An Air Combat Command accident investigation board found that the bearing assembly of the No. 4 engine on an F-16 that crashed in Utah last March failed, leading to a compressor stall, vibrations, and loss of thrust. The pilot ejected safely after deciding he wasn’t close enough to glide to the nearest airfield. He restarted the engine once but had such poor engine thrust he couldn’t maintain level flight.
The crash of a T-38 trainer jet this May—which caused a weekslong pause in flights across the fleet—was caused by an improperly installed pin for one of the jet’s horizontal stabilizers, according to a new accident report released Oct. 30. When the pin disengaged midflight, it created the slightest amount…