An F-16 Preventing Falcon jet belonging to the South Dakota Air Nationwide Guard’s 114th Fighter Wing skidded off of a Sioux Falls runway upon touchdown Wednesday afternoon, coming to relaxation nose-down within the grass.
The airman within the jet was getting back from a routine coaching mission round 2:45 p.m. native time, in keeping with the wing, which flies F-16C/D airframes.
The jet’s touchdown gear appeared to have collapsed and its nostril separated from its physique, per images taken by the Argus Chief information outlet and others on social media. Its cover was open however not gone — indicating the pilot climbed out as soon as on the bottom at Joe Foss Subject, the place the wing is predicated on the Sioux Falls airport.
Airmen have been secure following the incident, and emergency crews responded to the scene, the wing mentioned.
The Air Nationwide Guard is investigating the accident.
In March, one other F-16 assigned to the Oklahoma Nationwide Guard crashed in Louisiana whereas conducting coaching out of Texas. Its pilot safely ejected.
The Air Drive suffered three F-16 mishaps in fiscal 2021, together with one which destroyed the airplane and killed its pilot, in keeping with the Air Drive Security Middle. About three Preventing Falcons have been totaled every year on common for the previous decade.
The service owns about 900 F-16C/D airframes, which have flown because the Nineteen Eighties. Every jet value $19 million in 1998 {dollars}, the Air Drive mentioned, or greater than $30 million now.
Rachel Cohen joined Air Drive Instances as senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in Air Drive Journal, Inside Protection, Inside Well being Coverage, the Frederick News-Put up (Md.), the Washington Put up, and others.
