Posted on 08/23/2005 4:17:52 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - A maintenance crew's failure to put seals on an engine part caused an F-16D to crash into a Charleston marsh April 18, according to an Air Force report released today.
The pilot and the passenger ejected from the aircraft (#91-0469) and sustained minor injuries. The aircraft, assigned to Shaw AFB's 20th Fighter Wing, was destroyed on impact.
According to the Accident Investigation Board report, the high-pressure turbine rotor in the engine failed, resulting in a significant loss of thrust. The pilot attempted three engine restarts while maneuvering for a straight-in flameout approach to the runway at Charleston AFB. When he realized the aircraft might be unable to safely reach the runway, he steered it toward the unpopulated marshland and initiated a successful dual ejection.
The report says the seals should have been put on the blades about a year before the crash. Base spokesman Lieutenant Bryan Cox says without the seals, excess heat built up in the engine, causing the metal to become brittle.
Cox says the report will be sent to the maintenance unit commander, who will decide whether to discipline any of the workers involved.
passenger? not crew? not student?
Overlooked a step in the maintenance checklist?
I'm amazed it lasted a year.
I was a passenger in a T-38 Talon when I got an incentive ride back in 1980. I did get to fly it for about 30 minutes but I was mostly just along for the ride. I wasn't a student or a crewman.
...and I will remember that ride for the rest of my life...WooHoo!
Either that, or they didn't do the maintance and just signed it off. You have to sign everything off on your list... They will have records of who was responsible...
Yep, looks like in the last paragraph they already have the guilty people all lined up for the big flush.
Leave it to the media to screw that up.
Yep, I'm sure they're already starting to feel the pain.
CDI should have caught that.
Same here - Summer of 1973. Pretty cool, huh? Remember the anticipation of standing out on the flight line with your parachute and gear waiting for your plane? Remember the smell of jet fuel and the thunder shaking in your chest as other planes took off? Remember getting strapped in and showing your seat ejection pin to the crew chief? Remember 5+G turns and inverted flight?
I never did trust an airplane that didn't have props.
Yep, I remember all of that. I also remember cranking and banking through the cumulus cloud valleys at 30,000 feet, looping and rolling all with my hands on the stick. Banging the front seater's helmet on the canopy when I stopped a roll unexpectantly because I forgot what I wanted to do. heheheheh
I remember getting a good case of dry heaves in the New Mexico turbulence while on a long approach to landing (AC doesn't work too good when the engines are idled back). BUT!!! Cockpit was clean when I got out and no barf bags used. YEAH!
Always follow the T.O. (even for servicing oil!)Cover your a** because nobody else will.
Wow! Interesting pictures... I would have crapped myself had I heard a large BANG and had blood and guts spray all over the inside of my cabin. I bet those poor pilots hearts stopped for for a few seconds.
Great story for the grandkids though...
It's ashame to see a majestic bird like the Eagle lose the battle of the skies like that.
Fortuneatly the crew escaped serious injury other than a laundry bill.
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