U.S. Air Force Aircraft Accident Investigation Board says the crash of a F-16 fighter in Germany in 2015 was caused due to an engine mal...
U.S. Air Force Aircraft Accident Investigation Board says the crash of a F-16 fighter in Germany in 2015 was caused due to an engine malfunction.
On 11 August 2015, an F-16CM tail number 91-0366, assigned to the 52nd Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany experienced an unrecoverable engine malfunction while on a local training mission near Grafenwoehr, Germany resulting in pilot ejection and a total loss of the aircraft.
After approximately 29 minutes of flight, the mishap pilot experienced a loss of thrust.
Five attempts were made by the mishap pilot to restart the failed engine. Prior to ejection the mishap pilot maneuvered the aircraft away from populated areas; ejecting at 156 knots calibrated air speed and approximately 400 feet above ground level.
The mishap aircraft was destroyed upon impact; the loss was valued at $39,796,422.00.
The Accident Investigation Board President determined, by a preponderance of evidence, that the cause of the mishap was a structural failure of the bearing cage within the lower governor ballhead bearing.
This structural failure caused the main engine control to malfunction, which prohibited fuel flow to the engine. The lack of fuel flow prevented engine restart and resulted in a complete loss of thrust, requiring the mishap pilot to eject from the mishap aircraft.
On the day, the F-16 was part of a four ship aircraft scheduled to fly a Basic Surface Attack mission to the Grafenwoehr Training Area (GTA) range. Each F-16 aircraft in ROCKY flight was configured for the air-to-surface mission with six lightweight practice bombs, BDU-33s, loaded on Triple Ejector Racks.
