This is the third USAF F-16 to crash in the past 2 months.
It’s the third U.S. F-16 crash in less than 2 months.
A U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon (nicknamed “Viper” in the fighter pilots community) crashed near Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, around 3:30PM LT. The jet was approaching the runway at the airbase to perform what the Air Force defined a “routine landing” when the pilot was forced to eject for reasons that have not been disclosed yet. The F-16 pilot landed near the base suffering minor injuries, and was taken to a medical facility.
The 8th Fighter Wing commander has suspended all military and civilian flying operations to ensure the safety and security of people and assets.
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While “a board of officers will investigate the incident” it’s worth noticing that this is just the last in series of crashes of U.S. F-16s across the world: an F-16 assigned to the 49th Wing out of Holloman Air Force Base crashed during an evening training flight on Oct. 29, 2019. The pilot successfully ejected before the impact. That was the second incident in less than a month. Indeed, at the beginning of October, another F-16 crashed near Spangdahlem AB, Germany. The pilot ejected safely. Earlier this year, on May 17, 2019 another pilot successfully ejected from his F-16 before crashing into a large warehouse building on landing at March Air Reserve Base in Perris, California. That crash exposed several people on the ground to debris and to risk of hydrazine, a colorless, highly toxic and highly inflammable liquid that feeds the electrical systems and the EPU (Emergency Power Unit) in case of engine failure.
Two USAF F-16s crashed last year, including a fatal accident involving the U.S. Air Force flight demonstration team, The Thunderbirds that occurred on April 5, 2018. The other USAF F-16 accident in 2018 happened when an aircraft overran the runway on emergency landing and the pilot ejected safely at Lake Havasu City Airport in Arizona on April 24, 2018.
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