8th FW F-16 Crashes in South Korea (Jan 2024)

[basher54321]

Yes third one from the 8th FW since May 23.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A U.S. Air Force pilot safely ejected from an F-16 fighter jet that crashed into waters off South Korea’s southwestern coast on Wednesday, in the second such crash in less than two months.

The unidentified pilot was conscious and was transported to a medical facility for assessment, the U.S. 8th Fighter Wing said in a statement. It said it closely worked with U.S. and South Korean mission partners to recover the pilot, who experienced an unspecified in-flight emergency and ejected before the plane crashed into sea.

The cause of the crash, which reportedly occurred in waters near the port city of Seosan, was being investigated. There were no immediate reports of casualties or property damage caused by the crash.

“We are very thankful to the Republic of Korea rescue forces and all of our teammates who made the swift recovery of our pilot possible,” said Col. Matthew C. Gaetke, the wing’s commander, referring to South Korea’s formal name. “Now we will shift our focus to search and recovery of the aircraft.”

https://apnews.com/article/us-south-kor ... f9f28335d2

[Boman]

Can't be easy being wing king and pushing it so hard that you loose three jets in such short time?

[daswp]

Maybe reactivating the Rescue Detachment in Korea would be prudent.

Same Wing Commander?

[ruderamronbo]

Another Facebook post about the maintenance situation at Kunsan. https://www.facebook.com/AFamnncosnco

Inbox: “Kunsan is a top-down problem. Downgrading egress red X conditions still awaiting engineering dispositions, cancelling or pausing planned phase inspections for aircraft availability and going into extreme overfly conditions. Ops group flying combat loaded ECM pods and explosive ammunition just because they want to. Then after most recent aircraft incident, they talk about flying the very next day. Unexpected lower level commanders voiced their displeasure with the flying decision but we told the investigation won’t be done tomorrow”

[ruderamronbo]

Can't be easy being wing king and pushing it so hard that you loose three jets in such short time?

The Wing King was fired at Hill in the late 90's while I was there for the same reason. 1 loss was a mid-air during an intercept when one pilot left his assigned altitude. The next day a motor seized over the UTTR because seals were left out during depot maintenance. The day the new Commander took over a jet was taking off SE and the pilot received engine warnings that didn't dictate aborting the takeoff. He did anyway and took the wire high speed. The GE motor seized in the wire. If he had taken off the jet probably would have ended up in a subdivision.

Remember this CC was assigned on short notice from Osan when his predecessor retired abruptly at Kunsan, a highly unusual event. Details from the F-16.net crash database below.

07 Jan 1998 [ w/o] 88449 88- 0449 [USAF] USAF 421 FS F-16C Block 40 C

Had a mid-air collision at about 13:30 hours over Utah Test and Training Range, 105 miles from base. They were in six ship tactical intercept training sortie from Hill AFB. The lead aircraft collided with the wingman of the aggressor formation (#88-0537). The trailing wingman’s aircraft lost 40% of its right wing resulting in an uncontrollable spin. The aircraft crashed within the boundaries of the range. The pilot of this aircraft, Captain Paul Hertzberg, ejected with minor injuries. The other aircraft, an F-16C, suffered a gash in the wing and a lost missile and its rack. The pilot was Captain Scott Hufford, who was able to nurse the aircraft into Michael Army Air Field, Utah.

07 Jan 1998 [ act] 88537 88- 0537 [USAF] USAF 4 FS F-16C Block 40 D

Collided with F-16 (#88-0449) who suffered a gash in the wing and a lost missile and its rack. The pilot was Captain Scott Hufford, who was able to nurse the aircraft into Michael Army Air Field, Utah.

08 Jan 1998 [ w/o] 89131 89- 2131 [USAF] USAF 34 FS F-16C Block 40 G

Crashed while on a bombing run at the Test and Training Range, 100 miles west from home base, Hill near Salt Lake City. The pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Judd Kelley, ejected safely. A US Army HH-60 Black Hawk rescued him. The 388th Fighter Wing cancelled all flying for two days. The cause of the crash was due to a missing combustion diffuser pressure seal in the engine. Lack of parts forced the rebuild of the engine to take seven months. Proper daily maintenance logs were not kept to show what work had been preformed. The overheated engine caused it to seize, and no chance for a restart. The aircraft had flown for almost eighteen months without the seal before the crash.

My last fam flight was with Judd Kelley in the 34th.

23 Mar 1998 [ act] 89067 89- 2067 [USAF] USAF 4 FS F-16C Block 40 F

Veered off Hill AFB’s runway returning from a night surface attack at 20:20 hours. The pilot, Lt. Col. John Burgess, Jr, ejected with minor injuries. Cause of the crash was pilot error. On his approach for landing he failed to use proper decent control due to a step late left turn to line up with the runway.

The Pilot was the OSS Commander returning at night during a Phase 2 exercise. His qualifications for night landings were expired. As an attached Pilot, getting hours/flights was a "challenge." I just got back home, had my scanner running, and heard the tower say "he's on fire. He just ejected". He landed hard, fracturing the landing gear which pierced the wing. The jet skidded off the runway on fire and he ejected.

[retchief70]

Looks like there are some serious issues at Kunsan. I hope they fire the right individuals. I'm wondering where the Maintenance Chiefs are. You NEVER, EVER sacrifice phase and other scheduled maintenance for the flying schedule unless you're in a combat situation.