Fourth Fighting Falcon Crash In Four Weeks

Air Force officials are investigating why an F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke AFB went down Tuesday morning during what was described as a routine training mission. It is the fourth such incident to befall a Fighting Falcon in as many weeks.

The pilot was able to eject safely before the plane impacted terrain approximately two miles southwest of the base, which is located in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale.

An Air Force F-16 fighter crashed Tuesday about two miles southwest of Luke Air Force Base, but the pilot ejected safely, authorities said.

"It just started falling, and all of a sudden the pilot ejected and the plane went in," one witness told KVOA-TV in Tucson. "The guy ejected real fast, and I saw the parachute and the plane just blew up."

Tuesday's accident is the fourth involving an F-16 in as many weeks. An F-16 went down off the coast of Myrtle Beach, SC on April 5, also forcing the pilot to eject from the aircraft. On March 31, another F-16 impacted an island in the Great Salt Lake in Utah -- again, the pilot ejected safely.

On March 14, as was reported in Aero-News, an F-16 went down in the West Sea off of Korea. The pilot was later rescued by a South Korean Air Force helicopter.

FMI: www.af.mil