Air Force report: Wide range of factors caused F-16CG crash in Italy

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Air Force report: Wide range of factors caused F-16CG crash in Italy
By Kent Harris, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, January 19, 2008

AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy - An Air Force report blames the Sept. 18 crash of an F-16CG on a wide range of factors, including weather, plane malfunction and pilot action.

The report, issued by U.S. Air Forces in Europe on Friday afternoon, is the result of an investigation in October and November chaired by Col. Jack L. Briggs II, who signed the executive summary.

According to the report, a drip ring in the device that tells the aircraft its trajectory froze as the plane flew through thunderstorms over the base. The result was that plane computers continued to receive the same information, even as it climbed in altitude and lost air speed. The incorrect information also fooled the sophisticated aircraft from correcting itself in time to prevent an uncontrolled spin.

The pilot, Maj. Timothy Parker, ejected from the aircraft about 18 minutes after he took off from the base on a training flight. He was about 6,000 feet above the mountains north of the base — and approximately 9,840 feet above sea level — when he ejected. Seconds later, the plane crashed near the mountain village of Soramae di Zolto Alto. The Air Force estimates the value of the lost aircraft at more than $26.8 million. No one on the ground was injured, and Parker escaped injury himself and was helped to a nearby Carabinieri station by a local motorist.

According to the report, the problem with the ring has surfaced before in at least three other F-16 crashes. “The Air Force has contracted with an avionics company to begin the redesign ... by early 2008,” the report states.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51741