According to Yonhap News Agency 11**, an F-16 fighter plane of the US military stationed in South Korea fell in the waters of the Yellow Sea, and the pilot escaped. According to information from the US military stationed in South Korea, an F-16 fighter belonging to the 8th Combat Flight Regiment of the US Seventh Air Force took off from Gunsan Air Base in Jeollabuk-do on the morning of 11 June to participate in routine training. After the incident, the US pilot was rescued and sent to the Gunsan airbase. At present, the cause of the accident is unknown, and the US military will launch a thorough investigation.
At the same time, the South Korean Air Force also announced on the 11th the results of the investigation into the crash of the KF-16 fighter in September this year, saying that the accident was caused by the rubber seal in the engine compartment falling into the engine. Yonhap News Agency said on the 11th that a KF-16 fighter plane of the South Korean Air Force fell while taking off from the Seosan base in South Chungcheong Province on September 12, and the pilot escaped urgently. After the incident, the ROK Air Force began to investigate the cause of the accident, analyzing the wreckage of the fighter, the automatic flight recorder, and the damage to the engine, and listening to the pilot's statement. The results of the investigation revealed that the rubber seals had detached from the inside of the engine compartment and fell into the engine, causing damage to some parts of the engine, and the aircraft then stalled and fell. The South Korean Air Force said that the South Korean military determined that the accident was not caused by aging parts or poor maintenance, but may be due to defective parts. At present, there are more than 150 KF-16 and some F-15K fighters in the aircraft owned by the ROK Air Force, which uses the same engine as the fighter involved, and the ROK Air Force has grounded the relevant models after the crash in September. With the results of the accident investigation, the ROK Air Force plans to inspect the installation of rubber seals for the KF-16 and some F-15K fighters, and will resume flights in stages from the 18th.
The South Korean Air Force spent a huge amount of money to purchase the American F-35** fighter, and there was also an incident in which it collided with the Eagle and was finally forced to retire because the repair cost was too expensive. According to South Korea's "Seoul Economy" on October 30, a South Korean F-35 fighter collided with an Eagle in January last year and caused serious damage, when the United States issued a repair cost of up to 140 billion won, and South Korea purchased a new F-35 aircraft for only 110 billion won, which means that the repair cost is more expensive than buying a new machine. Faced with such a situation, the South Korean Air Force had to retire the fighter, which was only commissioned in 2020, and became a laughing stock for a while. (Lin Sen).