IFE over March ARB

[serverandenforcer]

Wanted to wait to get the thumbs up to post this one. Viper-17, one of our F-16s, suffered an engine failure yesterday afternoon after doing a high speed pass prior to landing. He was fully loaded with fuel when this happened. Was forced to land the aircraft at speeds much faster than what is normal. How much faster... well, right when he landed... which was noticeably hard, he plowed down on the brakes, pretty much locking them up. All three gears caught on fire as the plane came to a screeching stop to only having 150 ft of runway left. There was so much smoke that the tower though his wing was on fire and told the pilot to jump out. The pilot did, spranged his ankle in the process, but was able to run clear of the aircraft. Fire and rescue was able to put out the fire on the landing gears. It is currenlty unknown what caused the failure. This was a first for me to experience. Sadly... no pics.

[Cali]

I guess they have no barrier at that runway? Mashing down on the brakes will catch fire for sure, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Did he just take off when this happened or hit a tanker? That doesn't make sense doing a high speed pass prior to landing with a full fuel load.

[Nesher]

the pilot made it out okay... that is what important

 

 

[serverandenforcer]

I guess they have no barrier at that runway? Mashing down on the brakes will catch fire for sure, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Did he just take off when this happened or hit a tanker? That doesn't make sense doing a high speed pass prior to landing with a full fuel load.

 

 

I think it was after he took off. I'm not exactly sure what the details were regarding that. I wasn't out on the flightline right when it happened. It was around the time when they do take off... I only heard from someone that he was doing a highspeed pass... they might've got the info wrong on that.

[+DWCAce]

the pilot made it out okay... that is what important

 

Agreed!

[+ST0RM]

Cal ANG F-16?

 

Great news on the pilot. Metal can always be replaced. Dudes can't.

 

Funny is that despite being from California, I've never seen a 144th jet in person. I'd love to A/R one.

[serverandenforcer]

Cal ANG F-16?

 

 

Yep... the 144th Griffins.

[Derk]

Birdstrike ?

 

At Volkel the pilot at least dropped his wing tanks and AFAIK made an unassisted (no brake cables) landing. . Saw everything happening right in front of me (together with about a 100.000 others........)

They had to cancel the whole Airpower Demo because of possible FOD for the following 10 F16's.....

 

Hou doe,

 

Derk

Edited July 12, 2010 by Derk

[serverandenforcer]

Birdstrike ?

 

At Volkel the pilot at least dropped his wing tanks and AFAIK made an unassisted (no brake cables) landing. . Saw everything happening right in front of me (together with about a 100.000 others........)

They had to cancel the whole Airpower Demo because of possible FOD for the following 10 F16's.....

 

Hou doe,

 

Derk

 

 

Nope, catastrophic failure in the engine. It's currently parked in the hangar waiting for replacement parts or to be replaced by F-15s in two years... which ever one comes first.