Chronological Listing of United States Air Force

PHOTO TO ADD

F-16
Losses and Ejections
 

With regard to the F-16 crash at Homestead AFB (83-1089) It didn't crash in 1990 as I reported to that base in April 1990 and the crash occurred after that. I was home on leave when that crash occurred and I always took leave in Dec/Jan so that means it would've crashed in 1991. That aircraft crashed in the Everglades where the pilot was rescued.
in emails 10th & 11th February 2009

Other pilot ???

10th TFS  50th TFW
Al Dhafra AB, United Arab Emirates

Capt. William Andrews
ejected
POW

Pilot ????

The aircraft crashed on the base after experiencing a flameout on takeoff and it was unable to return to the base due to the altitude and airspeed loss. It was close but the pilot struck the overrun and bounced into the midfield between the run and taxiways. The pilot extricated himself from the wreckage.
in emails 10th & 11th February 2009

The crash of 87-0335 in Kunsan Korea which killed Lt.Col Gardner I think was attributed to ATC error, I had left Korea just prior to this crash (days prior) and lastly while assigned to Spangdahlem AB, Germany there was a crash of an F-15 (1995) killing the pilot (Maj. Don Lowry) his aircraft crashed due to a maintenance mistake with cross connected flight control rods causing the plane to go further nose down when he desired nose up on take off. A google search of Maj. Don Lowry will produce the Time.com article which was an interesting read if you've never seen it.
in emails 10th & 11th February 2009

Hi,
I forgot how many other crashes I've been around for until I checked further into your site.

Regarding F-16C 91-0350 which crashed in New York on 8 Oct.93. That plane was brand new from the General Dynamics factory in Texas and was being ferried back to Germany. The pilot was (then) Capt. Rob Swaringen (now Lt.Col). The aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed as it was being diverted from one airfield to another in an attempt to land due to inclement weather. The pilot safely ejected.

(for your info......90-0849 F-16D 13 Jan.95 if memory serves the back-seater was a weapons loader getting an incentive ride when they both ejected after engine failure)

Hopefully your site gets a lot of holes filled in by people like me who were present for these events. Have a nice day.

in emails 10th & 11th February 2009

[see also 4th December 1998]

FEEDBACK

In February 1995, my brother-in-law(Norm) and I were watching F-16's land at Luke AFB. We were at the north end of the runway for no more than 5 minutes, when we see an F-16, lined up and approaching about 2 miles away. Another F-16 had just flown over, and was circling back in for landing. I said to Norm," I hope both pilots see each other", because it appears the the one circling in is approaching the other F-16. A few seconds later they both fly over us at about 75 feet in the air. I said, " I think they are going to hit each other".

A couple seconds later, BOOM! At about 30,40 feet in the air, the F-16 that was previously circling, lands on the tail of the F-16 that was approaching. Time stood still for the next few moments.

The F-16 that was on top, and had just landed on the tail of the other, went into full afterburner, straight up. From our view, it appeared it was in a vertical climb at about 40 mph, and accelerating. The nose cone was missing, radar dish fully exposed, jet exhaust thundering into the runway, a earth shaking thundering roar-like nothing we have ever heard, adrenaline flowing and time stood still.....but it slowing kept climbing.... and thundering......, I then turn my attention to the other F-16.

Just as it was about to hit the runway, we see an explosion, and ping, a black dot goes flying into the air, probably 100-150-200 feet. It was the pilot ejecting. The F-16 skidded down the runway and eventually into the dirt on the west side of the runway, kicking up a cloud  of debris and brief fireball. We see the parachute open, and from our vantage point, it appeared as if the pilot landed in the cloud of dirt and fireball.  Actually, the pilot, landed about a 1/4 mile away from the wreckage, but it looked like he landed right in it.
We both are speechless and stare at each other in disbelief.

Fire trucks are racing to the scene in and we eventually see the pilot moving around-and it appears he is OK. We were probably a 1/4 mile from him, and the wreckage another 1/4 mile away. About 10-15 minutes later, the F-16 with the missing nose cone, approached with assistance from another F-16, and safely landed.

It turns out,
the F-16 that had just flown over and was circling in was supposed to land on runway 2, and mistakenly was trying to land on runway 1. The other F-16 was lined up and approaching runway 1. Neither pilot saw the other.
The pilot that ejected ended up with just minor injuries.

We saw this happen 15 years ago, and its still vivid

Craig Meyer
in email 23rd March 2010
 

[aircraft from 347th Wing at Moody AFB, Georgia]

[see also 26th January 1994]