Greek F-16 crashed

[Schroeder]

A Greek F 16 has crashed during takeoff during a NATO exercise and killed 10 people.:-?

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/26/europe/spain-greek-f16-crash/index.html

[Oberon]

Damn, poor sods. A terrible incident.

[Jimbuna]

Tragic :nope:

[ikalugin]

Engine failure?

[Jimbuna]

Could be one of many causes, best wait for the official report.

[vanjast]

Ploughing into other aircraft on takeoff sound like one of 3 things... 1) Tyre burst causing aircraft to veer off runway 2) The pilot pushing the aircraft beyond safety limits on rotation.. 3) Fly-by-wire system failure..

[Stealhead]

There has been some debate since the F-16 entered service that it is prone to fly-by-wire failures which of course results in a crash. A nick name the F-16 received fairly quickly in the USAF is lawn dart. Of course the manufacturer cailms and has for some time that there is no weakness.

However it seems that many losses where due to engine failure which is a situation that dose change flight dynamics. Of course there are plenty of planes even single engine fighters that do not seem to drop like a stone.

Not to say that the F-16 is a bad design merely that it seems to be an aircraft in which an engine failure seems to nearly always result in the loss of the airframe.

[Schroeder]

Not to say that the F-16 is a bad design merely that it seems to be an aircraft in which an engine failure seems to nearly always result in the loss of the airframe.
I don't think there are many combat aircraft that aren't write offs if the engines fail. None of them are particularly good gliders. But the F 16 has the problem of only having one engine, a design feature that Germany left behind after our experiences with the Starfighter.:-?

[Oberon]

I don't think there are many combat aircraft that aren't write offs if the engines fail. None of them are particularly good gliders. But the F 16 has the problem of only having one engine, a design feature that Germany left behind after our experiences with the Starfighter.:-?

It's also one of the problems of the fly-by-wire generation of aircraft, if you lose power for whatever reason, you lose control. A jet like the F-117 takes on all the attitude of a lump of concrete if the computer flying it dies.
Something like the A10, with actual physical back-ups of the main controls can take a licking and keep on ticking, but it can't pull the manoeuvres that the F-16 can, but yes, having two engines is definitely an advantage, that's probably why the F-15 has done so well in terms of reliability compared to the F-16.

[Stealhead]

There is an old Navy saying something to the effect of two engines are better than if one engine fails the other will operate perfectly fine long enough for you to fly into the ground.

Besides the engine failures I am not aware of the F-16 having a bad reliability ratio. Any aircraft is a design comprise of some sort. As to the Luftwaffe F-104 experience much of that can be blamed on aircraft desgin of the era. For example the Mig-21 can't be rolled over a certain rate or it will spin out of control.