Will he be declared a top pilot or dismissed in disgrace? That's the question the United States Army flight examiners will have to answer after one of the trainees managed to land an F-16C with only one wing - an impressive feat, no doubt, unless it turns out that he was responsible for the sabotage that occurred on the plane.
The Washington Post, which reports the story, reports that the incident occurred in October, but the findings of the investigation are being published now.
The accident occurred during a routine training session in the skies over Kansas, when a pilot training with a flight instructor collided with the instructor's plane. As a result of the accident, the plane lost about a foot and a half of its right wing.
Apparently the trainee lost eye contact with his instructor for a reason that is still being investigated.
Both planes were badly damaged, but while the instructor's plane quickly plunged to the ground and crashed, the trainee managed to fly his plane another 160 km, and land it safely at an air force base in Oklahoma.
The investigation, parts of which are now being published, shows that a missile attached to the wing of the trainee's plane hit the instructor's plane, and as a result, the wing of the plane was torn off. The instructor's plane, on the other hand, was hit more severely, and in addition to the wing, the tail was also disabled.
The trainee managed to call the commander to abandon the plane, and it was ejected just before the crash - and landed safely on the ground only about 20 meters from the crash site.
Both pilots escaped the incident unharmed, but the cost of the crashed plane and the repair of the other plane is estimated at $22.5 million. As mentioned, the US Air Force is now investigating who was at fault for the incident.
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