The past 2018 turned out to be difficult for the US military aviation, to put it mildly. Throughout its entire length, the American Air Force was pursued by a whole series of incidents. Occasionally, incidents occurred so often that it not only sowed unrest among the public, but also caused serious concern in the ranks of the military themselves. Let's start our "debriefing" with disasters that ended in the irrecoverable loss of aircraft equipment.
The first of these occurred on March 14, when the carrier-based fighter-attack aircraft F / A-18 Hornet, belonging to the US Navy's VFA-213 Black Lions Squadron, crashed in the area of Key West (Florida). Both pilots were killed. After that, accidents followed almost constantly.
On April 4, the F-16 Viper multipurpose light fighter of Petrel Squadron crashed over a Nevada test site during a routine demonstration training flight. The pilot was killed. This incident was the third loss for the team in the past 24 months. There were no casualties in the previous incident.
On April 24, an F-16 of 310 Squadron at Luke Air Force Base crashed in Arizona while trying to make an emergency landing at a small airport. The pilot was not injured.
On May 2, a WC-130 Hercules medium-to-long-range military transport aircraft from the 156th National Guard Transport Wing crashed and burned up in the middle of Savannah, Georgia. There was practically nothing left of the car, except for the tail section. There were 9 people on board, including 5 crew members, all were killed.
On May 23, a T-38 Talon trainer jet crashed near Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. Both pilots were able to eject, but were hospitalized with serious injuries.
On June 11, an F-15C Eagle fighter based at Kadena Air Force Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa crashed into the sea. The pilot had previously left the plane and was raised alive from the water.
On June 22, a light turboprop attack aircraft A-29 Super-Tucano crashed at the White Sands missile range in New Mexico. The pilot was slightly injured. There is information about the death of the second crew member.
On August 17, a T-38 from the 71st Flight Training Wing near Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma crashed into a farm pasture. Its owner gave water to the ejected pilot and tended him until the first rescuers arrived.
On September 11, a T-38 from the 80th training wing crashed at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, deviating from the runway. Both pilots successfully ejected.
On September 18, a T-6A Texan II from Training Wing 12 crashed near Rolling Oaks Shopping Center in northeastern San Antonio, Texas. Two pilots escaped with minor injuries.
On September 28, for the first time (at least according to available data), the F-35B crashed. It belonged to the VMFAT-501 training squadron. The crash occurred near the US Marine Corps Beaufort Air Force Base. The pilot successfully ejected and was taken to hospital due to his injuries.
On September 30, a C-130J of the 744th Expeditionary Transport Squadron crashed shortly after taking off from Jalalabad airfield, Afghanistan. 6 crew members and 5 members of the NATO mission were killed. The military declared that the enemy forces were not involved in the tragedy.
On November 13, a T-38 crashed at Laughlin Air Force Base. One of the pilots was killed, the other was sent to a nearby hospital for treatment.
On December 6, as a result of a collision, a KC-130J and an F / A-18 Hornet crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan during air refueling. Seven servicemen were killed in the air tanker, one was rescued. Subsequently, information appeared about the rescue of another military man, perhaps it was a question of a fighter pilot.
In fact, as a result, an entire squadron was irretrievably lost.
The Ministry of Defense is worried about major aircraft accidents.
- American experts note.
