U.S. Air Force blames flight instruments failure for F-16 crash in December
Published: 27 Sep. 2024, 14:33
Updated: 27 Sep. 2024, 16:55
On Dec. 11, the single-engine fighter jet assigned to the U.S. 7th Air Force's 8th Fighter Wing crashed into waters near Kunsan Air Base in the western coastal city of Gunsan, North Jeolla. The pilot safely ejected and was rescued.
After an investigation, the U.S. Air Force's Accident Investigation Board found the jet experienced an embedded GPS inertial navigation system (EGI) failure, resulting in the loss of primary flight and navigation instruments about 13 minutes after takeoff, according to the 7th Air Force.
The pilot experienced disorientation but continued to fly with navigation and altitude information provided by a wingman, it said, noting that weather conditions at the time required reliance on flight instruments to maintain control.
But the mismatch in data between a standby attitude indicator experiencing errors and the wingman's cues resulted in further spatial disorientation, and the pilot decided to eject.
The total destruction of the fighter jet limited the investigation board's ability to analyze physical evidence and determine the cause of the EGI failure, it added.
The incident was one of three recent U.S. F-16 crashes in Korea.
A U.S. F-16 crashed into farmland in May 2023, followed by the December incident, and another crash into waters off Gunsan in January of this year. All of the pilots ejected from the aircraft and were rescued.
The investigation board blamed the May crash on a partial aircraft power loss.
An investigation into the January incident is still being conducted, but preliminary findings do not indicate that it was related to the previous two crashes, the 7th Air Force said.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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