Two F-16 Jets From Different Bases Crash; Pilots Eject Safely

The Associated Press

YUMA, Ariz. (AP) - Two Air Force F-16 fighter jets from military bases in Arizona and Georgia crashed during training exercises, but the pilots in both managed to eject safely.

The accidents involving the $20 million aircraft occurred Wednesday. Both were under investigation. In Arizona, Maj. Anthony Barrell, from Luke Air Force Base near Glendale, was flying over the Barry M. Goldwater bombing range in southwestern Arizona near Yuma.

Barrell was flying as part of a four-jet formation. But before the start of an aerial engagement, Barrell radioed he had a problem and turned the jet toward the Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field to recover, a base spokesman said. He ejected en route to Gila Bend.

At Luke, the world's largest F-16 training base, all F-16s were grounded until a cause for the crash can be determined. Wednesday's crash was the eighth since the fall 1998 involving a jet flying a mission from base west of Phoenix.

Brig. Gen. John Barry, of Luke, said that with availability of the vast 2.7 million-acre Goldwater Range, Luke flies its planes the way they are flown in combat.

"So, if they're going to start showing the cracks someplace in the system, they're probably going to show here," Barry said.

In Georgia, two pilots managed to eject safely from an F-16 jet from Moody Air Force Base on Wednesday night.

Maj. Charles B. Kearney and 1st Lt. Christopher Hutchins were participating in night-vision goggle training when they were forced to eject, said 1st Lt. DeDe Halfhill, a base spokeswoman.

The F-16 crashed in Donalsonville, about 90 miles away.

The pilots were transported back to Moody by helicopter for medical evaluation, Halfhill said.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGI354AKS4C.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 17, 2000

Answers

"This is not Y2K-Related. You are getting sleepy. Very Sleepy. When you wake up, you will know this incident was not Y2K-Related"

-- (stillplaying@home.now), February 17, 2000.

stillplaying,

I'd like to agree with your Y2K premise, since I rewatched a tape of the Y2K movie and Titanic just last night!

However, as someone living in Central Arizona, I have to tell you that F-16's have fallen out of the sky with alarming regularity since 1997. Now unless those embedded systems have one hell of a Jo Anne Effect, it seems to be more related to cracked turbine blades.

By the way, it is a miracle that no one on the ground has been killed!

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It ALL went away last month.com), February 17, 2000.

Yes, K ... that's quite true, but I am concerned that the number of accidents, both civilian and military, are up from this time period last year and in 1998. Maybe not all can be traced to Y2K causes (there have been accidents before Y2K) but check out the numbers ... darn ... where's that link?

-- (stillplaying@home.now), February 17, 2000.

The Moody crew was flying using NIGHT VISION GOGGLES. That's a really good way to get a pilot disoriented and a plane out of control, and quickly. NVG's give you no depth perception and cut off your peripheral vision, both of which are needed to fly a fighter in visual conditions.

Let the pilot be looking out to the side of the jet, in a turn to try and keep one spot on the ground in view and it's out of control, upside down, with peripheral cues from the corner of his eyes blocked by the goggles. Loss of depth perception would be seen by subtlely loosing altitude until the pilot suddenly realizes he's descending and reacts or over-reacts to regain control and climb.

Night flying in tactical fighters is not very fun when you're doing it close to the ground. Mistakes or little problems leave little time to correct and major failures have no time to react.

Adding NVG's to the mix makes problems more likely. Pilot dis- orientation or even simply slipped or fogged NVG's could be the ultimate cause. This crash is most likely a simple operational loss, not any kind of equipment failure of the aircraft, Y2K or otherwise.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), February 17, 2000.