NOTABLE ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF F-16

1.         On 8 May 1975, while practicing a 9-g aerial display maneuver with the second YF-16 at Fort Worth, one of the main landing gear jammed. The test pilot, Neil Anderson, had to perform an emergency gear-up landing and chose to do so in the grass, hoping to minimize damage and to avoid injuring the many GD employees observing the display. The aircraft was only slightly damaged.

 

2.         On 11 February 1992, an F-16 from the Royal Netherlands Air Force crashed into the city of Hengelo. The fighter suffered engine failure shortly after takeoff and the pilot tried to return to the nearby Twente air base. The pilot ejected and landed safely on the roof of a building. The F-16 crashed between the houses, without causing any injuries on the ground.

3.         During a joint Army-Air Force exercise being conducted at Pope AFB, North Carolina, on 23 March 1994, F-16D was simulating an engine-out approach when it collided with a USAF C-130E. Both F-16 crew members ejected, but their aircraft, on full afterburner, continued on an arc towards Green Ramp and struck a USAF C-141 that was embarking US Army paratroopers. This accident resulted in 24 fatalities and at least 80 others injured.

4.         On 27 March 2000, an Israeli Air Force F-16D-30F at Ramat David Air Base crashed into the Mediterranean Sea during a training flight 17 nmi (31 km) off the coastal village of Atlit in northern Israel. The pilot, Major Yonatan Begin, was a grandson of former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

5.         On 15 September 2003, a U.S. Air Force Thunderbird F-16C crashed during a Mountain Home, Idaho, air show. Capt. Christopher Stricklin attempted a "Split S" maneuver based on an incorrect mean-sea-level altitude of the airfield. Climbing to only 1,670 ft (510 m) above ground level instead of 2,500 ft (760 m), Stricklin had insufficient altitude to complete the maneuver, but was able to guide the aircraft away from the spectators and ejected less than one second before impact. The pilot survived with only minor injuries; the aircraft was destroyed.

6.         On 23 May 2006, Greek and Turkish F-16Cs collided 30 miles (50 km) from the Rhodos Island. Pilot 1st Lt. Halil Ibrahim Ozdemir ejected and rescued with some injuries.

7.         On 13 September 2009, an Israeli Air Force F-16A crashed while on a training flight over the southern Hebron hills, killing pilot Assaf Ramon. Assaf was the son of Ilan Ramon, a former F-16 pilot and Israel's first astronaut, killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

8.         On 26 August 2010, two Greek Air Force F-16s collided in mid-air off the southwestern coast of Crete, killing one and injuring two pilots.

9.       On 14 February 2011, two Royal Thai Air Force F-16s crashed in northeastern Thailand during Exercise Cobra Gold, both pilots ejected safely. The cause of the accident has not been determined.

10.       On 27 April 2011, an UAEAF F-16 crashed after overrunning a runway during a landing at the Sigonella military base, Italy. The F-16 was participating in the NATO-led No-Fly-Zone over Libya. The pilot ejected safely.