some of them wish that they had kept their Hogs...
Posted on 11/10/2004 4:28:41 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
For the third time in less than two weeks an F16 Fighting Falcon was forced to make an emergency landing at Syracuse Hancock International Airport.
It happened Sunday morning when the pilot reported an afterburner problem shortly after takeoff.
The jet was participating in an exercise. Around 08.45h the Viper pilot began circling the airfield for about half an hour to spend fuel before landing. F-16s are not designed to land on a full tank. Too much fuel makes them too heavy to land safely.
Another F-16 landed on October 29th because of a brake malfunction, and on November 1st yet another one blew two tires on landing after the pilot reported brake problems.
No injuries were reported in any of the landings.
Hancock field is preparing for an operational readiness inspection in January that will test the unit's ability to move its people, cargo and jets to the battlefield.
The 138th Fighter Squadron converted in 1993 from the F-16A to the Block 30 models. In October 1998, the Wing swapped aircraft with the 149th FW of the Texas ANG and received Block 25 F-16s.
hopefully they fix this soon before anyone gets killed
I'd be reviewing my mechanics' training.
** putting on tinfoil hat **
Sabotage?
Routine stuff in any fighter outfit.
The F-16 isn't called the "lawn dart" for nothing.
Oh yes, I'm sure that the Wing Commander is explaining to the Base Commander what he's doing to review and improve maintenance practices and anything else out of the ordinary. This is a high-visibility deal.
Who made the F-16, is there a history of problems with the F-16 and what's that company's political leaning? The timing...
These things seem to happen in clusters. Who can explain it? At Hill AFB, UT in Jan. 1998, there was such a rash of F-16 crashes (with several pilots getting killed) that the wing commander was relieved of command and he retired. The mishaps were so wide-ranging that they never could nail down it down to a specific cause. It was just weird.
General Dynamics, introduced around 1976?
PING cause I'm curious as to your take on this...
Good call.
What do you make of this?
There should be similar problems and a paper trail.
Looks like a great Air Field when you are in trouble! and three safe landings is Fantastic. More pilots will be heading to Stewart if they encounter trouble.
some of them wish that they had kept their Hogs...
Posted by bd476:
"...Who made the F-16, is there a history of problems with the F-16 and what's that company's political leaning?..."
I'm guessing that you left out the [/sarcasm] tags because it is fairly safe to assume that General Dynamics isn't managed by a bunch of sissy peaceniks!
~ Blue Jays ~
Not all government contract work is performed by companies with good track records, no matter whether a company is considered traditionally conservative or not.
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