Past 2018 year was for US combat aircraft, to put it mildly, difficult. The entire length of the US Air Force pursued a whole series of incidents. Sometimes accidents occur so often, it is not only sowed anxiety among the public, but also caused great concern in the ranks of the military itself. Let's start "debriefing" with disasters, ended irretrievable loss of airborne equipment.
The first of these occurred 14 Martha, when the deck fighter-bomber F / A-18 Hornet, belonging to the squadron VFA-213 "Black Lions" of the US Navy, crashed near an air base in Key West (Florida). Both pilots were killed. After this crash is almost always followed.
4 April multipurpose light fighter F-16 Viper Squadron "Thunderbirds" during a routine training flight demo crashed in the testing ground in Nevada. pilot killed. This event was the third loss for the team in the past 24 of the month. In the previous incident, there were no casualties.
24 April F-16 310 Squadron Luke Air Base crashed in Arizona when trying to make an emergency landing at a small airport. The pilot was not injured.
2 May military transport aircraft medium and long range WC-130 Hercules from the 156th National Guard transport wing crashed and burned right in the center of the village Savannah, GA. The car is almost nothing left, except for the tail section. On board was 9 human, including 5 crew, all killed.
23 May a training jet plane T-38 Talon crashed near Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. Both pilots were able to eject, but with serious injuries were admitted to hospital.
11 June fighter F-15C Eagle, based at Kadena air base on the Japanese island of Okinawa, He crashed into the sea. The pilot left the aircraft pre and was raised alive from the water.
22 June turboprop light attack aircraft A-29 Super-Tucano crashed on Missile Range "White Sands" in New Mexico. The pilot was slightly injured. There is information on the second death of a crew member.
17 August T-38 from the 71 th flight training wing in the Air Force Base in Oklahoma vicinity Vance fell to farm pasture. His owner gave water to the pilot catapulted and nursed him, until the first rescue workers arrived.
11 September T-38 from the 80 th of the training wing crashed Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, deviating from the runway. Both pilots ejected safely.
18 September T-6A Texan II from the 12th of the training wing collapsed near the shopping center Rolling Oaks in the north-eastern part of San Antonio, Texas. Two pilots escaped with minor injuries.
28 in September for the first time (at least, According to available data) crashed F-35B. It belonged to a training squadron VMFAT-501. The crash happened near the airbase Beaufort United States Marine Corps. The pilot ejected safely and was taken to hospital due to his injuries.
30 September C-130J from the 744 th Expeditionary transport squadron crashed shortly after takeoff from the airport Jalalabad, Afghanistan. killing 6 crew and 5 employees of the NATO mission. The military said about innocence of enemy forces in the tragedy.
13 November T-38 crashed at Laughlin Air Force Base. One of the pilots was killed, the other was sent for treatment to the nearest hospital.
6 December as a result of the collision KC-130J and F / A-18 Hornet crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan in the course of in-flight refueling. Air tanker died 7 military, one was saved. Subsequently, information appeared for the salvation of another military, perhaps, it was a fighter pilot.
In fact, in the end irretrievably lost an entire squadron.
The Ministry of Defense is going through terrible year in connection with major accidents.
– US experts say.