F-16 Lost in Sierras

[bosshawk]

Just saw on the Fresno Bee that an Air Guard F-16 had an equipment malfunction between 12 and 15 thousand feet over the Sierras yesterday and the pilot successfully ejected and was recovered unhurt(or at least all in one piece). The aircraft was from the 144th Fighter Group, based at Fresno International Airport.

One aircraft closer to getting their F-15s.

[a2capt]

The 16's will be replaced with 15's if they "run low" on them?

[bosshawk]

No, but I believe that the AF will expedite the move if they lose enough 16s.  Actually, the training for the 15s has supposedly begun.  I was trying to be humorous, but failed again.

[Flying Pig]

We heard yesterday.  Saw his wingman come back and land solo.  Ejected and is OK.  Crews are headed out today to pick up the pieces.  The transition to the 15 is slow to come. Already about 3 years behind when it was supposed to happen.  The crews are not the slightest bit happy about getting 15's either.  The pilots I talk to regularly down there talk about it being a step backwards in technology and an Mx hog more than the 16 ever was.  The crew chiefs are borderline hostile about the whole idea    Its funny (or sad) to watch 6 F16s taxi out to the prep area (EOR) and see two taxi back with issues.   Happens pretty regularly.  However they are already sending pilots and crew chiefs to school, and have several have already returned from training. 

[isuhawkeye]

they shouldnt complain a lot of air guard units are losing their rides

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2012/12/19/iowa-air-national-guard-losing-all-f-16-fighter-jets-in-des-moines/viewart

and getting drones

[Buzz]

Crews are headed out today to pick up the pieces.

Did they find anything more than a big dent in the ground, and pickup-truck tire marks leading in the direction of the nearest scrap metal yard, or the swap meet . . ?

[PHall]

Crews are headed out today to pick up the pieces.

Did they find anything more than a big dent in the ground, and pickup-truck tire marks leading in the direction of the nearest scrap metal yard, or the swap meet . . ?

Considering the area it went down in, not likely. Not unless that pickup can climb near vertical mountain sides.

[Buzz]

You should SEE some of the places people have stripped out!

[PHall]

The Air Force quickly found the wreckage and using helicopters, removed the big pieces they would need for the accident investigation.
I'm sure there may be some "bits and pieces" left, but since this was in a "Wilderness Area", they took great pains to get everything out.

[Buzz]

Any wreckhunter knows that there is ALWAYS debris left.

When I was a cadet (and dinosaurs ruled the Earth), we went to the site of a T-33 wreck from over a decade earlier, on a hiking trail in the mountains above the Los Angeles Basin.  It had been cleaned up by the Navy, by USFS, by hikers and by several encampments worth of CAP cadets . . .and there were still so many fragments larger than the palm of my hand that there was no trouble identifying the site when we arrived, nor what many of the fragments had been.

Not long ago, I tracked down the crash site of a plane which went down a year or two earlier, in terrain deemed "too rugged" to do more than lift out the engines and major components which could be identified as structural.  I was unable to find anything larger than a quarter (and mostly smaller than a dime) -- the rest of it had been PACKED OUT by scrappers (with the blessing of USFS or BLM or whomever).

[The Infamous Meerkat]

We have a B-23 at Loon Lake in Idaho that was wrecked in '47 (I believe) and is still there, structure, engines, tires.... everything but ordnance and Avionics. It's pretty sweet to hike in to. 

[Stonewall]

While on a multi-day search for a missing a/c that filed a plan to fly from MD to NC, a CAP aircrew saw wreckage on or near Quantico MCB.  2 CAP ground teams met at range control (or whatever the Marine Corps calls it), who called in a CW5 and some Colonel, as well as a Sgt Maj, and learned that the area was part of a range (mortar, aerial, artey?) so due to UXO (EOD came out too, BTW), they'd have to get a CH-46 to fly over the area.  When they did, they ID'd the fuselage of an old A7 Corsair that was used as target practice.  Not a "FIND", but a cool find nonetheless.

[SARDOC]

Speaking of Scrap Hunters...I'm really surprised that they don't investigate the AFRCC Crash Locator database...ya know.  Just to be sure.