Air Force News, news from Iraq - Air Force Times

F-16 totaled on takeoff by flat tire

Low tire pressure led to the loss of a $24 million fighter — at least that’s the conclusion of an accident investigation board that looked into the July 15 crash of an F-16 at Balad Air Base, Iraq.

The Pacific Air Forces board said the crash was primarily the fault of maintainers who failed to correctly inspect the jet’s front tire.

Read the report

“Accurate and truthful tire pressure checks, coupled with more diligent nose tire inspections, would have prevented this mishap,” wrote board president Col. Brent A. Johnson of Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

The F-16’s pilot safely ejected from the jet as it rolled and skidded out of control down the Balad runway. The aircraft and pilot were deployed to Balad from Misawa Air Base, Japan, and were assigned to the 13th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. The pilot was the commander of the deployed squadron.

Investigators found that after the front tire was replaced earlier on July 15, the jet’s maintenance team failed to check the tire pressure and that no one prior to the takeoff noticed that the tire was low. Investigators decided the tire was under inflated based on a picture of the plane taken about 2 1/2 hours before takeoff and an analysis of tire debris.

The tire failed as the plane reached a speed of about 150 mph on its takeoff roll and crossed over an arresting cable on the runway. The pilot told investigators he heard a loud pop and felt a sudden deceleration, indicating to him that the jet’s engine had failed. The pilot immediately decided to abort the takeoff.

But as the jet continued its high-speed roll, the front landing gear collapsed and the jet became uncontrollable. At that moment, the pilot ejected.

The F-16 skidded and rolled on for another 2,000 feet until it left the paved runway and tumbled end over end before until coming to a halt upside down. As the plane burned, 20mm cannon rounds inside the jet exploded.

Investigators said if the pilot had correctly realized he had a front-tire blowout instead of an engine malfunction, he could have likely safely taken off. However, board president Johnson said the abort decision was “reasonable” because a pilot’s sensation of a tire failure and engine malfunction are much the same and that the pilot was concerned that if he did become airborne with a bad engine he might have faced ejecting over insurgent-controlled territory.