F-16 Fighting Falcon News

March 6, 2001 (by Lieven Dewitte) - An Air Force fighter pilot committed a series of errors that "substantially contributed" to a fatal mid-air collision between an Air Force F-16 and a privately owned Cessna airplane over a Florida golf course last November, according to investigators.
The Air Force investigation also found that Tampa air traffic controllers "failed to transmit a safety alert to (the Cessna) when their radar system generated 'conflict alert' warnings, indicating that two aircraft were in danger of a collision," according to an Air Force statement. Had the warning gone out, the civilian pilot probably would have had time to avoid the collision, the Air Force said.

The civilian pilot of the Cessna 172 passenger aircraft was killed when the F-16 Fighting Falcon slammed into it, largely as a result of the mistakes made by the other pilot in the two airplane formation.

The Air Force pilot involved in the collision ejected safely from the single-seat airplane, suffering only minor injuries. The second fighter jet landed safely.

Investigators say the lead Air Force pilot, known only as "Ninja 1" in the Air Force statement, committed a navigational error that put the two jets "nine to 11 miles south" of where he believed they were. He also inappropriately entered Tampa "Class B airspace without proper clearance from Tampa" air traffic controllers, the statement says.

Additionally, "Ninja 1 unknowingly navigated his flight into Sarasota Class C airspace without the required communications with air traffic controllers," it says.

Ninja 1 also "made an inadvertent cursor input to his navigation system during the mission. The pilot failed to recognize the error. ... As a result, he unknowingly navigated the flight further off course," the investigators found.