Twitched engine crash-landed two USAF F-16 fighters in Japan

TOKYO, JAPAN — A twitched engine on one of two F-16 fighter jets flying in a pair from the US Air Force caused the two planes to make an emergency landing in Japan. This is reported by the Japanese media, citing information from the US Air Force in the region. No one was injured and the emergency landing did not change the flight schedule.

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The incident happened on April 8, when the two fighters were located 60 km south of the Japanese island of Miyako. The engine of one of the two fighters began to show problems. The US Air Force report described the condition of the damaged power unit as a ‘twitched engine’ without giving details.

Thus, during their flight in pairs, the two fighters were forced to make an emergency landing at Miyako Shimojishima Airport in the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa. The US Air Force press office in the region later said the two fighters were in a maintenance hangar at the airport. While one is just being inspected, the one with the damaged engine is already in the hands of mechanics who need to fix the problem.

Around the same time, another incident was averted, but this time over Russian territory. Two planes avoided an almost certain collision but maneuvered skilfully to avoid an accident. It is about passenger planes, one of which traveled from St. Petersburg to Surgut, and the second – from Moscow to Mirny. The Russian media Lenta.ru reports on this incident.

BulgarianMilitary.com recalls that a similar incident happened at the end of last year in Missouri, USA. Then a B2-Spirit heavy bomber made an emergency landing at Whitman Air Force Base.

Then a fire breaks out on board the B2-Spirit. The bomber was then forced to make an emergency landing at the airfield at Whitman Base, with the base fire department responding quickly and extinguishing the fire. The press service of the US Air Force announced that there were no weapons on board the bomber.

Although the engines of the F-16 and those of the stealth fighter F-35 are different, incidents with their power units are beginning to reach public opinion more and more often. For example, last month the Pentagon decided to ground all 900 F-35 fighter jets worldwide, both American and those of the countries that operate this platform. The problem was again in the F-35’s engine and until it was fixed, in addition to the F-35 not flying, its deliveries were also suspended.

The inspection found that there was a vibration in the engine during the vertical landing. I.e. a hovering F-35 landing vertically jumped upwards before lurching forward and sliding around on its nose and right wing.

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