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Iraq
F-16 Crashes in Iraq
2007-06-16
BAGHDAD (AP) - A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet crashed Friday during a close air support mission for ground forces - a rare loss in Iraq of the workhorse aircraft. An Air Force announcement, which referred to the 12:27 a.m. crash of the F-16 as an accident, did not say where it occurred or what happened to the pilot, the single crew member. It said the military was investigating the cause of the crash.

An Ohio National Guard spokesman said the pilot, whom he did not identify, was a member of the 180th Fighter Wing based in Toledo. Spokesman Mark Wayda said about 270 of the unit's 1,000 members were deployed to Iraq last month. The jet was operating under the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Balad Air Base, 50 miles north of Baghdad.

The loss of an F-16 is an uncommon event in Iraq. One crashed last Nov. 27 in the western province of Anbar, killing the pilot.
Posted by:Steve White

#9  Could have been another problem with chafing in the 'fly by wire' system. Agree with OP on the unforgiving part. We didn't use to call them "Lawn Darts" for nothing.
Posted by: Steve   2007-06-16 23:02  

#8  I was stationed at Shaw in the mid-1980's, when the wing there was transitioning to the F-16. The plane is not terribly forgiving. We had at least three crashes in a year, which is a lot. Most of the 'gotchas' have been identified, and pilots trained to recognize them. It's still an aircraft that requires constant supervision, or you end up as a hole in the ground. Won't speculate, except to say I doubt it was shot down, especially from 20K.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2007-06-16 13:04  

#7  If he was at 20,000+ feet, any missile capable of reaching him would have been detected. If that was the case WE might never know, but the guys who need to would. Perhaps an oxygen system failure. Or a heart attack - ANG guys are older than too many friends I've lost that way in the past few years.
Sad.
Posted by: Glenmore   2007-06-16 12:05  

#6  Very sad. Unofficial reports here say he was at 20,000+ and disappeared from radar and nosed in at night. No ejection. Could be a number of things, to include suicide. I doubt it was a MANPAD. Smoking holes don't tell stories. Doubt we will ever know.
Posted by: Besoeker   2007-06-16 11:50  

#5  A-10 may not be sexy, but it's got TWO engines, while the F-16 has just one. Both aircraft were designed to address shortcomings that were revealed during our last major conflict (Vietnam) and went into service in the late 1970's. It takes environment stress (war) to force evolution (of weapons). THIS war is forcing rapid evolution of robotics and remote sensing. If that evolution proceeds normally, we will be a good leg up on the Chinese, if a war with them should develop: they may be able to match/steal the sensor and robotic hardware, but nothing but a war will 'de-bug' them.
Posted by: Glenmore   2007-06-16 09:40  

#4  But the A-10 Warthog isn't sexy.
Posted by: Eric Jablow   2007-06-16 08:19  

#3  Sounds like the pilot got target fixated during a gun run and augured in. Same thing happened in Nov. 2006. Really, a $40Million high speed F-16 shouldn't be doing gun runs. Leave that to slower attack aircraft costing 1/10th.
Posted by: ed   2007-06-16 07:50  

#2  Not necessarily. Could'a just crashed. Jet engines being jet engines and airframes being airframes.
Posted by: Shipman   2007-06-16 07:47  

#1  "Crashed" is a euphemism for "shot down". I wonder if it was AAA or SAM.
Posted by: gromky   2007-06-16 02:45  

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