Second F-16 Goes Off South Dakota Runway

The latest runway mishap happened late last month when a South Dakota Air National Guard 114^th Fighter Group F-16 went off the runway after what should have been a routine landing. The pilot was unhurt in the mishap.

The F-16 came to rest on its belly in a nose-down attitude. The forward section of the nose became detached, as well. There was no fire, and no structures or other planes were involved. It's as cheap an accident as one can have in an F-16. The pilot was subsequently cleared to resume flight duties.

The excursion came three weeks after another 114^th Fighter Group F-16 went off the runway at the same airport, Joe Foss Field, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The two mishaps are eerily similar. Both planes' landing gear collapsed, presumably sometime after the landing, and both came to rest on their belly in a nose-low attitude. As in the late May excursion, the pilot of the F-16 that crashed earlier in the month was uninjured.