F-16A Fighting Falcon Crash Site

March 31st 2020





Summery :

 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a supersonic multirole fighter aircraft for the US Air Force. Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,500 aircraft have been built since production was approved in 1976.

This F-16A (#80-0600) was assigned to the 57th Fighter Wing at Nellis AFB.

On January 12, 1983, F-16A 80-0600, call sign "Cobra 32" piloted by Captain Peter L. Jones, departed Nellis AFB, Nevada at 11:12am as the wingman of a two ship flight.
The mission was a Fighter Weapons School one-v-one continuation training sortie.
Two offensive engagements were flown uneventful. The third engagement began from a four to five nautical mile.
They passed left to left 180 degrees out at 18,000 to 19,000 feet MSL and approximately 3,000 to 4,000 feet line abreast.
Number one started a left climbing turn and noted "Cobra 32" begin a slice to the left.
Number one increased his turn and observed a fireball as "Cobra 32" impacted the ground.
The pilot was killed when he did not eject from his steeply diving aircraft.

This crash was was due to the early design of the G-Suit connector.
It was a push in pull out disconnect.
After this crash, all F-16's were fitted with a screw in type hose.


----------------------------------------------

Since aircraft dived into ground nearly vertical in high speed, most of the deblis shredded into smaller pieces and spread over 10 acres in the ragged and steep terrain on the side of the mountain.
There were thousands of finger size to arm size wreckage at the site.
The largest piece was about 6 ft long part of main wing.
Impact crater is still visible and there is M61A1 Vulcan sitting inside.


    
Description



Manufacturer:
General Dynamics
Base model:
F-16
Version:
A
Nickname:
Fighting Falcon
Designation System:
U.S. Air Force
Designation Period:
1978-
Basic role:
Multirole fighter, air superiority fighter
Serial Number:
80-0600
Year built:
1980
Crash Date:
1/12/83
Fatalities:
1




Specifications



Length:
49' 5" 15.06 m
Height:
16' 0" 4.88 m
Wingspan:
32' 8" 9.96 m
Wingarea:
300.0 sq ft 27.87 sq m
Empty Weight:
18,900 lb 8,570 kg
Max Takeoff Weight:
42,300 lb 19,200 kg





Propulsion



No. of Engines:
1
Powerplant:
Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220/220E afterburning turbofan
Dry Thrust:
17,155 lbf
Thrust with Afterburner:
28,600 lbf





Performance



Max Speed:
1,320 mph 2,120 km/h Mach 2
Ceiling:
50,000 ft+ 15,240 m+
Range:(with drop tanks)
2,620 miles 4,220 km





Unit Cost:
$14.6 million


    
Other F-16 Link :
 Wikipedia Link : General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon
    



Showing 1-24 of 198 pictures | Next -->