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Belgian Air Force F-16 destroyed by fire during maintenance

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Re: Belgian Air Force F-16 destroyed by fire during maintenance

#51

Post by mothsonasloth »

Jerry2 wrote: post #28

This reminded me of Taffy Holden, UK's RAF technician, who in 1966 accidentally took off in Lightning after making an error. English Electric Lightning was one of the fastest fighter jets of its time. > The account has been widely published across the internet, but we make no apology for running the story here, as it’s a fascinating tale and it’s good to hear the original account of how Taffy Holden, an RAF Engineeri…

I just read that story, amazing.

It reads like an awesome Root Cause Analysis ticket.

Re: Belgian Air Force F-16 destroyed by fire during maintenance

#52

Post by noir_lord »

Tharkun wrote: post #42
jnurmine wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sure is silly to buy an expensive military plane if one cannot produce all parts including the engines domestically... how is hauling spares from across the Atlantic going to work in a hot situation?

Not many countries are capable of building their own fighter jets. Many use hand-me-downs from the US or Russia. Some more 'favoured' partners can buy them outright, but terms & conditions apply... There are rumours about US intervention/approval being required when loading the F35 computer with mission details..

Even we (the UK) can't (or least couldn't at the time) get access or permission to modify the source code on the F-35 and we (as a minor but only Level-1 project partner) partially build it.

IIRC the only country that can is Israel and they got a specific exemption.

Honestly I find the way our government rolls over to the US frustrating at times, As the customer we should hold a firmer line - flip side is though that arms deals are often a proxy for general diplomacy so we take it in the shorts on specific deals for long term advantages - It's all in the (great) game.

Re: Belgian Air Force F-16 destroyed by fire during maintenance

#53

Post by azeotropic »

jnurmine wrote: post #40
Tharkun wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are not difficult political questions. The US through NATO are forcing Belgium to buy F35s, and that'll be that. Out of all the jets allegedly in the running, only F35s can be used to drop US nukes. The very same US nukes which have been sitting around in Belgium for decades. The worst best kept secret in the country. No politician is willing/allowed to go on record about this, so they all pretend other jets ar…

It sure is silly to buy an expensive military plane if one cannot produce all parts including the engines domestically... how is hauling spares from across the Atlantic going to work in a hot situation?

Actually the Belgian F-16s were probably produced in Belgium. There were 2 European production lines, one in the Netherlands and one in Belgium, and Norway produced some parts and subsssemblies. Everybody understood the strategic importance of having redundant (and local) manufacturing capability, as well as the importance of sharing defense technology among allies.

Re: Belgian Air Force F-16 destroyed by fire during maintenance

#54

Post by egeozcan »

ElBarto wrote: post #37
AlexanderDhoore wrote: post #9

As a Belgian I find this hilarious. This might be the most Belgian thing ever. By the way they are investigating whether this was an accident or on purpose. The chances of this being an accident are quite small.

I find it sad that European airforces buy so many US planes.

It is much more economical that US keeps doing what it does better.

Re: Belgian Air Force F-16 destroyed by fire during maintenance

#56

Post by kwhitefoot »

Jerry2 wrote: post #28

This reminded me of Taffy Holden, UK's RAF technician, who in 1966 accidentally took off in Lightning after making an error. English Electric Lightning was one of the fastest fighter jets of its time. > The account has been widely published across the internet, but we make no apology for running the story here, as it’s a fascinating tale and it’s good to hear the original account of how Taffy Holden, an RAF Engineeri…

Brilliant! That's the kind of people and story we need more of.

But he wasn't a technician, he was an engineering officer and qualified pilot (though not on the Lightning) and commanding officer of the unit in question.

Re: Belgian Air Force F-16 destroyed by fire during maintenance

#57

Post by RyJones »

hnarn wrote: post #45
toomanybeersies wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet people still manage to accidentally shoot themselves when cleaning their firearms. Usually it's a series of failures that lead to such an incident, rather than one single critical failure. Failsafes aren't failproofs.

I'm not sure I understand your point, surely people shoot themselves by accident because they neglect to remove ammunition from the weapon, proving my point? It's not a "series of failures", it's the exact opposite, it's literally one failure.

Breaking one rule of firearm safety won't lead to death or injury.

Breaking two at the same time might.

It is not one failure. It is at least two.

Re: Belgian Air Force F-16 destroyed by fire during maintenance

#58

Post by walrus01 »

Jerry2 wrote: post #28

This reminded me of Taffy Holden, UK's RAF technician, who in 1966 accidentally took off in Lightning after making an error. English Electric Lightning was one of the fastest fighter jets of its time. > The account has been widely published across the internet, but we make no apology for running the story here, as it’s a fascinating tale and it’s good to hear the original account of how Taffy Holden, an RAF Engineeri…

Reminds me of the time a brand new a340-600 was run into a wall, totaling it.

https://www.aviation24.be/website/who-remembers-this/a-brand...

https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20071115-...

Re: Belgian Air Force F-16 destroyed by fire during maintenance

#59

Post by Steve44 »

gear54rus wrote: post #32

Woah, what kind of burst was that? Surely it couldn't have lasted more than a second or so (while the jump-scare wears off of the technician :) yet the plane is torched. Thought they are a bit more resilient.

I don't know the exact variant but the F16s have/had a 6 barrel 20mm canon which fires about 100 shells per second. That's a bit more than a few rounds from small arms and more than plenty to destroy the 'target' aircraft. It possibly only took one or two hits to do that damage.

Re: Belgian Air Force F-16 destroyed by fire during maintenance

#60

Post by Steve44 »

beilabs wrote: post #48

Would love to reead the technicians resume after this. 2018: successfully targeted and destroyed a F-16 with a second F-16 also grounded. Only person in Europe to do so. Would you be proud of that entry?

> Only person in Europe to do so

In 1982 an RAFG Phantom shot down an RAFG Jaguar. Not on the ground admittedly, but still quite an incident.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=55364

> Shot down 35 miles NE of Bruggen, West Germany by a Sidewinder missile accidentally fired from 92 Squadron Phantom FGR2 XV422. The pilot ejected safely. The master armament switch in the Phantom had not been taped in the ‘safe’ position and the pilot inadvertently rendered ‘live’ one of the two main safely switches. The pilot and navigator of the Phantom were court martialed and found guilty of offences of neglect.

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