How a broken part in a jet engine's ‘blind spot’ brought down an Air Force F-16

How a broken part in a jet engine's ‘blind spot’ brought down an Air Force F-16

The pilot of an Air Force F-16C had just seconds to act after the plane’s engine abruptly died a minute after take-off from a New Mexico air base last year. “Engine failure,” the pilot radioed to three other F-16s moments after a loud clap rocked his plane and left it unflyable just a thousand feet off the ground. An Air Force report released Wednesday on the investigation of the April 2024 crash laid out the “catastrophic” mechanical failures t…

‘Blind Spot’ in F-16 Engine Led to Its Failure and Fiery Crash Last Year

An Air Force investigation determined an engine problem field maintainers couldn’t see led to an F-16 crash at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.