF 80 TFS F-16C Block 30 K Details
The mishap occurred at Kunsan AB, Korea due to an augmentor fuel tube failure at the flange weld and a resulting fire in the engine bay. The pilot, Stephen R. Howell, ejected safely.
30 Mar 1994 [ w/o] 88411 88- 0411 USAF 176 FS F-16C Block 30 K Details
During an IFE landing the aircraft experienced a missed barrier engagement and went off the end of the runway. Consequently the main gear collapsed, the engine ingested dirt and the aircraft broke apart. The pilot ejected and was rescued by the fire department as he landed in the center of the fire from escaping fuel. The aircraft was in SEC mode, which has a high idle thrust on GE engines. The aircraft was configured heavy and with that high idle thrust needed to engage the barrier.
22 Oct 1998 [ w/o] 88414 88- 0414 USAF 310 FS F-16C Block 42 B Details
Crashed at about 13:00 hours, ten miles north of Luke AFB. The pilot, Lt.Col. James Bright, was on a routine air-to-air training mission and ejected safely. The crash was the result of a mid-air collision in which the other aircraft, F-16D #90-0730, landed safely. Cause of the mishap was error due to improper rejoin procedure.
15 Jun 2003 [ act] 88421 88- 0421 USAF 421 FS F-16C Block 40 B Details
Collided on the ground with F-16C (88-0516) caused by a hydraulic failure. The incident happened at just before 8:00 am local time on the Zulu-1 taxiway of Al Udeid AB, Qatar. Initial unconfirmed reports indicate that a taxiing F-16 lost all hydraulic power and ran into a parked F-16 at about 10 knots. One maintenance troop on top of the parked F-16 was thrown or jumped off the F-16 and was slightly injured, abrasions to his back. Both F-16s were fully loaded with live ordnance, there were also 3 pieces of AGE equipment involved. After the impact, some sort of electrical short is suspected from one of the AIM-9 missiles, that possible ignited some of the fuel and started a fire in the motor of the AIM-9 and on a below mounted avionic pod. This fire was reportedly quit large and it was extinguished by another maintenance troop, possible saving 7 fully loaded F-16s! As the Fire Department arrived on scene there was light smoke but no fire. The rocket motor was still smoldering so about 200 gallons of water was used to cool them down. After it was determined that there we no lives at stake the area was evacuated. EOD made entry about 45 minutes later. They determined that a piece of AGE equipment that was lodged between the two aircraft would need to be stabilized with a crane during the download of the munitions. This effort totaled 6 hours and 33 minutes with the outside temperatures being between 110°F and 133°F during the emergency. EOD removed 4 damaged munitions and one that they were unsure of.
12 Jun 2003 [ w/o] 88424 88- 0424 USAF 421 FS F-16C Block 40 B News Article Details
Went down over Iraq at 6:30 hours southwest of Baghdad. The pilot ejected safely and was picked up by friendly ground forces. The only thing that was left of the aircraft were the tail and canopy. Cause of the crash was trapped fuel in the wing tanks due to a malfunction of an unknown reason. Further to this the fuel was not being monitored as the pilot was heading up to the tanker to get gas the engine flamed out.

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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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Errors and Omissions

Mar 04, 2022 - 09:51 AM
F-16 CRASH

I couldn't find the Edwards AFB crash of 2001 in this list. I was trying to find what tail number it was.


Mar 04, 2024 - 06:45 AM
Jan 82

Some time in the 80s a f16 landing at nellis missed the the arresting Hook and went thru the barrier at end of runway and came to rest in 3 pieces on the golf course

Pilot was cut out of cockpit and walked away





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