[animalmutha]

Hey Clyde,

I don't really enjoy besmirching your favorite Chair Farces' jet, but checkout the following tid-bit from the article/link:

"The F-16 is known in Air Force circles as the "lawn dart" for its tendency to plunge back to Earth when its single engine flames out, and in most years, engine failure causes more accidents than any other factor. But pilot error was responsible for about the same number of F-16 accidents as engine failure in the past year."

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,154457,00.html?ESRC=airforce-a.nl

 

[Clyde]

That was writ sarcastical wasn't it, AM? I have no fondness for the Lawn Dart, even if it is made over in Panther City. Actually, I think they should have bought the YF-17 or the F-20. Or maybe even looked harder at the Lockheed proposal for an F-104 with more wing and state of the art avionics (I think that Lockheed did a mock-up, but got no encouragement and went no further - seems like it might have been called a Lancer). Are you settled down in your new diggings - Brownwood isn't it?

 

[Fushigi Ojisan]

No F-16 thread can be complete without...the bumper stickers!

"Lean, Mean, Flameout Machine."
"I SHALL RETURN...Well, I might."
"Mach Nix."
"The F-16. Takes a licking, and takes a licking."
"Have you hugged your chute today?"
"This Vehicle Makes Frequent Stops."
"I came. I saw. I bingo'd."
"No deposit, no return."
"We've spent so much money on this thing that we can't afford to admit we
were wrong."
"A triumph of style over substance."
"The best damn second place fighter in the world."
"Instead of a CAS mod, we're going to install a roll bar."
"And now with this LANTIRN thing and our new Block 40's, we can hit the
ground at NIGHT!"
"We cover the target like a thong bikini."
"And BINGO is my Name-O."
"We crash more airplanes before 9-o'clock than most people crash all day."
"Your courtesy appreciated. Please replace your divots."
"A war record exceeding even the B-1."
"Last in the talent show, but first in the swimsuit competition."
"Lose a few, lose a few."
"Feet and knees together, eyes on the horizon..."
"Designated no-hitter."
"Everything you wanted in a fighter and less."
"Optimist: F-16 pilot who's worried about dying from cancer."
"Only Michael Jackson is more manly."
"Hey, today we didn't lose a single jet."
"This is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you."
"user friendly...if you've got three hands."
"If we have a war with BDUs, we've got 'em beat."
"Careful badguys...I'm carrying BOTH bombs today. I'm talkin' wall-to-wall
MK-82's Pal."

If I carried more weapons, and if
I had enough gas, and if
I could actually hit the target, and if
I had some more REALLY expensive electrons so I could find you, and if
My motor didn't quit, and if
My wings didn't crack,
Boy, I'd really teach you a lesson!

 

[jjk308 In Memoriam RIP]

Note to the next generation of military reformers:

Try going "Lightweight Fighter" with your family car before inflicting it on the US Military. Maybe you'll learn what the word "Tradeoff" means.

 

[Charley1]

I've always wanted to own my very own F-16. Guess I'll buy a couple of acres and wait a while.

 

[Clyde]

Note to the next generation of military reformers:

Try going "Lightweight Fighter" with your family car before inflicting it on the US Military. Maybe you'll learn what the word "Tradeoff" means.

Or just look into the A6M5 Zero-sen...

 

[animalmutha]

Or just look into the A6M5 Zero-sen...

Clyde,

Supposedly, the Chair Farce Leadership back in the 70s chose the F-16, for the most part, for its cost savings when compared to the F-15. I can't imagine how many have crashed since it when operational in 1978. I know my last duty station lost more than a couple during the years of 1995-2002, and I recall that sometime during the late 90s, Luke AFB (F-16 training base) lost either 10 or 11 during a one year period - mostly engine failure.

Brownwood Not hardly I live on the other side of Abilene in a Podunk Midwest Texas town

 

[Fushigi Ojisan]

Here is the best estimate I could find

There were 122 F-16 Class A mishap accidents for the period from FY 89 to FY 98. These accidents consisted of mishaps involving destroyed aircraft. A total of 272 F-16 aircraft had been destroyed from the introduction of the F-16 in 1975 to 2003

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/f-16-losses.htm

 

[Guest]

Interesting article. I didn't realize that they were jart prone. Though there is the pics and footage of the Thunder Bird driver ejecting a couple of seconds before he pancaked in at a airshow a few years ago. THAT was pilot error. What is their crash record compared to the F/A 18 or the F-15 Eagle? The last bird I remember going down was a Missouri ANG Eagle in Indiana last year. That I remeber because they're staioned a Lambert Airport less 15 miles from the house. I'll miss the Eagles when they move the ANG unit. In the link they talked about the bathtub effect. What the hell is the bathtub effect? First time I have heard that one.

Here is the best estimate I could find



http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/f-16-losses.htm

 

[jjk308 In Memoriam RIP]

Bathtub effect:

Usually the accident rate for a new military aircraft entering squadron service is pretty high. Not as high as in testing - the F-14A had a record of 2 takeoffs and one landing when flight tests started - but pretty bad.

ECCPs and operations improvements cut the accident rate, which usually falls to a constant level in a few years. Plotted versus time it looks like the cross section of one end of a bathtub.

Then as the aircraft age, if the service's attention shifts to newer aircraft and the reserves start to fly it without adequate training and attention to safety, the accident rate may start to rise towards the end of its service life, filling in the other end of the bathtub profile.

In some cases its lifespan is abruptly terminated because of maintenance problems that lead to accidents. Often new parts are unobtainable except at very high cost and suppliers lose the skills needed to make or fix them. We grounded all S-2s and E-1s a year or 2 early because of problems at the only contractor who had been overhauling the engines.