Air Force Investigators Wrap Up Investigation, Both Pilots Survived

An Air Force Investigation Board report released last Friday indicates errors on the parts of two pilots involved in a training mission last October caused their F-16s to collide in mid air. One aircraft went down and was destroyed, but the other was able to return and land with a portion of its right wing missing. Both pilots survived the accident.

According to the report, both pilots were assigned to the Air National Guard's 138th Fighter Wing at Tulsa, Oklahoma. They were engaged in a mock dog fight in the Eureka MOA near Moline, KS.

The two planes were flying in an oval pattern waiting for the "enemy" aircraft to appear from an unknown direction. When that third F-16 came into view, the instructor pilot, who had 2,400 flight hours, was the "engaging fighter" with the student, who had 106 F-16 hours in his logbook, was the "supporting fighter."

The Air Force Times reports that, according to investigators, the instructor called for a "bracket" maneuver, and the student took the right of the "bracket." The student was reportedly in the best defensive position, and the report states that the instructor should have given him authority to go for the shot.

"(The instructor) acknowledged that he should have initiated a role exchange to give the engaged fighter responsibilities (to the student) since he was clearly the most defensive fighter. … but he did not initiate this role swap," the report states.

The instructor reportedly assumed that as the student turned, he had turned away, but had actually turned toward the instructor's plane. There was not enough time for the pilots to react, and the student's plane collided with the instructor's, taking about five feet off the right wing of the student's aircraft. The instructor's aircraft suffered damage to flaperon, the fuel manifold and the right horizontal tail structure and was made uncontrollable. The instructor pilot ejected, and his aircraft was destroyed. The student managed to fly back to the air base.

Accident Investigation Board President Col. Christopher Alderdice wrote in his opinion of the investigation that the student pilot "disregarded his primary responsibilities" to keep a visual and de-conflict flight paths with the instructor pilot. Additionally, contributing causes to the crash were the student not radioing that he couldn't see the instructor, the instructor misperceiving the student's turn at the merge and the instructor not switching roles when the student was in better position to fight.

Television station KOTV in Tulsa reports that the two pilots have been returned to flight status now that the investigation has concluded

(USAF Images)

FMI: www.af.mil