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F-16 Crash near March AFB; Pilot OK


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An F-16 apparently crashed near March AFB. The pilot ejected and is OK.
 

The aircraft apparently crashed into a large building (warehouse)? There are some ordnance concerns being worked. The local FD noted the "ordnance was easily controlled."

If you're in the area, avoid the 215

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Looking at the map, that would be directly across the 215 from the runway,

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"Aerial video from Sky5 showed a large whole in what appeared to be a commercial building. There were no signs of a fire at the building, which sat in the 22200 block of Opportunity Way.

California Highway Patrol officials shut down both directions of the 215 Freeway between Harley Knox Boulevard and Cactus Avenue as first responders continued working at the scene"

 

https://ktla.com/2019/05/16/f-16-fighter-jet-crashes-into-building-near-march-air-reserve-base-pilot-ejects/

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The jet crashed into a building off the base, on Van Buren Boulevard, about 3:45 p.m., said March Air Reserve Base Deputy Fire Chief Timothy Holliday.

The pilot’s condition was not immediately know. The impact triggered a structure fire but it “wasn’t very big,” Holliday said.

 

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-riverside-plane-crash-f-16-story.html

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Apparently, one person in the warehouse was transported to a local hospital; another was treated at the scene. Video of the warehouse show surprisingly little external damage--a hole in the roof. Interior damage photos show extensive damage.


Avoid the area at all costs. Both directions of the 215 are closed, and there's apparently substantial traffic in the wider area.

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So the pilot ejected, the plane crashed into the building and there was no explosion?  I read in Ken's link that there was a fire that the building's sprinklers put out but, beyond that, there was no explosion from a crashed jet carrying what I can only assume was ordnance???

 

Eric

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25 minutes ago, echolmberg said:

So the pilot ejected, the plane crashed into the building and there was no explosion?  I read in Ken's link that there was a fire that the building's sprinklers put out but, beyond that, there was no explosion from a crashed jet carrying what I can only assume was ordnance???

Yes, that's correct. And there was discussion of ordnance in the report. If there was a fire, the building's fire suppression system was world class. Cell phone photos by a building occupant immediately after the crash don't appear to show any fire damage. There's a lot of debris and destruction within the building, but no sign of fire.

 

Quite fortuitous to be sure--but also puzzling...

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Because it pancaked, the decent wasn't quite as fast and was probably cushioned as it fell through the roof.  Glad everyone made it home that night.  Think of that F-106 that pancaked into the field and was almost perfectly fine from the outside.

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As far as ordnance on the aircraft, from my understanding is this was a training flight so I would think that it was loaded with INERT ordnance, if it was carrying any ordnance at all. When fighting an aircraft fire the first though it fighting the fire is if there is ordnance on the aircraft and fighting the fire to prevent the ordnance from cooking off until you verify that no ordnance was loaded. When fighting a tactical military aircraft fire one of the first questions asked is; "is there ordnance on the aircraft", "how much ordnance and what type" for  you assume that there is ordnance loaded until you get official confirmation to whether or not it in fact does have ordnance loaded. Also, you always assume that any ordnance you see is live until it is verified to be inert so the first responders could have seen an inert  Sidewinder/AMRAAM and (correctly) assume it was live.

 

Also, engine fire-bottles, ejection seats and canopy jettison systems all have ordnance and precautions have to be taken concerning them. Even though the pilot ejected, you still have to be careful of residual pyrotechnics that may be present.

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That from ABC News, 

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"Every pilot that flies a fighter aircraft that has an ejection seat has to make that decision before they even start that jet up: When am I going to eject? and not to wait too long to know when the airplane is no longer flyable and they need to get out," said retired Col. Steve Ganyard, former deputy assistant secretary of state and ABC News contributor."

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/16-crashed-end-runway-march-reserve-afb/story?id=63090887

 

Brings to mind ...

 

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Ejection Decision - A second Too Late! (1981)

2,541,867 views

AIRBOYD Published on Aug 4, 2010

Department of Defense PIN 52563 EJECTION DECISION - A SECOND TOO LATE DEVELOPED FOR AIRCREWS WHO FLY AIRCRAFT WITH EJECTION SEATS. EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF MAKING TIMELY EJECTION DECISIONS AND FEATURES LIVE EJECTION SEQUENCES.

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, GW8345 said:

As far as ordnance on the aircraft, from my understanding is this was a training flight so I would think that it was loaded with INERT ordnance

It could still be live. I do believe they practice alerts missions some times and the SD ANG has been at March AFRB for the NORAD Alert mission. 

 

A while back the Oklahoma ANG F-16 that crash after take off was carrying live weapons when it took off on an practice alert mission 

Edited by achterkirch
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5 hours ago, achterkirch said:

It could still be live. I do believe they practice alerts missions some times and the SD ANG has been at March AFRB for the NORAD Alert mission. 

 

A while back the Oklahoma ANG F-16 that crash after take off was carrying live weapons when it took off on an practice alert mission 

Yep, it's now being reported that the aircraft did in fact have live ordnance onboard, a "standard weapons package", whatever the hell that is.

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In general, modern ordnance is designed not to detonate during a crash, in a fire is a different story and it sounds like the fire didn't last long enough to cook off the weapons. You can drop a Mk 82 with a fuze (safed) 500 feet and all it would do is go thud.

Edited by GW8345
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