Posted on 09/21/2019 12:55:04 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
A Belgian Air Force F-16B crashed today around 10:30hrs near the French town of Pluvignert in Brittany during a standard training flight. The jet just missed a local house as it went down but both aircrew were able to safely eject.
The parachute of one of the pilots however got caught on high-tension electricity lines. The pilot who was dangling from the power lines was rescued by emergency services with the help from technicians from the local electricity company.
The crashed jet was FB-18 with serial #80-3593 which left today from Florennes AB and was en route to the French naval airbase at Lann-Bihoué.
The crashed F-16 damaged a local as parts of the wing struck the roof. Nobody on the ground was hurt and the house was evacuated. The F-16 ended up 50m away from the house,causing a fire.
This was the 3rd BAF F-16 crash on a Sept 19th.
Photo by Cindy Le Gloanic
Picture from Sky-News
Sorry for large pic, if the mods want to delete it and have me provide a link, I’ll understand. At the news link, it wasn’t giant like this.
Question: What is the quickest way to own a piece of an F-16?
Answer: Buy an acre of land in Germany (old joke when the F-16 first arrived over there). Seemed to crash every week.
<img src="https://e3.365dm.com/19/09/1600x900/skynews-f-16-fighter-jet-crash_4779655.jpg?bypass-service-worker&20190919144136" width=450>
I remember when an A-10 crashed in Germany when I was over there.
Good tip, thanks! I was wondering if that could be done.
Yeah, pilot caught in powerlines is extra. I can’t imagine hanging there hoping not to get shocked.
Something to remember - the F-16Bs are all at least 20 years old and many date back to the early 80s.
Old machinery tends to fall out of the sky eventually.
Totally unfamiliar with the harness used by the pilot.
Most sit harness will put you into suspension trauma under 15 minutes.
Some have stirrups to stand in and prevent fainting.
This takes me back. Many years ago (1970?) a sport parachutist got into the wires - the canopy on one side, still inflated by wind — he was hanging on the other side. Instead of climbing down his reserve chute to escape, he just waited. The wind picked up, lifting him into the wires and that was that.
Yep, the Euros are flying Block 10s and 15s. F-16 is up to Block 70 now.
Wow, that’s scary!
Yes, the tail number of the jet is “80-3593”. The first two digits are the year of its delivery date, so it’s been in service since 1980. Coming up on 40 years of service.
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