Metro Plus News Singapore to resume flying F-16 jets after crash this month

Singapore to resume flying F-16 jets after crash this month

Singapore will resume flying its F-16 fleet after suspending training when one of the jets crashed earlier this month.
The defence ministry said the May 8 crash was due to the plane’s pitch rate gyroscopes giving erroneous inputs to the flight control computer.
The statement said, “This led to the pilot being unable to control the plane at take-off.” The pilot ejected successfully.
The ministry said, F-16 fighter jets are fitted with four such gyroscopes. A simultaneous failure is very rare occurrence and a first for Singapore’s fleet.
It added that all pitch rate gyroscopes will be checked and cleared before flights resume, and that the air force and F-16 manufacturer Lockheed Martin will look into the specific cause behind the malfunction.
According to local media, the May crash was the first one for a Singapore fighter jet since 2004 when an F-16C went down during a night training mission in the U.S. state of Arizona, killing the 25-year-old pilot.