Engine debris caused F-16 crash at Balad

[unhappycamper]

Engine debris caused F-16 crash at Balad
By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Mar 9, 2009 18:52:35 EDT

The runway crash of an F-16 Fighting Falcon at Joint Base Balad in Iraq last November was caused by an engine fire that started when a piece of debris punctured a fuel tank, according to an Air Combat Command investigation released Monday.

The pilot, Capt. Joseph R. Ashcroft, of the 20th Fighter Wing, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., was able to walk away from the Nov. 12 crash.

The board concluded that a 12-inch section of the engine’s second stage fan disk broke loose as Ashcroft accelerated the engine and moved the throttle to afterburner. The debris punctured a fuel tank and a hydraulic line, starting a fire as the jet rolled down the runway.

After hearing the engine explode behind him, Ashcroft set the throttle to idle, the report said. Ashcroft also discovered he had no control over the brakes or the nose wheel that turns the plane. The plane veered to the right and rolled for about 1,800 feet before traveling off the runway and into sand. It rolled for another 900 feet until the nose landing gear collapsed, dropping the front of the plane to the ground and stopping the $29 million jet.

The investigation found engine inspections had turned up no problems with the disk. Because the crack that led to the break started inside the disk, a visual inspection of the disk would not have discovered the crack, the report said. The last detailed check of the disk was in 2000.


Article at: http://airforcetimes.com/news/2009/03/airforce_f16_accidentreport_030909w/%2e